May 10, 2018
Taking a Chance on a Second Chance

Producers: Braid Blanks and Matt Pinson

Arielle Armstrong is a 24-year-old CrossFit athlete who has a full-time job, is a full-time student, and who has recently qualified for the 2018 Reebok CrossFit Games Regionals after placing seventh in the Open in the South Central Region.

Armstrong admits that her focus shifted over this past season of training. In previous years, she had trained up to six hours per day (four hours in the morning and two hours in the evening, every day) with the sole purpose of making it to the CrossFit Regionals and the Games. However, this past year she decided that her education and getting her master’s degree came first, so CrossFit would have to take a back seat.

She traded in her lengthy solo training sessions and accessory work for one-hour noontime classes at her local affiliate, CrossFit Abilene.

"I've done the best I've ever done in the Open, just doing community class workouts," she says.

“The intensity is high, and I’m just trying to be the best I can be for one hour, and then I forget about it and do my schoolwork and everything else,” she explains.

Armstrong will be getting her master’s degree and graduating from Hardin-Simmons University with a 4.0 GPA just one week prior to her 2018 Regionals appearance.

Additional reading: “When You Know Your Enemy”