Testimonials

As someone who had *never* been athletic or in-shape, the idea of working out was always something that caused me anxiety. I always *wanted* to be in-shape and happy with my body, but I had just never been a person who enjoyed exercising… ever! That is, until I met Zeb.

My husband introduced me to him, and Zeb gave us (at our request) the spiel. You know, the one about how if you don’t invest in your health now, you’ll be investing in your sickness later? It was quite convincing (because it’s all true). The thing is, I already knew it all at an intellectual level, I just could never get there physically.

Regardless, my husband and I decided to go for it. Meanwhile I’m thinking “CrossFit? Me? There’s no way in hell this is going to work.” Well… IT DID. Zeb somehow transformed me into somebody who enjoyed working out! He was able to take parts of my personality (particularly my competitiveness and near obsessive nerdy-ness) and used those to get me past the “I want to die” part, into the “I can’t wait to get back to the gym” part!

It was wonderful. I felt great about my body, and really enjoyed being able to push myself to new limits. Mostly though, I was having a TON of fun! Not only did I have enjoy going to the gym, but lifting weights somehow turned into Xbox LAN Parties and massive Game of Thrones premiers! It’s funny; when you start prioritizing your health and wellbeing, life just sort of, works out. You start becoming your best self. After working with Zeb, I accomplished things I couldn’t have even dreamed of before, and had a blast while doing it.
–Bailey Third

Because of Zeb, I was able to pull myself out of depression during junior year of high school. That year was extremely hard for me. I felt completely burned out and sluggish – not performing to my best ability in school. I didn’t feel like I was challenging myself enough. I was disappointed in everything I did, so I began to slip into depression without realizing it.

A friend recommended that I join Cross Fit because he’d seen the program dramatically improve other people’s lives. So, I went out on a limb and started Cross Fitting under Zeb’s guidance. Since then, he has become one of my most prized role models for how I want to live my life. Zeb has inspired me to become the best that I can be and I don’t want to let him down.

I feel as though I have changed after this project because he has inspired me to make a difference in other peoples’ lives and to serve others more than myself. He constantly talked about how he lives for his clients and even though he has been extremely busy lately, he wakes up early just for them. He thinks of them as his family rather than his clients. He would do anything for that family. In just one hour of talking to him, he has taught me so much about life and the importance of doing what you love because life is too short.
–Becky Lu

I’m sure you’ve heard this setup before: I’ve always been fat, family gatherings were always based around food, self-esteem problems that I overcompensated for with a boastful disposition, food was associated with comfort and shelter.

As I grew up, the problem got more and more out of hand, and I kind of just… let it. Family members and friends would reach out, with messages that ranged from the subtle “well, one day you’ll be fit, right?” to the less subtle “it’s time to lose weight, it’s not cute anymore”. None of it worked, of course, and anyone who did the noble, great and loving thing by sharing their concern got forever blacklisted, and from then on out any time I’d go to hang out with them I’d have this dread in the back of my mind that they were going to bring it up again. I started flaking on friends and family when the fears/delusions would get too much. I guess that’s how anxiety works.

Zeb, however, would never say anything. For the longest time I would wait for him to, seeing how he’s the only one in the family whose health and fitness are directly tied to his life goals and career, but God bless him, he never did. He wouldn’t hide talking about his fitness, of course, and he wouldn’t ever hold back, he just never breached that topic, which I always appreciated. It made him “safe”, and it was around then that I started to decide that going through his program and process was how I wanted to get in shape.

I told Zeb I was finally ready to join his gym.

We decided my first session would be on April 1st, because what more fitting a day for the big jokester to start finally taking his life seriously? It was so perfectly poetic we couldn't pass up on the opportunity. I found some gym clothes online (this really weird space age stretchy not-cotton-not-rubber material), suited up and headed out. That first day I was all heart, muscling through the fear and the early morning drive (still very much an LA traffic noob) and made it to his gym.We didn't work out that first day; at one point, we walked to the bathroom to kind of see if I could make it there and back. I did, though I was huffing and puffing. It was a subtle reminder of where I was; not incapable of movement but certainly not used to it, and not even a big fan of it.

That first day, we mainly focused on education on both fitness and nutrition. I was both surprised and relieved by this, as my quivering body was still so scared of exertion. Zeb took a very scientific approach to fitness which I enjoyed immensely; seeing the numbers, the formulas, the theories, and the research he'd put into this put his passion into focus for me; he wasn't just some buff maniac proselytizing to the masses, he was a honed and trained assassin, a master of his craft, and I was in good hands.

The workouts started the very next session, and my excitement levels just barely edged out my nervousness. Though I didn't believe them for one bit, hearing so many warnings of what I was to expect from concerned friends were a little disheartening. Sure enough, though, my cousin didn't disappoint: the workouts were simple and clean, easy and, most importantly, functional. Things I'd do in every day life, quantified into short workout bursts that would get my heart running and my muscles awakening. Sitting down and standing up. Pulling myself to standing from a leaning position. Lifting things at my side. Walking. Essential life skills that my body had forgotten were necessary, shortened into quick exercises.

The thrill was magical. Being able to move in ways that I no longer thought myself capable of felt victorious; not only was I realizing I was strong, but I was realizing that i had been for some time now, I just didn't acknowledge it. I learned that I was capable of doing a lot more than I thought I could... and, by the next session, I was capable of even more than that. Day in, day out, three days a week, I was pushing my limits and realizing just what I was capable of. This is going to sound melodramatic, but I felt like Arthur pulling the sword form the stone; it was heavy, and it was burdensome, but it was my destiny to be this strong, and I had finally come into my birthright: a body that was mine to rule, not a prison to live in. Just reliving those first few sessions in my head is giving me shivers. It was nothing short of manifesting my true destiny.

I've since gone back home to the North Bay to see my friends and family for the first time since Christmas. I was worried what the folk would have to say; though there was 9% less of me since the last time they saw me, I didn't look much smaller. Instead, I made up for it in showing my new abilities (read: moving around) and it really had an effect; everyone told me how light I was on my feet, how I could walk farther, stand quicker, how I radiated this sense of confidence and victory that they normally would chalk up to bravado. Better still, friends reached out to me, in person and in private, to let me know that they're going to start their own fitness plans, and get their own lives back in order... inspired by me. It was a momentous time in my life, being the inspiration instead of the inspired, and I'd rarely been so proud.

Bit by bit, I'm learning to love myself, and though you've all played a part in getting me here, I've got one person in particular who's helping me realize my destiny, and he's my brother, my cousin, my hero, my fellow Spartan, and my homie for life.

Thanks, Zeb.
–Jonathan Cordero