"I was born a little muscular girl. ... And all the boys would make fun of me because I had bigger calves than them."
It helps to have a background in gymnastics in the sport of CrossFit.
Handstand walking, handstand push-ups, muscle-ups, pistols and butterfly pull-ups are some movements that require time, practice and patience for the majority of us to obtain.
Not so for Cassidy Lance, the second-place individual Games qualifier from the South Central Region—she’s been doing many of the CrossFit skill-based movements for as long as she can remember.
“I was born a little muscular girl,” Lance said. “My mom put me in dance classes but I was doing cartwheels instead. I would climb this gigantic pole, at least 20 feet high, in preschool. And all the boys would make fun of me because I had bigger calves than them.”
If you asked Lance 10 years ago where she’d be today, she would have told you, “A national title holder in gymnastics for the NCAA.” She spent every moment she wasn’t in school in the gym.
“As a child, when most of the world was out playing in the sprinklers with the neighborhood children, I was training six hours a day, every day,” Lance remembered. “Gymnastics was my life and my dream.”
But instead of becoming a gymnast, Lance is now a three-time CrossFit Games competitor, heading back to Carson, California, for the second year in a row.
Life doesn’t always go according to plan, and competing with the sport’s elite wasn’t even on her radar when she started CrossFit. In the beginning, she did CrossFit to get her mind off gymnastics—a nagging knee injury finally ended her career during her sophomore year at the University of Washington.
“I competed well during my freshman year with moments of brilliance including two 9.9 finishes, and the following year I really came in strong,” she recounted. “I was faster, more explosive, more disciplined and more determined than ever. Then it happened: my dream was changed forever. It was a normal day of practice at Washington, nothing out of the ordinary, or so I thought, until I made a pass on floor and felt it go. I blew out the same knee for the fourth time in my life.”
She said she felt everything she’d worked in her life was taken from her in an instant.
Prior to the injury, Lance had undergone three reconstructive knee surgeries and four orthoscopic surgeries during her high school days in Utah. Determination kept her pressing forward, but with the last injury she had no choice but to stop.
“There would be no more competing, no glories, no teammates, no championships, no hard work, there was nothing,” she said. “A true emptiness entered my life. Everywhere I turned there was a painful reminder of what could have been. Looking back now I am not sure how I really made it through. About a year and nine surgeries later my friend suggested I try CrossFit. I was hesitant at first but then I fell in love.”
Lance’s CrossFit experiment began in Washington State at Northwest CrossFit in 2009. It gave her a new challenge, and gradually, as she learned the movements and gained strength, she trained more often and put her damaged knee to the test.
“I was rehabilitating my knee very differently than before,” Lance said. “I was challenging myself, and actually getting better.”
In fact, in 2010, Lance qualified for the Games with the team from Northwest CrossFit. Her first experience made her hungry to pursue individual competition. Subsequently, Lance re-calibrated her goals: she wanted her California return to be a solo affair.
Following her college graduation in June 2010, Lance moved to Dallas, Texas, for a job as a gymnastics coach with SunBelt Gymnastics. She also found her new CrossFit home. At CrossFit BOLT in Coppell, Texas, she met Matt McCraney whose coaching would guide her to regionals qualification for the next four years. Each year, she improved in the standings.
“In 2011, I made it to regionals, but not any further than that. I DNF’d one of the workouts on the second day, and decided to drive myself back home, and that this was not worth it,” she recalled. “I thought to myself that I would never be as good as these girls. They were healthy and strong, and I was a gimp. I asked myself why I even bothered to try this.”
“Then, I tried again in 2012,” she continued. “I was better that year, but still suffered to compete alongside the top girls. I finished 14th overall that weekend. After lots of tears and daydreams of somehow making it on top, it clicked in my mind—it was that moment when I knew I could be something great. I saw myself rechanneling my passion, filling the void that so long existed in my life since I blew out my knee. I craved it, I worked harder, pushed harder and began training smarter.”
In 2013, Lance’s vision became a reality. She qualified for the Games after a second-place finish in South Central. But the experience wasn’t without setbacks. The marathon row event was especially brutal, but she told herself if she could make it through that, she truly could make it through anything.
“The workout that gave me the biggest challenge was rowing a marathon. My hip locked up on me, and I was almost in tears,” she said. “I ended up taking my foot out to rest it and continued rowing with one leg. I dropped dramatically on the Leaderboard. At that point it was mind over matter. I figured if I could sit and row for over an hour then I can get through any workout thrown at me.”
Lance finished the weekend in 29th place, and, once more, went back to the drawing board to work on newfound weaknesses, as well as to continue improving her strengths.
“This past year I have definitely built more confidence both as an athlete and as an individual,” she said. “When you are competing you realize everything is related to one another. When you are feeling confident and relaxed you perform confidently and relaxed. It is important to find out what these key contributors are and capitalize on them.”
“One of my weaknesses included deadlifts, which I have made a point to focus on, and as a result I have made dramatic strides,” she added. “For example, last year at the Games in the final WOD, I was barely able to lift 265 lb. and my back looked like a fishing pole that caught a shark. This year I am able to do 265 lb. multiple times with good form.”
A year’s worth of more hard work paid off. In 2014, after a three-day fight, she made the podium again in San Antonio. For the second year in a row, she was second only to Jenn Jones.
Lance believes her best performance is yet to come.
“I look forward to this year’s opportunity,” she said. “I have grown over the years and I feel like I keep getting stronger and stronger. Maybe not physically, but mentally I am prepared for any challenge.”
Leading up to the Games, Lance is in the gym, on a trail or in a pool, training three times per day, on top of coaching CrossFit and gymnastics, and completing homework assignments for her graduate school degree in Rehabilitation Counseling.
“CrossFit does not define who I am,” she said. “In many ways, I hope I define CrossFit by setting the example of the type of person you should strive to be. The type of athlete that … motivates others to compete and be better every day. After all, that is what CrossFit is, right? A constant challenge to beat oneself. My principles for training and living my life are synonymous. If you are going to do it, whatever it is, give it all you’ve got and do it with all your heart. My motto is: Do it with passion or not at all. Life is made up of moments and I intend to live each one of these smiling.”
