Undersized: Mike Abgarian

April 9, 2012

Stephanie Vincent

“If you stop for a second, your gonna lose, your gonna get passed ... I don’t like to lose.” 

In the Open, he locked down two 3rd place scores and a 1st place finish in the Mid Atlantic Region. His overall performance landed him in 6th place (47th worldwide.) Meet Mike Abgarian.

Abgarian played sports his whole life, specifically wrestling and soccer. However, he calls CrossFit “the turning point in his fitness.” His first workout was Helen at CrossFit Charlotte with Andy Hendel. When he heard what he would need to do for the workout he thought, “This is stupid, I’m going to kill it.”

We all know what happened next. Abgarian’s ego got crushed and he never looked back. 

When Abgarian made it to last year’s Regional, he sent Hendel a letter thanking him for introducing him to his sport.

Now, Abgarian and his wife own CrossFit 610 in Pennsylvania and opened a second affiliate CrossFit King of the Beach in New York, this past October. He says he loves that his wife, Molly and he get to share work at home and at the gyms. “It’s a nice balance and we can help each other out.”

Abgarian is a self professed “undersized athlete” and put a huge focus on strength after finishing in 15th place at last year’s Regional competition. He says he practices Olympic lifting daily, and squats twice a week. In addition to strength training, he has been doing two-a-days and strictly scheduling his rest. 

It also helps Abgarian’s training that there are other great athletes at CrossFit 610.  Team CrossFit 610 competed at the 2011 Regional and will again this year. Team members Evan Bauer and Jake Knight help push Abgarian in workouts. “If you stop for a second, your gonna lose, your gonna get passed,” he says. “I don’t like to lose.”

This “body weight guy” set goals and worked hard this past year. He has made important gains in his strength and says he’s willing to push himself to the place where it hurts.  Abgarian’s next goal is simple: “Make top three.”