Our male Member of the Month for June is Cody Martin. Cody owns the Fort Worth-based Martin House Brewing Company (our absolute favorite). His current fitness goals are to continue improving his running endurance while dropping a few pounds and maintaining his strength. Cody's favorite LAB memory is the St. Patrick's Day Beer Mile at Martin House. Favorite beer? The Salty Lady is hard to beat.
What brought you to enduraLAB? I won a month of free personal training from Coach Sam in a charity blackjack game. I told my wife I'd won a free month of training and thought she'd be happy and supportive, but she had a really weird attitude about it. After about two weeks at the LAB we finally realized that she thought I'd won a month of free blackjack training, and I was spending an hour three times a week learning to play blackjack. We had a good laugh about that one.
What was your first impression? How has that changed? To be honest, my first impression was that it was a bit intimidating. The group workouts seemed impossible to me and everybody seemed to be in such great shape. Luckily, I was working one-on-one with Coach Sam and once I got settled in there and got to know everybody, I found it to be a very friendly place.
What was your first breakthrough moment? When I was able to deadlift 225-pounds multiple times without blowing out my back. My back had been in such terrible shape for so long; I was sure I'd never deadlift again. Now that movement is one of my favorite exercises. Also, getting a strict pull up was something I didn't think was possible when I started, but has become a normal part of a workout now.
What are your current goals at the LAB? I've gotten into running again and I'm really enjoying it. Currently I'm trying to improve my running endurance while dropping some weight and trying to maintain my strength.
What’s your favorite enduraLAB memory? Walking into Bathtub Gin's with the enduraLAB crew, a half-full bottle of open Jameson and listening to the bar manager say, "Oh great, you brought your own drinks again". Or, running my first beer mile with the enduraLAB crew at the St. Patrick's Day Beer Olympics at Martin House.
What is your favorite movement/lift? Least favorite? Bench Press is my favorite. I'm good at it and enjoy doing it. Burpees are my least favorite except for box jump burpees and burpee-pull ups.
What do you do for a living? I own Martin House Brewing Company with some of my college friends and more specifically, I run the production side of the business. Before Martin House I was an Civil & Environmental Engineer doing work all over the United States, Central America and the Caribbean cleaning up gas and oil spills.
Favorite Beer? Depends on my mood - this is like asking me which child is my favorite. It’s hard to beat a Salty Lady though.
Favorite Netflix Binge? Not Netflix, but right now it’s Westworld.
Our female Member of the Month is Charlene Fung, an occupational therapist in an outpatient brain injury program at Harris. She loves the LAB's knowledgeable and friendly coaches and members. Her fitness goals are to improve her form and number of push ups and pull ups. Her favorite LAB memory was the Power Endurance workout where the class had to lunge 400 meters with an overhead press using a 35-pound bar.
What brought you to enduraLAB? I had the highest winnings of the night at a charity blackjack table, and the prize was a one month free trial at enduraLAB (same as Cody who won the year before!)
What was your first impression? How has that changed? No change in impression, I thought the coaches were knowledgeable and helpful without being aggressive, and the members were friendly.
What was your first breakthrough moment? Seeing an increase in my leg strength numbers from the initial assessment to the end of my first strength cycle.
What are your current goals at the LAB? Improving push ups and pull ups.
What’s your favorite enduraLAB memory? The workout where we lunged 400 meters with an overhead press using a 35-pound bar. It was terrible, but I loved it afterwards!
What advice do you have for anyone thinking about starting at enduraLAB?Just give it a try, and then decide if it’s the right fit for you.
What is your favorite movement/lift? Least favorite? Not sure, I like most leg work days. My least favorite are burpees ... and sit ups.
What do you do for a living? I’m an occupational therapist in an outpatient brain injury program at Harris hospital.
