'The Fountain Of Youth'

'The Fountain Of Youth'

Fourth place, out of 200, is not all too bad. Becky Conzleman, 43, finished 4th place in the Master’s Qualifier this year amongst Master’s Women Ages 40-44

May 6, 2015 by Lauryn Lax
'The Fountain Of Youth'


Fourth place, out of 200, is not all too bad.


Becky Conzleman, 43, finished 4th place in the Master’s Qualifier this year amongst Master’s Women Ages 40-44. And although she may be one year older, she ranked 9 places higher than she did in 2014 (13th), proving, CrossFit may very well be a ‘fountain of youth.’

“Reebok recently asked me what my goal was for the year, and I said, "to redefine what it means to be an athlete in your 40's."  For me, that means balancing all my passions (my kids and husband, my faith, my business Faith Rx’d, etc.),” Conzleman said.

No stranger to the competition scene, Conzleman has become a staple name on the athlete roster in Carson every year since 2011 [individual in 2011 and 2012; master’s in 2013; team in 2014], and prior to CrossFit she was a competitive cyclist.

While fitness most certainly is one of her passions and natural gifts, Conzleman said a key to her success within the sport of fitness, particularly over the past few years since she joined the Master’s division, has been having fun with what she’s doing, not taking herself too seriously, and doing everything for her greater purpose. 

“I've loved competing since I was a little girl. It's in my DNA.  The thrill of competition and knowing the Lord has blessed me with a love and passion for athletics and competition...inspires me to want to give my all for Him,” she said.

Adding, “Double Jackie was tough for me, but I kept thinking that Christ gave me nothing less than HIS best, and therefore I should give my ALL for Him.  Two of my friends reminded me that morning to remember why I compete....and to "GO BIG OR GO HOME!"  Conzleman said on her 17:51 minute finish. 

Even though Conzleman earned herself a ticket to the 2015 CrossFit Games as a Master’s athlete, she is preparing to have fun competing at the South Regionals in Dallas the weekend of May 15th to see if she can help her team Backcountry CrossFit earn a ticket back to the Games for a second year in a row. 

“I want to help lead my team to a top 10 finish at the CrossFit Games (2014 placed 15th) and we are much stronger this year,” she said.

Becky Conzelman

Conzleman reflected on the Master’s Qualifier this past weekend and shared with FloElite some wise insights she’s gained on how to continue to improve (herself) year in and year out. 

Four workouts in a short amount of time...what were your strategies for attacking these? 

I wanted to attack my best workouts first.  They were shorter as well and wouldn't tax me as much.  Friday I did the muscle up workout, as well as tried out the snatches. Games athlete Natalie Newhart joined me in all my workouts so it was a perfect person to race.  We are both 'little ninjas' and the competition was perfect.  I beat Natalie by only one rep.  

Saturday we did Diane-plus.  My Diane time is 1:38 so I knew this would be a great workout.  I'm always weary of bounding box jumps and with getting ready for team at Regionals, I didn't want to jeopardize our team by any injury, so I decided to step up/step down. I did all handstand pushups strict on the 21 because it was faster and halfway through the 15's. On a normal Diane, I can go strict the entire way, but the additional 45 box jumps proved to be more taxing and forced me to kip.  In the end, I finished with 3:15.  

Then Sunday I hit the snatch workout with a 1 lb PR (156 lbs) and then did the row.  The row was an absolute death march for me.  In theory I knew this wasn't about the row and I needed to go SLOW, but patience is not my virtue.   2:05-2:10 row pace felt easy but proved to bury me from the start, that by the time I got to the second set of C2B, I had to do all singles as my arms were fully loaded with lactic acid. Knowing that a 19:44 would not be super competitive, I KNEW I had to repeat this one on Monday and I dreaded it all day.  I improved by about two minutes, but my team training and natural strength as a sprinter was certainly targeted in this WOD, and it showed by weakness.  I racked up 22 points and was able to move up the leaderboard from 8th after the Open to 4th.  I actually might protest if I see another row WOD in the near future (OPEN WOD 5 then this!).  

As a Master’s athlete, do you think that you feel differently and/or perform differently compared to when you were not a Master's athlete?

Well I'm certainly not training as much as I used to as my priorities are much different than when I was training as an individual in 2011-2013.  I am maintaining my fitness in the time I have outside of my job.

What does your training look like today? 

I am training as a team member of Backcountry CrossFit.  We have an amazing gym with world class coaching.  We have a coaching staff of 4 coaches, of which our gymnastics coach was on Circue-de-solei (Sp?) staff for 8 years (Duke Van Vleet) and our Olympic lifting coach is a top 58KG weightlifter with her eyes set on making the Olympic team in 2016 (Jess Salvaggio). I hit the gym on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday with the team for about 2 hours each session.  We start with Oly, then specialized gymnastics training, followed by a met-con and team training. 

What does your lifestyle and nutrition look like?

I eat mostly Paleo but definitely not strict. Ice cream and
brownies are definitley in my diet!  I'm a big fan of 3FU3L and like aminos from NFS and also a high Vitamin B supplement called athletic nutrients from Pure Encapsulations.  This past winter I supplememted with VItamin D and I stayed much healthier.  


Mobility is on my list of "improves" this next year and I'm pretty good at getting 7-8 hrs sleep a night. After recovering from severe adrenal fatigue after the 2013 Games, getting to bed prior to 11 is very important to maintain healthy cortisol levels and adrenal functioning.  If anyone figures out work-life balance please let me know! 

What advice would you give a Master's age individual who would like to compete at your caliber, as well as advice for a master's age individual who's never worked out in their life?!  



I encouraged a participant at a recent Faith Rx'd camp to go for it...for the dream of pursuing the CrossFit games.  It will take a lot of hard work and dedication but if its something they are willing to commit to and have the desire, then they SHOULD!  If you aren't enjoying it, don't have the killer instinct and aren't willing to suffer, then it might not be a good idea and better to be a weekend warrior. For those who have never worked out, they should set realistic goals, like perhaps going to a class at least 3x week and within a year entering a local competition based on skill. 

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