Kalie Benson

Power Rower. Power Lifter. Power Everything-Er.

Here's what you do: Go to Wikipedia.com. Type in Kalie Benson. Click on NCAA Rowing Championship. There, under Division II, you'll find Kalie's name listed with the 2003 winning for UC Davis. Yep, Kalie Benson is a bona fide Champion. Now she's a bona fide CrossFitter.

A former high school basketball player, volleyball player and thrower as well as college athlete, Kalie thrived on competition. But after graduating from UC Davis, she found it hard to maintain the same drive that pushed her to perform. And win.

"I felt that after four years of rowing, I lost some of that mental toughness," she explains. "It was ok to give up on a workout and walk that last lap or not do that last set." It wasn't until she discovered CrossFit that she recognized the void in her life.

"I saw a video of a high school friend lifting in her local CrossFit gym," Kalie recalls. "And my first reaction was, 'I can do that...and with better form...and I bet faster than her.' That's when I realized how much I missed lifting and being in a competitive atmosphere."

It didn't take Kalie long to get back into competitive shape, either. Just a few weeks after finishing On-Ramp, Kalie was already pulling impressive numbers in her Olympic lifts and landing herself on the leaderboard. Today, she's up there with a 125 LB clean, a 230 LB deadlift, and a 145 LB split jerk. She was a serious competitor in our Summer Leaning Challenge, too - losing 12 LBS in 8 weeks, bringing her total weight loss since joining CFLB to 22 LBS. She's now got her Dad and cousins eating healthier too.

While leaning out, Kalie has continued getting stronger and faster. "I love being in a place that promotes being strong," she says. "I never liked lifting weights at the regular gym because as I girl I felt like people where looking at me funny, or coming over to ask if I needed help to trying to give me advice. It's great to be in a place where it's not weird to be strong."

The looks Kalie gets at CFLB are ones of pure admiration and respect. With her lifting background, Kalie naturally excelled at the heavy weighted WODs. But she's also worked her butt off on the body-weight, speed and skill-intensive movements too. She recently ran a 7:54 mile after doing 100 squats, and was our top female scorer for Fight Gone Bad 6 (her first time, too). Now she can add kipping pull-ups to her list of skills.

"I have never been able to do a pull-up - EVER!" she says. "I'm so happy about this." She celebrated this milestone with her fellow CFLB members. "This is a very positive place to work out. Everyone is so encouraging. I think CrossFit attracts a certain type of people and those people are awesome!"

So ask former basketball/volleyball player, thrower and Champion rower Kalie Benson what her sport is now, and she'll instantly tell you CrossFit. "Even thought it's not for the benefit of the team, it's for my benefit, and in a way that's even better. Plus, how can you not feel great about conquering a WOD?"

Sadly, Kalie will conquering WODs at another CrossFit gym soon, when she moves back to Northern California to attend nursing school. Our loss, their gain.

"Kalie is very modest of her accomplishments," says her Coach Carlos. "I found out that she was a champion rower after I 'taught' her how to row in On-Ramp. She never made a big deal about it. She's also very hard working and always asking for correction so she can improve. I will miss her dearly."