“It is an inspiration to see how healthy we all have become, and the best part is sharing that together with each other, hopefully for years to come.
The Aiken family, from San Antonio, Texas, bond through CrossFit. Twenty-seven-year old Ariel Aiken and parents, Linda and William Aiken, both 59, enjoy the benefits of being a family who CrossFits together.
“Watching my parents do CrossFit next to me is one of the biggest motivations for me. Unlike so many who fear getting older, I look at my mom doing a handstand push-up as she is about turn 60 this year and I think, ‘Damn, I got a long way to go,’” Ariel says. William, retired U.S. Army nurse, was the first to discover CrossFit four years ago while deployed in Iraq. “I saw some folks doing a CrossFit workout while we were over there. I asked what it was and was intrigued,” he recalls. “I started an online search for a box near my home and found Alamo CrossFit. I was determined to try it out when I returned back to San Antonio. What got me hooked was the intensity and the small amount of time a real workout could take.”
Ariel was living in Arizona and working as a martial arts instructor when she started CrossFit after hearing about her dad’s experience. “He told me all about it while he was in Iraq, and when I looked it up, I found a brand new box opening down the road,” Ariel says. “I walked into CrossFit Fury and saw people doing a WOD — ropes hanging down, pull-ups bars, weights everywhere … I am always looking for a challenge and dislike routine — just the feel of the box alone felt right to me. My first WOD was Cindy and she kicked my butt, but I’ve been CrossFitting for the past four years now and love it.” Linda was skeptical at first. She was the last one to join the family CrossFit clan two years ago after much encouragement from her husband and daughter. “When William first returned home from Iraq and started CrossFit, he'd come home from a workout, barely able to move, exhausted, nauseated and telling me how great it was and how I needed to go,” she remembers. “My response was, ‘You've got to be kidding me.’”
“Well, fast-forward to a two-week period that I was home alone, restless and receiving daily phone calls from my husband and daughter telling me to go sign up for CrossFit,” she adds.
With trepidation, she walked into Alamo CrossFit in August 2010. An article on the wall about CrossFit in the San Antonio Business Journal about box owner Rick Martinez clinched the deal.
“Reading that article did it,” Linda says. “It inspired me to take care of my health, and move for longevity.”
While Linda never participated in sports and didn’t consider herself an athlete, she says the Sport of Fitness is, “a major part of my life now.” William and Ariel agree.
“I participated in several sports, my favorites being martial arts and long-distance running,” William explains. “As I have aged, though, I felt I was not only losing strength fast, but I was also losing the ability to move as I was used to. CrossFit has allowed me to regain strength, mobility and to realize I do not have to vegetate as I grow old.”
Ariel adds: “I have done martial arts since I was 3 years old, and I found that the coordination and balance from that really helped play a role in movements like pistols and handstand push-ups. But CrossFit has taken my fitness abilities to another level. It has enabled me to challenge myself in all areas of my life without hesitation.” CrossFit also gave Ariel new direction for her career and helped her discover her passion — coaching.
“Two years ago, I sold my two martial arts schools that I owned in Arizona and moved back to San Antonio, closer to my family. Transitioning to coaching CrossFit was only a natural move,” she says. “I now work as a Starbucks barista and coach at Fitness Porvida (part of both Alamo CrossFit and Constitution CrossFit.)” “It has been the neatest thing to be back home and WOD with my family, as opposed to hearing about PRs just over the phone … CrossFit has brought us all to a new level, uniting us in an ultimate goal,” Ariel says. “Dinner table talks are about how many pull-ups we got that day, or how my mother lapped me.” Ariel says her parents inspire her. “It is an inspiration to see how healthy we all have become, and the best part is sharing that together with each other, hopefully for years to come. I tell my mother weekly I want to be just like her at her age. She is my motivation,” she adds. Linda says she is happy to have her daughter closer. “Now that Ariel lives in San Antonio, I absolutely love it. The three of us have always been very close, but this is something we can do and share as a family. I absolutely love having her in class, as a coach or working out together. She is an amazing teacher and gives such encouragement. She is my biggest fan,” she says.
And William is a proud husband and father.
“I think the best part for me is seeing my wife — who has never in her life done anything remotely close to CrossFit — do so well and always challenge herself. Linda and I are some of the oldest folks in our gym so we are more like the box grandparents, but CrossFit is something we all enjoy and it is fun to not be alone with the pain after,” he laughs. “As for Ariel, she has very high self-motivation, so with her, I have loved witnessing her pushing to be better. She has a special talent for teaching and coaching.”
