CrossFit So Ill

Trainer/Co-Owner: Emma Moburg-Jones – Cell: (618) 305-4940

Email: Emma@CrossFitSoiLL.com

CrossFit Level 1 Certified

Olympic Weightlifting Certified

CrossFit Kids Certified

Throughout my life, I’ve gone through many “flavor of the month” exercise programs. I bought my first treadmill…and ended up using it to hang clothes on. I purchased a mountain bike, equipped with bell, basket and streamers, and rode it once (in the store parking lot). I joined a local gym that rhymes with bolds…..and dreaded going every single time.

One evening in November, I was asked to try out this new program that had hit C’dale called CrossFit. It was an 8PM foundations class and I remember doing burpees! I knew I would be hooked when I actually enjoyed them. It took me a few weeks of self-motivation to keep myself going back for the WOD…and to think I originally only wanted to go 3 days per week. The program made me want to change my overall health and fitness. I started seeing the results of the hard work. I started enjoying playing with heavy weights. I learned to jump rope and stand on my head!

Most importantly is the camaraderie built between the members of CrossFit. We motivate each other to perform at our ultimate best. CrossFit is a family. A community. Our members are everyday people, who come to the gym for common goals. We help each other try to exceed those goals and that’s why I love it so much. Just try it once…and you will, too.

Trainer: Holly Mason – Cell: (618) 525-1999 Email: Holly@CrossFitSoiLL.com

CrossFit Level 1 Certified

I have been an athlete ever since I could remember. I played softball and basketball but volleyball pretty much consumed my life through high school and two years of junior college. I continued to workout after sports ended but everything I did never ceased to bore me after a month or two. Then, by the grace of God, I was introduced to the wonderful world of CrossFit in October of 2009 and couldn’t enjoy working out any more than I do now.  It has changed the way I live indefinitely.  I want to get everyone I meet to try CrossFit just once because I know they will fall in love with it like I did.

Trainer: Jeff Hickam – Cell: (618) 967-1206 Email: Jeff@CrossFitSoiLL.com

CrossFit Level 1 Certified

Olympic Weightlifting Certified

I started CrossFit a couple of years ago after hearing about it from a friend of mine in the military. After doing some research, I began trying out CrossFit on my own at a local gym. The other members would look at me like something was wrong and would try to stop me in the middle of “Fran” to see if I was ok. Experimenting with CrossFit by myself was never an easy thing, but I knew it was better than any of the workouts I had done prior to trying CrossFit. Despite all the WOD’s I had done on my own, I never really knew what CrossFit was about until Emma came to town. Working out with a group where everyone is pushing it to the limit was unlike anything I had ever experienced….I was hooked. I’m in the best shape of my life since joining CrossFit So iLL, and I always look forward to tomorrows “WOD”.

Trainer: Mary Boehler – Cell: (618) 521-2336 Email: Mary@CrossFitSoiLL.com

CrossFit Level 1 Certified

Olympic Weightlifting Certified

I would have never in a million years imagined becoming a gym or “box” member, much less a coach.  I exercised at home alone for many years, following the same exercise routine that always ended with a grueling thirty minutes on my basement treadmill to “get my cardio.”  I absolutely dreaded it and although I was fitter than most, I made zero gains in strength or endurance.  At the urging of a close friend I did my first CrossFit workout over two years ago and have not once looked back.  I am stronger and more fit than I ever though was possible for me, and am living proof that it is possible to be vegetarian or vegan and perform well at CrossFit.  Lifting heavy weights, long runs, and even burpees no longer terrify me!

CrossFit So Ill has a great group of people who make these intense workout–workouts that test our physical and mental limits–fun somehow!  Our head coach Emma is nothing but encouraging.  I enjoy seeing member after member make great gains in our bright, beautiful new gym due in large part to her excellent programming.

Although I don’t have much free time to devote to coaching, I look forward to filling in.  I am always available to answer questions or check form, so please just ask if you see me and I will be happy to help.

Trainer: Ryan Baker – Cell: (618) 967-0259 Email: Ryan@CrossFitSoILL.com

CrossFit Level 1 Certified

Certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine

As long as I can remember, I have always been playing sports and exercising on some level, from playing pee-wee football as a kid to playing high school basketball, football, and track. In addition to these, I supplemented sports with weight lifting. Then upon graduating, and no longer playing sports anymore, I found myself missing the competitiveness and  camaraderie that I got from playing sports. No matter how hard I tried, my normal weight lifting was no longer cutting it, I found myself bored and eventually stopped lifting altogether. Then by chance, I came upon crossfit, and I was instantly hooked! I knew right away that I had found what I was looking for. With crossfit’s ever-changing WOD, I never get bored, and actually find myself getting excited for the following days WOD. Yet more surprisingly has been the great attitude that everyone brings to crossfit and the many great friends I have made at crossfit that I wouldn’t trade the world for. I strongly encourage everyone to try crossfit once, because I promise that you will not be disappointed!

Trainer: Johnboy Bakalar – Cell: (618) 926-6744

Email: Johnboy@CrossFitSoiLL.com

CrossFit Level 1 Certified

I am originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana.  While in high school, I was on the cross country team.  Running has always been my strength and my passion.  After graduating, I went into the Army for eight years of service.  I started getting into weight lifting with my buddies when I was stationed in Panama.  I was also stationed in Korea, where I entered several 5 K races.  I had the interest in adding weightlifting to my workouts, I just never knew exactly what to do, other than the usual curls, bench press, and some machine work.  Then I was introduced to Crossfit.

I am proud to be a member of the CrossFit So Ill team of trainers.  I started with CrossFit when a girl (Emma) came up to me and explained to me the fundamentals of CrossFit, and after attending one of her intro classes, I was hooked.  It will be two years for me in September 2011.

I used to workout in a gym by myself for  several years, but never quite reached the intensity that I reach with CrossFit.  Something about working out with friends seems to push me to strive for more than what I used to do in the gym.  I have seen a dramatic change in my health and life because of CrossFit and my friends here.  I’m now in my 40′s and, hands down, in the best shape of my life.

I have never been an athlete, I was always an academic. Sports and physical activities were always something I could do but I never excelled at them.  Athletics simply never kept my attention. So how did I end up as a CrossFit coach? First, I was twenty pounds heavier than I had ever been.  Second, I was profoundly depressed. Third, it was clear that my young son wasn’t going to let me do much sitting around and I needed to find some energy. Also, I wanted to look good naked.  But every time I went to the gym, I hated it.  One day as I begrudgingly pushed out a few more minutes on the treadmill I saw someone wearing a CrossFit t-shirt and wondered what that was.  After a little bit of research I found myself in an introductory class enjoying every ounce of sweat that dripped down my face.  They haven’t been able to get rid of me since.

There are no other exercise programs that I can think of that will help its athletes adhere to the Socratic dictum: “Know thyself.”  In the middle of a workout you clearly see your weaknesses, both physical and mental, and are given an opportunity to surpass them.  Through sweat, patience, and hard work you can negate everything about you that is holding you back from what you want to become.  The WODs might make you feel weak, but what you are learning is how strong you are.  You learn what it means to be fully human with all the great pains and glories it entails. It’s been a year and a half since starting CrossFit and I have lost my extra weight, I can’t remember the last time I felt so happy and vital, and my whole family loves coming with me to the box.

But the key to the success of CrossFit is not the workouts, it is the community. The community at CrossFit So Ill is full of strength and camaraderie.  We support each other, we push each other, and we care for each other.  As a coach I am excited about introducing people to the CrossFit community and helping them achieve their goals.