“She looks great! She is in phenomenal shape. She is a role model for all of us.” Who is she?

She is Deirdra Rogers, a personal trainer and CrossFit coach who is sixty-one years young and competed last week-end in the Masters Division of The CrossFit Games July 29 – 31 in Carson, California to determine who is “the fittest on earth.” When she’s not in the throes of competition, Deirdra helps Marin County residents to achieve their fitness goals. “The bottom line,” she says, “Just keep doing what you love to do and don’t stop doing it for anything! You can always find time to do something!”

Last week at TJ’s Gym, we got a taste of what some of the Master’s Workouts feel like. For those of you unfamiliar with CrossFit, Deirdra powered through these movements and repetitions without rest.

Here is the workout Master’s Event 4

For time:

10 Handstand push-ups

20 Wall ball shots

30 Toes-to-bar

40 Power cleans (75 lbs)

50 Burpees

60 Sumo deadlift high-pulls (45 lbs)

She finished second in the world for this workout in in nineteen minutes and fifty-four seconds. Like Deirdra, I am also a personal trainer dedicated to pursuing my own fitness goals while helping clients unleash their inner athletes. Unlike Deirdra, I’m thirty-six years young and eons from even coming close to competing.

So when I huffed through this workout all I could think about was this extraordinary woman competing at the age of sixty-one. This workout took me twenty-nine minutes and I kept thinking about Deirdra. She motivated me to get through it. If I’m anywhere close to where she is at the age of sixty-one or even forty-one, I will be floored.

Who or what motivates you? What part does age play in that motivational example? Think of someone who is at least ten years older than you or older and comment about something special they have achieved that seems uncharacteristic of that generation.

Congratulations Deirdra! You are a shining example to us all! To read Deirdra’s experiences, click here: http://deirdrarogers.com/blog/?p=171