"I am not crazy strong, or the greatest gymnast or lightning fast, but I have the ability to do everything and I am constantly building on each element at the same time."
Kara Gordon won the Australia Regional this year and earned her first trip to the CrossFit Games. Gordon – or Big Dub to her friends – is stoked to compete and ready to take on whatever they pull out of the hopper.
Gordon found CrossFit in 2010 after joining a globo gym with her mom. “I was young and had been going out and partying and not really doing anything productive with my time and felt a little bit lost,” Gordon says.
Gordon’s trainer, Brian Bucholtz, found CrossFit soon after and the two began working out together. While Bucholtz worked on opening his own box, Gordon and her friends trained in a garage with a kettlebell, a medicine ball, rings and a jump rope.
CrossFit Roar opened in Brisbane just in time for this year’s Open. Bucholtz encouraged Gordon to compete. She went into it with no expectations. She ended up qualifying for Regionals after a fifth-place finish. “I was so incredibly scared. I survived it and learned so much about CrossFit and about me as an athlete,” she says. “I did better than I ever expected and had the drive to just continue growing.”
Gordon says she expected a top five finish at Regionals. Her goal was top three. She dominated the weekend, finishing in the top three in all of the events and first overall. “The main goal was to walk away with no regrets, have heaps of fun, and see if all of the hard work and planning worked,” she says.
Gordon’s big smile was featured prominently throughout the Australia Regional highlights. This clearly reflected her mindset for the weekend. “You hear a lot of people say that time is the key to CrossFit, and that you need experience. I have been living CrossFit for the past year, doing it, teaching it to people, and trying to help people love it and feel as good as I do,” she says. “This year, going into Regionals … it just felt right. I felt comfortable with my abilities and my mental preparation and understanding what it was all about. So, with that feeling of acceptance, it allowed me to just enjoy the workouts and the atmosphere to its full extent.”
Gordon’s training hasn’t changed much since Regionals with the exception of a few higher volume days with recovery to simulate the increased demand of the Games. Gordon and her trainers do not follow any particular programming or focus on strength or gymnastics. Instead, they practice skill work and movements Gordon is not fully comfortable with.
“I am not crazy strong, or the greatest gymnast or lightning fast, but I have the ability to do everything and I am constantly building on each element at the same time. Be prepared for anything right?” Gordon says.
Gordon is ready for anything to come up at the Games. “It is incredibly scary but so exciting to think of what they can pull out of the hat but whatever it is it will be the ultimate test of how I am able to translate my day to day training into a weekend of difficult unknowns,” she says.
She also looks forward to the overall experience of the Games. “I definitely feel like that little girl heading to the big city for the first time to see the celebrities. I have looked to these athletes along my journey for inspiration and now I will be up there with them,” she says. ”I want to walk away with some wicked memories, new friends and a fire in my belly to hopefully drive me back to Carson next year.”
Gordon studies Health and Nutritional Science. She is getting married this summer. She recognizes the benefits CrossFit has on the overall community. “I love that CrossFit offers absolutely any individual of any walk of life the opportunity to challenge themselves, better themselves and feel that sense of achievement,” she says. “As humans, we want to feel productive and we want to grow and develop and no matter who you are you will never perfect CrossFit, you are always working to be better.”
Gordon continues: “I really want to make everyone back home from CrossFit Roar proud. I want them to be excited to say they come into our gym everyday and train. I want them to be able to say they have been a part of something so outstanding for me and our gym.”
