Member Highlight: Louis Stodieck
If you’ve been around Sanitas for any amount of time you’ve probably crossed paths with Louis Stodieck. Louis has been a member at Sanitas since 2015. We wanted to highlight Louis this month because we felt that Louis’s experience would inspire you, as it often does for us. So let’s dive right in and get to know him!
Can you tell us about yourself? Hometown, where you work, important people in your life, how you enjoy spending your free time etc.
I’ve been in Boulder for over 45 years so this is pretty much hometown. Always been a westerner, though, having grown up in Nevada a little south of Carson City. I grew up on a ranch, played sports in high school and developed a love for the outdoors and adventures early. I’ve always been a bit competitive and all that set me up to want to be fit and capable for life.
I work at CU Boulder in the department of Aerospace Engineering. Our group flies and conducts numerous experiments on the international space station each year, pretty much all in the life sciences (gravitational biology) and all of which is pretty cool. Interestingly, one of my main interests relates to the effects of microgravity in astronauts, particularly bone and muscle loss that is hugely accelerated during spaceflight. Space is not only the next frontier but also the ultimate coach potato environment, which is only partially overcome with excessive exercise of around 2 hours every single day! In CrossFit, we’re all very fortunate to have gravity both as our foe but also as our friend. We can keep very fit with only an hour a day, several days a week.
My wife, Tricia, is also a strong believer in fitness and loves the outdoors. We also love to travel and learn about and experience different cultures. We have two grown daughters, one living in Denver and the other in Seattle. We’re a close family and love spending time together any time we can.
How old were you when you started training CrossFit and what's your background in sport/fitness/movement prior to that?
I joined CrossFit Sanitas in 2015 at the ripe old age of 58. Okay, really not old. In fact, at 65 now, I still don’t consider myself old whatsoever, which is precisely the reason I love CrossFit. Most of my adult life, I did no formal workouts, just commuted on my bike to work and tried to get outdoors as much as possible. Around 50, after being inspired by my wife, I joined a regular gym and started weightlifting, which I did for many years but this became very hard to sustain. I made all the classic mistakes of doing the same exercises over and over. I did get stronger, for sure, and built up some new muscle, but it was not sustainable, definitely not fun and, from my perspective now, I was really not fit. I had strength but few of the other prime attributes of true fitness.
What initially interested you about CrossFit?
I wanted and needed something more than I was doing in 2015. I needed something that was going to have me want to go to the gym, not dread it. I knew nothing about CrossFit at the time and knew no one doing CrossFit. I must have done a little research on the approach but mostly, I just walked into the gym and signed up cold turkey for the Sanitas base camp. It was intimidating, eye opening, hard, intriguing, and yet satisfying, even kind of fun, which has only increased with time. At the beginning, my mobility was terrible (couldn’t do an overhead squat with a PVC pipe!), my metabolic capacity was mediocre, at best, and I did not know what an Olympic lift even was, let alone how to perform one.
How have you stayed engaged with your training over time?
My goal has always been to have and maintain a high degree of physical fitness. I don’t ever want to lose my ability to enjoy the outdoors (backpacking, hiking, climbing, kayaking, etc), to be able to do anything and everything I want with friends and family, to be an inspiration to people around me. As I get older (not old), this goal has naturally only sharpened and become an even higher priority. As long as I keep that goal in front of me, staying engaged in training has frankly been relatively easy. I have made CrossFit a strong habit, in fact, it’s now just part of my life. I actually miss it when I can’t get a workout in. It’s the great tool that I feel privileged to be able to access to help me stay healthy, but much more than just healthy, as I said earlier, fit. Physically fit, mentally fit, functionally fit, fit in every way. I can do movements, exercises and workouts I never imagined being able to do. I probably have less strength than when I first started CrossFit but now, I am far more rounded in my fitness with power, mobility, endurance, speed etc. Training is my way to maintain health and fitness indefinitely, which I fully plan to do.
Has your outlook on why you train changed over time? How has it changed?
Not really. My overall goal, to have a high level of physical fitness throughout life, is still there and going nowhere. What has changed is exactly what fitness may look like as I get older (not old). I’m certainly not going to outrun or outlift someone half my age nor will I even try. At this point in my life, training is more about maintenance, anti-aging as I like to say. I want to live a good, long life but only if I can remain physically and mentally fit and sharp. In my opinion, CrossFit is the perfect prescription for doing exactly that and CrossFit Sanitas is the perfect place to do it. It will be fine with me if I meet my end in the middle of a long mogul run on the ski slope at the age 95.
What's your favorite thing about being a member at Sanitas?
What’s not to love. I love the gym, the coaches, the workouts, even the equipment which can feel a bit like an old friend at times, but especially the people with whom I get to work out. There’s just nothing that compares with working out side by side with every kind of person and athlete who all have the same purpose, to better themselves. It gives me incredible energy to work out with everyone trying their best and smiling even, or maybe especially, when it’s just so hard to breathe.
What inspires you about other members in the gym?
I’m certainly inspired by the many achievements and capabilities that I get to see, whether strength, power, quickness, endurance, etc. Many in the gym are truly impressive in what they can do. More importantly, though, I’m inspired by everyone’s positive attitude, work ethics, willingness to be coached and get better. I’m inspired by the encouragement that everyone dishes out both for me and for others. I also love the collective sense of humor in this community. It really makes working out feel like play, at least most of the time!
What are your favorite CrossFit movements? Any you can't stand?
I pretty much like all the major lifts (clean, snatch, deadlift, even squats on occasion). There’s nothing I can’t stand but I will say that double unders are definitely a nemesis for me and, I really don’t care all that much for thrusters, which probably just means I need to do more of them.
What advice do you have for others who are hesitant to get started?
From the outside, CrossFit can appear intimidating, even downright scary, especially for those who are not star athletes, which is the vast majority of us. My advice is to overcome your hesitation and come into the gym to see what goes on. Talk to people (coaches and athletes) and get their opinions on what it takes to get started and what it takes to be successful in the long term. When you do start, commit fully for at least 6 months. What will feel overwhelming and clumsy or awkward at the beginning will start to feel natural. In six months, you will be a different person, physically and mentally, and any doubt you ever had will be gone. Just know it’s going to be tough at the beginning, but all workouts can be scaled and any workout can be done, no matter what it looks like on paper or on the screen at the front of the gym. Have faith in what you, your body and brain can achieve. Anyone can be fit at whatever level they want to achieve, at whatever level their body and mind will permit and at any age.
What do you like to do when you’re not in the gym?
Well, that’s easy. I like to spend time with my family and friends but I really like to engage with people in shared outdoor activities, like hiking, skiing (cross country and downhill), climbing, camping, mountain biking, canyoneering, ocean kayaking, backpacking, and even canoeing, which I’m about to try for the first time.
