LUTZ, Fla. — Stephanie Beaver has been working out at CrossFit Aero for three years.
“It’s helped tremendously with core strength,” she said. “The movements we do, say a deadlift, it helps with picking things off the ground or being able to sit balanced. All the movements we do help in everyday life.”
Her life is bound to a wheelchair. Beaver was born with Spina Bifida.
“My main goal is to stay independent as long as I can,” she added.
“She comes to the class by herself. We just set her up, and she goes. She’s stronger than a lot of us,” Ellaine Sapin-Ancheta, the Adaptive CrossFit director and head trainer, said.
Adaptive CrossFit is a big reason for that.
Trainers like Sapin-Ancheta have developed a modified program allowing people with physical disabilities or severe injuries to complete the Workout of the Day, or “WOD.”
“Any movement can be modified to your ability,” Beaver said. “There are no excuses why anyone can’t do it. Even if it looks different than what other people are doing, its stimulus is still the same. It really is an inclusive community.”
Beaver has become one of the top adaptive CrossFit athletes in the world. She’ll put her finest to the test in an international competition, “Wodapalooza” in Miami this January.
“I'm a firm believer of documenting progress,” Sapin-Ancheta said. “I have videotapes of her at the start. She was already physically fit and had some muscle tone. If you look at her now, she is the envy of every female and male athlete in this gym because she’s got great muscle tone and definition.”
Beaver is also functionally fit.
“She can do ropes climbs. She can do ring muscle-ups and pull-ups. She can lift the barbell from the ground, which she couldn’t do in the beginning,” Sapin-Ancheta said.
Beaver said Crossfit "changes every day."
“You never get tired of it. Something new and different to do every day," she said.
