USA Weightlifting Comes to North Dakota for the First Time, Credit Goes to CrossFit

CrossFit started in 2000

FARGO, N.D. — Two years ago, Jeremy Grinsteiner signed up for his first Crossfit meet.

Little did he realize, lifting a barbell would do more than just get his blood pumping faster.

“That’s where I absolutely caught the bug. I was hooked,” he said.

He is now joining a group of men and women from the metro who are not only looking to become better weightlifters, but who also want to coach others.

USA Weightlifting is teaching the course.

“It was organized by an act of Congress along with the other boards of Olympic sports back in the 70’s. Their primary goal is to win medals at the Olympic and Pan Am games,” said Michael McKenna, USA Weightlifting coach.

And making it the first time the organization has ever come to North Dakota.

“More gyms in town can become barbell gyms or barbell clubs with the coaches that they’re making today. Carrying this weight, we could bring a national meet to Fargo,” said Sarah Skedsvold, CrossFit Icehouse coach.

“I’d really like to see an opportunity to have a bigger, national level meet maybe up in this area. I just think that in an area that has a lot of gyms and a lot of sports, there’s a really good opportunity for weightlifting to grow,” McKenna said.

There’s already rising popularity of the sport not just across the nation but especially here in the metro and the credit is due to CrossFit.

“Because they’ve made weightlifting okay to do, especially for women, it’s done a lot for making women feel comfortable being bigger and more muscular. I would get people resistant to training before but now it’s much more common and much more accepted and it’s wonderful to see that,” McKenna said.

No matter how long it takes, you can expect something even more important than just your muscles to grow.

“Confidence. Really just being able to walk into any room knowing that you’re capable. That’s the best,” Skedsvold said.

It’s more than having a strong body, it’s also having a rock solid mentality.

The first CrossFit gym was opened in Santa Cruz, California in 2000.

Since then, more than 13,000 CrossFit gyms have opened in more than 120 countries.