If you’ve been around the gym in the last month, you may have noticed our newest staff member: Elsa Emma.
(She absolutely loves that joke and is not tired of it)
We are so, SO excited to have Emma on our team as she brings with her a lot of amazing experience, and plenty of early 2000s rap and hip hop jams. If you haven’t had the pleasure, meet Emma!
Q: Tell us a little about yourself and your home life (where’d you come from, when’d you move here, etc.).
A: I am born and raised in Austin, TX and have never left! I went to college in the Austin area as well at Concordia University Texas, where I got my degree in Interpersonal Communication and played collegiate Softball. I have been an athlete my whole life and that inspired me to dive into the health and wellness world and become a fitness professional. Since college, I have been in the fitness industry for about five years, with work ranging from collegiate strength and conditioning, to personal training, to gym management. In my spare time I enjoy time with my dog, Fenway, being outside on the water or playing sand volleyball, and all things music and art.
Q: How did you get into CrossFit?
A: I got into CrossFit my Sophomore year of college and instantly fell in love with the mental aspect of it all. I loved having to use my mind to strategize workouts, be meticulous in movements, and apply a lot of what I did and/or learned in CrossFit, applied to my everyday life too.
Q: What have you learned about yourself personally since starting CrossFit?
A: I have learned that I can take a hard thing, break it down into manageable pieces, and accomplish the hard thing. It sounds so elementary, but I think in life (including in workouts), we can look at something really hard and automatically assume we can’t do it or that it has to be terrible. But when we take the time to break it down and give ourselves small wins in the midst of the hard, that hard thing all of the sudden becomes doable and less daunting. For me, taking the time to strategize CrossFit workouts and proving to myself that I can do the hard thing, has really bled into all other areas of my life. Fitness is a crazy thing.
Q: Why (and when) did you become a CrossFit coach, and what is your favorite part about coaching?
A: I became a CrossFit coach in 2020 and haven’t stopped since. What I love about CrossFit is that it focuses on lifestyle. As CrossFit coaches, we care about you as a person and your life outside of the gym, as well as your fitness. I think a lot of places tend to focus on the hour that someone is in the gym only, instead of looking at the whole picture. I think that sets us apart, and is also one of my favorite things about the CrossFit community. When someone walks in, I want them to know that we’re here for them wholly. I’ve always said that yes, this is a fitness business, but first and foremost it is a people business.
One of my favorite parts about being a CrossFit coach is seeing someone achieve something they never thought they could. It is often that someone walks in with zero CrossFit experience, full of fear and intimidation, and thinking that they could never do the things they see other members do around the gym. For me, seeing someone work to overcome that fear and eventually conquer it is unmatched. We truly get the opportunity to change people’s lives in this job, and to see someone who once was timid and not be confident about fitness come out of their shell and crush workouts or lift a weight they never thought they could, is so rewarding. That confidence and win carries over into way more aspects of client’s lives than we realize.
Q: As a native Austinite, what’s one of your favorite OG Austin spots that no longer exists and why?
A: One of my favorite OG Austin spots was Shady Grove. It was a restaurant that used to be on Barton Springs Road and closed during COVID. They had live music, airstream trailer bathrooms, indoor and outdoor seating, wagon wheels as a fence, pretty good food, and so much more. My family and I used to go there all the time and we deemed it as our “fun restaurant” that we went to on dinners out. It was around for 30 years and was a big part of my childhood!
Q: If you had to do one movement in every workout for the rest of your life, what would it be?
A: Probably alternating DB Snatches or alternating DB Clean and Jerks. I don’t know why but I love those movements. I’m much better cycling a DB than a BB and it’s just a fun movement for me!
Q: What is one thing outside the gym that you’re excited about doing/seeing/accomplishing in the next year?
A: One thing outside of the gym that I’m excited about in the next year is going back to the CrossFit Games! Don’t get it twisted, I am not competing. My best friend and second boss, Bethany Flores (or Shadburne), is projected to make it back to the CrossFit Games for the seventh time. I’ve gone with her the past three years and it’s always fun to get the chance to go again. Though I am going primarily for work for her, it is still a lot of fun for me and always exciting to watch those athletes compete in real time, especially Bethany.
Q: If you had to give a TED Talk about one topic, what would it be?
A: Probably the importance of interpersonal communication skills and the need for hard conversation. I truly wish everyone had to take classes about communication in relationships. I think the world and people’s relationships could be exponentially better if they just had the knowledge and willingness to do the extra work to communicate healthily and wholly.
Q: If you had to pick a “last meal”, what would it be?
A: Beau Joe’s Pizza from Idaho Springs, CO. When I tell you it is good…it’s incredible.
So totally like Elsa… only fitter.
So basically Elsa… only cooler.
(See what I did there??)
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