Athlete of the Month for November 2021

For our final Athlete of the Month for 2021 (in December, we will pick the Athlete of the Year), we chose someone who’s been at IA for a number of years. In fact, he joined on July 5, 2017, at 6am. He’s been a steady force at the 5:30 and 6:30pm classes. After COVID, he joined our Coach’s Corner program to check in on his diet and receive some extra strength programming. He’ been a part of, and supporter of, the IA Community for years and recently swung from some trees with us in October. The coaches agree that he is a joy to coach, always quick with a snapping hilarious comment, and always open to feedback and suggestions. He’s Pittsburgh born and raise, on a playground is where he spent most of his days. (Is that reference understood by any of our membership?) The Athlete of the Month for November 2021 is:

Nathan Mizla

1. Where are you from originally? Pittsburgh, PA born and raised.
   
2. If not from Pittsburgh, what brought you to Pittsburgh? See above, yinz. 
   
3. Where do you work? I currently work at EQT Corp. as Manager of Corporate Development. 
   
4. What is your favorite hobby? I mean… we have to say CrossFit here, right? Other than that I do enjoy traveling, and golf. 
5. How did you discover CrossFit? A former member suggested that me and my boss join. So we did. It was at a time when I would not say “no” to new experiences (within reason.)
   
6. When did you start CrossFit? 6am, July 5th, 2017. 
   
7. Why did you start CrossFit? I found out that with no real training, I wasn’t able to effectively program balanced workouts that had variety and pushed me. 
   
8. What is your favorite thing to do in CrossFit? Power moves…. power cleans are at the top. 
   
9. What is your least favorite thing to do in CrossFit? I told Matt during Fundamentals that I didn’t care for burpees. He told me that I was going to have a short CrossFit career. Well take a look at me now!… I still hate burpees. 
   
10. What is the number 1 thing you want to get better at? Long-haul, endurance workouts that mix weight with cardio. 
    
11. What is your favorite part about coming to CrossFit at Industrial Athletics? It’s the friendly, yet competitive, nature of classes. Supporting and pushing one another and the respect amongst the athletes. (We don’t do the bear crawl and frog hop warmups anymore.)
    
12. What is your favorite CrossFit WOD? Nutts – I like the variety.