Member Spotlight: Jacob Arditi

How did you hear about CrossFit?

I played football throughout high school (Ward Melville) and one year in college (SUNY Brockport) and we always did workouts that involved CrossFit movements, like the clean and jerk and wall balls, but I never really considered pursing it. Everyone I hung out with used to say “CrossFit is bad for you, CrossFit makes you weak, CrossFit causes so many injuries, If you do CrossFit you will immediately become frail”, (Pretty stupid looking back on it) so I never even considered it. Going into my sophomore year of college I decided to transfer home and attend Stony Brook University giving up football to go to a better academic university. I kind of had nothing to do without football, went to the gym for a couple hours and it was pretty boring. So I looked into something that would be more interesting. I saw “Fittest on Earth” on Netflix, researched everything about CrossFit, and saw how everyone was in sick shape and I decided I defiantly wanted to try it. 5 months later I’m really glad I did because I can’t imagine my life without it.

How long have you been at PCF?

I started in May, so around 5 months.

What do you like about Port CrossFit?

My favorite part about PCF is definitely the coaches. Every single coach at PCF has helped me in one way or another. They genuinely try to make you better. Coming from all football based workouts, no one knew how to actually lift and workout. We just all tried to do the most weight for the most amount of times and never worked on form. The coaches have all helped me break down my form and improve in a lot of areas. I also love all the people that go to PCF. It is extremely humbling and inspiring when people 45+ not only beat you in a workout, but beat you bad. Really makes you appreciate how dedicated everyone is. It’s also fun doing it with Nikki. It’s been really cool watching her transform her fitness from someone that would go to the gym for 2 hours on the elliptical and maybe do 2 air squats (3 on a good day), to someone who now beats me in WODs on a daily basis.

One word to describe yourself

Probably passionate. Once I get into something I kind of obsess over it, get hooked and want to keep getting better.

What have you achieved since starting at PCF?

I think I gained a better understanding of overall fitness and health. I used to think it was all about being strong and neglected all the other little things that matter just as much (like stretching). You have to be very well rounded in CrossFit and that’s something I’m trying to work on. It really doesn’t matter if you can deadlift 465 pounds if you can’t do a single handstand pushup because your shoulders can’t move lol.

What would you like to accomplish?

Right now I am a junior at SBU studying Business Management with a concentration in Finance and Marketing. I hope to finish my bachelors and then get accepted into SBUs one year Masters of Business Administration Program and hopefully get my Masters and Bachelors in 5 years total. Then hopefully find a good job. CrossFit related I want to keep trying to learn all the movements that I can’t do, improve my mobility, and lose like 10-15 pounds for performance.

What are your interests outside of CrossFit?

Outside of CrossFit I like to hang out with my friends and girlfriend. I’m really into professional sports (Vikings, Yankees, and Knicks) follow them pretty actively. I really enjoy movies and TV shows, pretty much have seen every movie, too much actually. Love all different types of music (think I should control the AUX at PCF). And I’m basically a professional at Fantasy Football, Madden, and 2k.

What do you do for a living?

I’m a junior at Stony Brook University right now, but I also work part time in between classes for fellow member Kevin Hearney at 2 of the gas stations he owns. I’ve been doing that for a year now and enjoy it. It’s pretty cool working out with your boss. I also just finished an internship at a Financial Advisory Firm and that went pretty well also.

What is your favorite WOD or lift?

Definitely cleans.

 

 

WOD:

A.power clean. push press (Work to a tough single in 15 minutes)

B. 3 Rounds for time:

400m run
15 clean and jerks 115/75
75 double unders
* barbell should be “lighr”
**doubles can be scaled to 35/ 150 single unders