For this special edition on Member Spotlight, we are honoring a vital member of The Foundry community who has been with us since the beginning. Mike Gregus is a fantastic competitor, supportive athlete, and can always be counted on for making any party more fun! I sat down with Mike and learned about his first experience with baseline, why he loves coming into the gym (even on rest days!) and where he sees The Foundry going. Read on to learn more!

The Foundry: How did you hear about CrossFit and what brought you to The Foundry?

Mike Gregus: I was working out on my own and looking at Men’s Health for some workouts and they mentioned CrossFit, so that’s how I first found it. The Foundry I found just by driving past on my way to work. I saw the sign “Now Accepting Applications.”

The Foundry: So what made you want to sign up?

Mike Gregus: I needed something different from what I was doing- the same routine for twenty years of working out. I needed something that was a little more competitive and a little more class based to get me motivated to push myself past that 5 reps and calling it a day.

TF: Did you come in for an intro class and who did you talk to first?

MG: I emailed and they told me to come in for an intro class with JQ and he took me through the whole CrossFit lifestyle talk and then we did the baseline test. Yeah, that was a lot of fun…

TF: Do you remember your time?

MG: Yeah, I did it in eight minutes or something like that. And I needed a band for the last two or three pull-ups. Everything else was ok, I took a lot of breaks obviously but I needed a band for the last part. Now I can do baseline in four minutes, so I cut it in half, which is awesome! And no bands!

Mike can always be counted on to run the BBQ 🙂

TF: How do you think the community of The Foundry (outings, events, etc) plays a role in your experience with training?

MG: It’s good; it definitely makes me come here more than I would at a normal kind of gym. It’s nice because it builds that sense of community. It makes me want to come into the gym even when I don’t want to in order to see friends and then maybe I do end up working out. The sense of community is a big positive when you belong to The Foundry. It motivates you to workout, which is what I needed.

Mike Enjoying Some Recovery!

TF: Why do you think it’s important to come in on rest days or days you don’t feel 100% and what do you usually do?

MG: I think it’s important just to stay in the routine of coming in here. I know there’s been times when I go on vacation so it’s hard to come back on that first day back. So I like to come in on days when I’m not working out to see people and just do some stretching or just do nothing. I just enjoy being here, that’s another plus of The Foundry, it’s a place you enjoy going to.

TF: So what do you do here if you aren’t taking the class?

MG: If I’m not doing the class, I’ll do some mobility and stretching or just do nothing. I’ll watch people work out.

The Foundry: You sometimes help people workout, like setting up the equipment and cheering them through their workout…

MG: I do like to help! I’m a big helper! I like things to run in an orderly timely fashion so when I can tell people are taking too much time setting up, I make sure they stay on task.

TF: How has The Foundry changed since you first coming and where do you envision it going?

MG: It’s grown obviously that’s the truth. When I first started coming we were in the temporary space and now we’re in the permanent space. The size has grown, the competitiveness has grown, and it seems to be a little more serious CrossFit. In the beginning, the majority of people were learning the movements and scaling, now a lot people are doing the workouts Rx and getting better.

In terms of where it’s going, who knows! With the new space, the sky’s the limit!

Thanks for sitting down with me Mike! Be sure to congratulate him and continue to WoD hard!