KATHY GREEN is no ordinary 61-year-old woman. A native of Vancouver, Canada, she represented and captained her country at the 1976 Montreal Olympics as a volleyball player. She was on the rowing team to go to Moscow four years later until her country (amongst many) staged a boycott.
She reckons she peaked as a player around 1986, but by then had been competing at top level a long time and decided to retire.
Even today, she still regularly plays (and coaches) volleyball and tennis and had been doing CrossFit with me for 18 months before signing up for the Amazing 12.
When I first met her she couldn’t – and wouldn’t – squat below parallel for fear of it hurting her knees. And then she discovered that not only could she squat deep, but that it was, in fact, good for her.
When she started the A12 program, Kathy was coming off a period of inactivity after illness. Her personal bests before the layoff were as follows: shoulder press 35k for three reps; deadlift 100k for one rep; back squat 75k for three reps (but not deep). She couldn’t do a single pull-up or come even remotely close.
During her time doing CrossFit, Kathy’s body shape never changed much even though she moved better and her capacity for work increased.
I worked her hard on the A12, but always in accordance with the principles of Paul McIlroy’s program. Kathy, despite holding down a job as a solicitor, not being a great sleeper and often finishing her workouts at 10pm, didn’t miss a day of training. On some days she was plain exhausted. That’s commitment for you.
By the end, not only had Kathy shed 35lbs of bodyweight and was at her lightest in more than 13 years, but her strength had soared. I’m not a big fan of assisted pull-ups with a band, but for the sake of demonstrating her strength gains, I had Kathy retest it – and FOLLOWING a workout!
Kathy had never before managed a pull-up with anything less than a thick green and thin red band combined. She was astonished when she then proceeded to complete a STRICT chin-up using just a thin red band (for those who use bands this will be of more significant understanding, but take it from me that it is a BIG leap and one that many people struggle to achieve in years!)
Her shoulder press improved to the point that she was hitting close to 40 reps in a short period with her 3rm weight. Kathy was doing multiple reps with nearly 90% of her best deadlift weight and her back squat also improved to the point that she could hit high reps – and I mean HIGH – with 80% of what was her 3rm.
Kathy’s become a bit of an inspiration at the CrossFit gym where I trained her. She was back doing CrossFit and the week after finishing the A12 completed her first CrossFit workout at the RX (prescribed) weight.
She’s got a drive to win (that she has never lost from her competition days) and a zest for life. She is the proverbial energiser bunny and it was a pleasure to work with her – and listen to her compilation of eighties music every night – and unbelievably satisfying to see her achieve such great results.