Athlete Spotlight; Cassidy Duffield

“I didn’t have much direction with my programming. I followed a basic template that I occasionally tweaked, but I was essentially wrecking myself every single day. I had the ‘more is better’ mentality, so my volume was excessively high and I could hardly keep up,” Exclusive Coaching client Cass Duffield said on her life ‘before OPEX’.

Cass, 26, of Salt Lake City, has been working with Coach Mike Lee for a little over 5-months, and said she’s experienced a life change—for the better—to say the least.

A former childhood competitive gymnast (ages 5-15), Duffield said she became a self-professed globo gym rat when her gymnastics dreams and dedication ended. When she stumbled into CrossFit years later, she found new inspiration in training—and training for a purpose—yet, nonetheless, her tendency to overtrain only got the best of her (or rather got in the way of her achieving her bigger goals).

“After my first initial consult Skype call with Coach Mike, he pointed out some of the things I was really struggling with and why. I realized how unhealthy my lifestyle was and how important it was to change A LOT of things if I wanted to reach my goals as an elite athlete,” Duffield said.

Since ‘surrendering’ her own tendencies to program for herself with that ‘more is better’ mentality, she said she’s not only improved her physical abilities—but gained her life back as well, aside from the inner drill sergeant within her, constantly pushing herself to be more or do better.

“I’ve learned how important it is to listen to your body and really how individualized your program needs to be to be successful and reach your personal goals,” she said.

Here, Duffield sheds some insights on what exactly OPEX’s Exclusive Coaching program is all about:

Q: What has your coach taught you?

Cass: He has been EXTREMELY patient with me throughout this entire process. There were plenty of days I was beyond frustrated with my injury or the things I struggle with in my programming. He always takes the time to listen to me and my concerns, and genuinely concerned about my well being day to day as his athlete. Mike has helped me gain the confidence in myself that I’ve been missing for a long time.

Q: What does Exclusive Coaching entail? Commitment? Daily logging? Videos?

Cass: The more you put into it the more you get out of it. For me, it consists of sending the results of my workouts daily with requested videos attached. I send them daily, and get feedback daily. Often times I send videos while I’m training for immediate feedback. – Check out her latest video sent to her Coach, a #245 OHS here.

Q: Who are you outside of training?

Cass: I am a homebody and I love my dogs more than anything! If I’m not at the gym, I’m usually at home working in my yard or hanging out with my dogs. I’m really close with my family, they are my biggest support system and keep me grounded.

Q: What have you specifically learned and incorporated for factors outside training—nutrition, lifestyle, sleep, recovery, etc.—and how has that impacted you?

Cass: The hardest thing I’ve had to change has been my sleep habits. I was getting 4-5 hours of sleep each night prior to EC. Now I get 7-8 and incorporate some naps a few times a week. I’ve increased food intake significantly, and added some methods to help with recovery. I feel like a different person during workouts now and I recover much faster.

Q: Why should an athlete/person …even an ‘every day’ person…consider OPEX’s EC? What would they get out of it?

Cass: It feels great to have such a knowledgable and caring coach give you direction. Direction you can trust and know you’re working on your weaknesses as an individual and doing exactly what YOU need to.