Heart and Soul: Carlos Rodriguez

March 9, 2012

Thomas Patton and Nando Moreira Figueroa

As soon as Workout 12.1 was released, the whole world knew there was a big challenge on the way. Every CrossFitter should and knows how to do a burpee, the question became, “How many in seven minutes?” 
 
Carlos Rodriguez can do 134 burpees in seven minutes, and with incredible heart and soul. That was enough to land him in 2nd place in the Latin American Region by the end of week 12.1.
 
To Rodriguez, CrossFit, “is heart, perseverance, commitment, and will,” with no place for limits.

 

 

Since 2009, Rodriguez, 26, has been drinking the CrossFit Kool-Aid. He is also a coach and co-owner at Horda CrossFit in Guayaquil, Ecuador since September 2011. His athletic past includes tennis, swimming, soccer, and self defense, until he finally found his passion with CrossFit. 
 
His first exposure to competition took place during the First CrossFit Ecuadorian Games in October 2011 where he landed a 3rd place amongst 130 athletes. He knew what was coming in the 2012 Open wouldn’t be easy and felt “my greatest handicap is my 5’2” height and 138 pounds of weight.” 
 
To Rodriguez, CrossFit, “is heart, perseverance, commitment, and will,” with no place for limits. As if he needed to add more motivation to his CrossFit passion and “never give up” mentality, he flew to his Level 1 Seminar on January 14, 2012 and his Seminar coach was none other than his idol, Chris Spealler.
 
“I felt dead before, during, and after WOD 12.1,” he says. “Before because I was nervous the first time participating in the Games, during because every repetition was harder than the past one, and after because I could not catch my breath. The support [from the people] at my box was fundamental and they helped me feel extremely gratified with my performance.”
 
Carlos currently eats paleo and follows the normal programming at his gym. He is grateful to CrossFit because “my conditioning is much greater than when I trained any other sport, better core, better breathing, better metabolic and muscular conditioning,” he explains. “I am better with other recreational sports such as soccer and tennis, and I have even gained the confidence for 5, 10 and 21K races. CrossFit allows you the mentality to defeat things you thought impossible before.”  
 
He says his CrossFit career is just beginning. He plans to learn more, specialize more in lifts, tackle his weaknesses until his body allows him to do so, go to more Seminars, and share a lot more. “There is nothing more gratifying than watching someone improve their health and lifestyle with your help.”
 
Life for Carlos Rodriguez now includes more confidence with his physical capabilities, applying a CrossFit mentality to life situations, and now, more recently, crushing the Open Workouts.
 
Despite his 138-lb. frame, Carlos complete 60 reps at Open Workout 12.2. That means he snatched 75-lb. for 30 reps and then snatched 135-lb., just short of his bodyweight, for another 30 reps. Two workouts into the Open, Carlos is ranked 9th in his region.