What a Difference a Year Can Make

May 2, 2014

Lisa Zane

“When I first saw the screen, I really had to take a second, third, fourth and fifth look just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things."
~Gibson on his worldwide Open finish

Photo by John Gibson 

 

Photo by John Gibson 


Main photo by Rachel Dhansaw

Last year, after only a few months of CrossFit, Jonathan Gibson finished the Open ranked 27th in the Canada West Region. He went on to finish 31st at the regional.

This year is different.

After the Open, the 24-year-old sat at the top of the Canada West Leaderboard. He was the top-ranked Canadian in the world, placing 14th worldwide against the likes of Rich Froning, Jason Khalipa and Ben Smith.

“When I first saw the screen, I really had to take a second, third, fourth and fifth look just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things,” Gibson said. “It’s incredibly humbling—I’ve watched these guys since I started and even before I started, kind of in awe.”

Gibson, who trains and coaches at CrossFit Prince George in British Columbia, Canada, got involved in CrossFit after hanging up his hockey skates.

He played junior hockey in Ontario before moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to lace up for Neumann University. When he came back home to Prince George to continue his education and pursue a business degree at the University of Northern British Columbia, he sought a competitive outlet.

“I looked up CrossFit and watched the Games on TV, and was like, ‘Well, that looks kinda fun,’” he remembered.

He joined CrossFit Prince George and geared up to compete in his first Open with relatively little experience. Admittedly inefficient on some of the skilled movements, he plugged away at the first four workouts, and even had the top score in Canada West on 13.4—clean and jerks, and toes-to-bars.

But a few days before 13.5, Gibson received terrible news: one of his best friends had passed away unexpectedly.

“He had diabetes,” he said. “Through complications one night he just didn’t wake up.”

“He was an awesome guy,” he continued. “He was full of life. He was always the guy to knock some sense into me, which I always really appreciated about him. He was kind of a straight shooter.”

Just a few weeks after his friend’s death, Gibson competed at regionals for the first time, not knowing what to expect.

He managed to come away with two top-10 finishes despite struggling with some of the more technical movements including chest-to-bar pull-ups and handstand push-ups. Inexperienced on rope climbs, Gibson admitted he asked some of the other competitors to help him out with his technique in the warm-up area just prior to the event.

While the weekend was challenging, Gibson said it was an incredible experience.

“Being able to sit on the sidelines and watch some of these guys in the last heat, like (Lucas) Parker and Tyson (Takasaki), just kind of tear it up—it was really inspiring to watch,” Gibson said. “It kinda opened up my eyes. I’ve only been doing this for a short period of time and did pretty well. Imagine if I went 100 percent at it?”

After returning home, he decided to make some drastic changes, incited by the regional experience and the loss of his friend.

“Thinking about him, and getting that life is too short to sit back—it’s one of those things where you take a look at your life, take a look in the mirror,” he said. “I decided this isn’t the guy that I wanted to be. I wanted to be better in and out of the gym, so I decided to make a major change. I think it was the jumpstart to get my life straightened out.”

The biggest change Gibson made was outside of the gym. He was a party guy who was always up for “beers with the boys.” He decided to quit drinking altogether.

“It ruffled a few feathers with some of my friends, not being able to go out and do the things that I’d usually done,” he said. “When I stopped cold turkey, people couldn’t believe it. And when I see people I haven’t seen in a while, they can’t believe it either. I tried to reinvent myself from that goof to what I will become.”

With more time to spend in the gym, Gibson made it a goal to do every single movement found in CrossFit every week. Writing his own programming, he has spent time working on his weaknesses just as much as his strengths. A big guy who thrives with heavier weights, Gibson said adding frequent gymnastics to his workouts has made them some of his favorite movements.

“I’m really just trying to get as efficient on every movement as I possibly can,” he said.

His performance in the Open this year showed how much his conditioning and efficiency have improved. The consistent Gibson pulled off a top-five finish in every workout, including a first-place finish on 14.5, the thruster/burpee couplet.

“(That) was the most horrendous thing I think I’ve ever done,” he said with a laugh. “But I loved (it).”

Gibson said his life changes, new training, and support from other athletes has given him more confidence going into regionals. He gives a lot of credit to both his friends and his parents.

“My whole family, they’ve just been fantastic with this,” he said, adding that his frequent drives to and from the gym with his father during the Open would make him feel like he was 15 again and playing midget hockey. “(We’d be) in the car and (he’d be) like, ‘So, what do you think you could have done faster in?’ and stuff like that. They’ve been an awesome support system.”

With his parents backing his decision to take the semester off school to focus on competing, Gibson remains “all in” in his quest to qualify for the Games.

“There are going to be a ton of great athletes (at regionals), and I have to go in and just worry about the next rep and not be distracted or worry about what other guys are going to do,” he said. “I have to have confidence in myself and in my training, and go out and perform to the best of my ability.”

With a pool of amazing athletes to compete against, Gibson knows it will be a tight race.

“I’m goin’ for the podium, goin’ for gold,” he said. “It’s gonna be a fun ride, and I’m very excited to go out there and prove myself.”