My Rhapsody: Gottfried Bay shares his story about putting down fresh roots in Charleston and finding family at Rhapsody CrossFit.
What is your story?
My wife Jennifer and I moved to downtown Charleston almost exactly a year ago. After we sent our daughter Gillian to USC in Columbia, we visited Charleston for the first time in the fall of 2018, and quickly decided that this was where we wanted to put down new roots after spending 26 years in the Atlanta area.
Gottfried Bay at Rhapsody CrossFit in Charleston, SC.
I am lucky to be able to work from home as a Director of Consulting Services for CGI Inc., a large Canadian IT consulting and outsourcing firm, and I spend most days dealing directly with PNC Bank and their commercial real estate division.
Jennifer and I love exploring our (still) new hometown on evenings and weekends, and we have maybe just covered 25% of the amazing restaurants in this city on our list to try.
Our biggest challenge is to keep going to new places we haven’t been to before, as opposed to wanting to go back to great establishments we have already tried and loved. It’s become bad enough that if we go and have a good, but not great experience, we check it off the imaginary list and move on!
Our other favorite pastime (pun intended), at least between spring and fall, is to attend Charleston RiverDogs Minor League Baseball games – great outdoors fun at a good price, and trust me, it’s real baseball!
What brought you to Rhapsody CrossFit?
I had been doing CrossFit for about 2.5 years when we moved to Charleston. Knowing that I wanted to continue and wanted a box close enough to bicycle or walk to, Rhapsody CrossFit was first on a short list of boxes I planned on trying.
Three days after moving here, I popped into Rhapsody on a Saturday right before they were closing up for the day. I took one look at the dumbbells all lined up, the floor that had just been mopped, and the wall balls all shiny and perfectly arranged and signed up for the month knowing that I needed to check this place out for more than just a day or even week.
I can be a neat freak – and Alan and the crew have the place in such great shape at all times, there simply isn’t any comparison, especially at first impression.
I never made it to any other box, and have zero desire to try anywhere else. Rhapsody is where you want to be for CrossFit in Charleston. Full stop.
What have you gotten out of your experience with Rhapsody?
What a great place to call “my” box. Since I work from home, I usually attend the noon class, which breaks up my day in the best way.
Having done CrossFit for over 2 years, I thought I was OK in most movements – which just didn’t turn out to be true at all. The daily repetition, outstanding attention to detail and superb coaching have elevated my game to a whole different level.
I am doing more consecutive repetitions of numerous movements, I reach full depth and full range of motion in all I do and I feel better than ever.
Four months before I joined Rhapsody, I had undergone some very involuntary weight loss due to a digestive issue, which left me over 15 pounds lighter than I should have been, and most of that decrease meant muscle loss. I had trouble going up stairs without breathing hard at the end of 2018.
Within 6 months of joining Rhapsody, I felt as though I had not just regained my strength, but my aerobic capacity has gone way up, and everything I do feels better and smoother than ever before.
What has being a part of the Rhapsody CrossFit community meant to you?
Being totally new to Charleston meant that Rhapsody very quickly became my place to connect and to spend time with like-minded and enthusiastic individuals who sweat, groan, commiserate and encourage each other.
I see many of the same faces every day, or at least several times a week, and it means that coming for a tough WOD is an easy decision to make 5 days a week. We work hard, laugh and get better every day together – and that’s not just community, but family.
Ready to get your fitness on with Gottfried? Join us for free class at Rhapsody CrossFit today!
