“As long as the enthusiasm continues, I will continue to have fun doing CrossFit, both as a hobby and competitively.”
Photos by: Paolo Sanchez
Bo Meredith started CrossFit by following the CrossFit.com workout of the day.
“CrossFit was always just a lunchtime hobby with a couple friends,“ he says.
In 2008, Meredith’s first CrossFit workout was Christine. His first taste of CrossFit competition was the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games Open where he placed 35thin the North West and earned a spot at the North West Regional. He achieved this success while training at a globo gym — no rings, rowers or bumpers.
“I actually got my first muscle-up a couple weeks before the 2011 Open — not that I couldn’t do them, I had never tried,” Meredith says.
During a practice run of the deadlift/box jump workout prior to Regionals, Meredith felt a tweak in his back, but didn’t see it as a major concern. At the time, it didn’t appear to affect him too much as he finished in 18th place.
“I was very surprised with my finish,” he says.
But Meredith’s back pain turned out to be two bulged discs at the L5/S1 and L5/L4 levels. He took a few months off from training to receive therapy, and mainly trained for the 2012 season with bodyweight met-cons.
“The burpee WOD was right up my alley since most of my training was bodyweight movements at the time.”
Meredith pumped out 140 burpees, one behind defending CrossFit Games Champion, Rich Froning, and also bettered 2011 Open champion, Dan Bailey. After three events in the Open, Meredith positioned himself in eighth in the North West. He was looking at back-to-back appearances at the North West Regional, but wouldn’t complete the last two Open workouts.
“My wife and I decided to take the kids to Mexico over spring break. I was still recovering from the back injury during the 2012 season, so I had no plans to compete at Regionals.”
In his preparation for the 2013 season, Meredith has been training at Ketchikan CrossFit and following the Outlaw CrossFit blog.
His hard work is paying off. He won the CrossFit Alaska State Championships this past October.
Meredith is no stranger to competition. He was an All-American swimmer at South Dakota State where his 200-meter breaststroke time of 2:05.67 in 1999 was a school record for seven years. He currently holds the second fastest time in school history for the 100-meter breaststroke.
“As long as the enthusiasm continues, I will continue to have fun doing CrossFit, both as a hobby and competitively.”
The Commercial Fisheries Management Biologist from Ketchikan, Alaska, is a father of two with another child on the way. Meredith mainly trains on his lunch hour if he isn’t out of town for work conducting aerial surveys or diving.
“It is quite possibly one of the most fun, rewarding and exciting jobs a person can have and still get paid.”
