He Didn't Run Out of Time. He Just Got Started.

Lynne Steiner • June 19, 2026

One of the things I love most about this gym is watching people surprise themselves. Not in the sexy, highlight-reel way. In the quiet, consistent, show-up-even-when-it's-hard way.


Mike Szymborski has been part of our CFR fam for a little over a year now. He trains 5 to 6 days a week. He is in his early 60s. He manages Type 1 diabetes. He has had a hip replacement, survived prostate cancer, and came back to the gym after a heart attack in March of 2025.


He also broke his pinky on a box jump during his first workout back after being cleared by his cardiologist. He finished the workout.


I asked Mike to share his story in his own words because he sets such a clear example of what is possible when you show up for yourself consistently regardless of age, injury, and medical conditions.


What follows is mostly him. I've added very little, because very little needed to be added.


Before CrossFit

"Back in my college days I lifted weights regularly. When I got married in 1992, I was in great shape, weighing 205 lbs. Then life happened. We had 3 kids by 1998. I spent my time working and raising a family."


In 2004, Mike was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and became insulin-dependent. The same year, he was becoming dependent on alcohol, too. The diabetes diagnosis, he says, is what made him stop drinking. He has been clean and sober since 2005.


"I ate what I wanted and took high doses of insulin to control blood sugar. My weight steadily climbed to about 290-300 lbs by 2015. When XXL polo shirts no longer fit comfortably and I had to buy size 44 pants, I knew something had to change."


He joined Weight Watchers and a local gym, lost 75 pounds over 9 months, and ran 2 half marathons. Then life happened again. The approach wasn't sustainable. His marriage of 26 years ended. By 2018, he had gained the weight back.


"I found myself alone, fat and miserable."


He Googled CrossFit. He found CrossFit Carol Stream. He dropped into a free class in December of 2018.


"I was hooked after the first class. I've been going 5 to 6 days a week ever since."


The Speed Bumps

Between 2018 and today, Mike's list of health challenges has continued to grow. Prostate cancer diagnosed in 2020, removed in 2021. As of January 2026, he’s 5 years cancer-free. Bone-on-bone arthritis in his right hip lead to a total hip replacement in October 2023. Then came a heart attack and stent in March 2025.


He also broke his foot doing a lateral burpee over bar. And the pinky. He mentions both almost as asides.


"In all honesty, I don't think about any of these past issues on a daily basis. I wake up each day and look forward to every challenge. The years are passing quickly. There is no reason to focus on negatives. Every day presents an opportunity to improve. That's what drives me."


When I asked him what a bad training day looks like, he said the question didn't really resonate with him.


"I don't think I've ever had a bad training day since I started CrossFit in 2018. CrossFit is the best part of every day for me, except days when I golf. Then it's a close second."


The Hip, the Open, and What Changed

For years, Mike couldn't squat below parallel. Not in a wall ball, a thruster, an air squat. The arthritis in his right hip made it impossible, and it meant he was scaling workouts that he wanted to do as prescribed.


The hip replacement changed that.


"My hip replacement and subsequent recovery allow me now to achieve parallel in these lifts. That's given me new-found confidence and the ability to record RX during workouts."


This year, Mike competed in the 2026 CrossFit Open and made the quarterfinals in his age group. He finished in the top 18%.


"That achievement was validation for my hard work. It created a greater sense of belonging to the CrossFit community at large and CrossFit Roselle specifically. I identify as a CrossFit athlete. It's what defines and differentiates me from my male friends in my age group."


What He Wants You to Know

Mike is active on social media. He posts his workouts for accountability and, more than that, to show other people what is possible. When someone in a Facebook group asks whether it's too late for them, or says their health history is too complicated, he shares a video of himself doing a handstand walk and lists what he has been through.


He listened to an audiobook that changed his focus to health span over life span.


"People in their 50s, 60s, and even 70s have already started to lose VO2 max and lean muscle. These losses will continue and the rate will even accelerate unless steps are taken to stop or slow the loss. Any level of movement is a positive step. CrossFit-style movements offer even more positive benefits as the movements address all 3 key metrics."


On the nutrition side, Mike's path to figuring out what actually works took some trial and error. He used Ozempic for 15 months and got his weight into a better range, but felt like something was still missing. After his heart attack, he went fully low-carb and keto. He credits that shift with reducing his A1C, reducing inflammation, stabilizing his weight, and giving him a general feeling of health he had never experienced over five decades of the standard American diet.


"Positive changes are very incremental and big changes come slowly. It's not a race to get to a certain point or fitness level. It's a journey. It's a process. If you don't like where you are, it's within your sole control to make changes which will bend your trajectory in the right direction."


What's Next

Mike turns 62 in September. His goal is to hit a new baseline weight by his birthday and hold it. He's eyeing the 2027 CrossFit Open and, eventually, the semifinals.


"I understand I might have to age into the 65+ age group for that to happen."


He says he's starting to feel some issues with his left hip. He suspects he may need a replacement within the next year or 2. He's not looking forward to it. He's also not going to let it go as long as he let the right one go.


He'll be in the gym tomorrow morning. Five or 6 days a week, like always.


A Note from Coach Lynne

I share Mike's story not because it's unique, but because it's honest. His progress was not linear. He didn't get here on a clean path. He got here by deciding, over and over, that the path was worth staying on.


If you're reading this and thinking your situation is too complicated, or that you've missed your window, I'd ask you to sit with Mike's answer to that question. He's been posting his own version of that answer on Facebook for years. Now it's here, too.


If this sounds like your story, or the story you want to write, we'd love to meet you.


Start with a free no-sweat intro at CrossFit Roselle. No experience required. No perfect health history required. Just show up, and we’ll take it from there. Click the "Book a Free Intro" box to get started.






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By Lynne Steiner • September 21, 2026
You know the feeling. You're three reps into a set and suddenly your brain checks out for a coffee break it didn't ask permission for. Or you're at your desk, staring at the same email for ten minutes like it's written in a language you used to know. Everyone blames this on being tired. Stressed. Getting older. Rarely does anyone blame the sandwich they skipped at lunch. But your brain is an organ, and like every other organ in your body, it runs on fuel. Starve it a little and it doesn't crash dramatically. It just goes quiet. Fuzzy. A step behind. The Fog Nobody Talks About We measure fitness in numbers we can see. Pounds lifted. Miles run. Minutes shaved off a mile time. Nobody puts "mental sharpness" on a whiteboard, so it's easy to forget it's a performance metric too, and one that food controls just as much as your squat max. Here's where it shows up if you're paying attention: In the gym: you miss a coaching cue you'd normally catch instantly, your form gets sloppy on a lift you usually own, or your reaction time on a workout feels a half-second slow, like your brain is buffering. At work: you reread the same paragraph three times, or you agree to a meeting you'll definitely resent by Thursday because your judgment took a coffee break too. None of that is a personality flaw. It's chemistry. Your brain runs almost entirely on glucose, and it is famously picky about a steady supply. Skip meals, load up on sugar spikes, or run on caffeine alone, and you're basically asking a race car to sprint on fumes and hoping it won't notice. Food Is Not Just Fuel for Muscles Most people think about nutrition purely in terms of the body they see in the mirror. Bigger arms. Leaner waist. Nobody pictures their prefrontal cortex when they're deciding between a protein shake and a candy bar, but that decision matters there too. A steady, balanced intake throughout the day (not a single "smart" meal, but consistency across all of them) keeps your blood sugar from swinging like a pendulum. And a steady blood sugar level is the difference between a brain that fires clean and one that flickers like a bad light bulb. The Fix Is Smaller Than You Think You don't need a supplement stack or a 12-step meal plan to fix this. Start here: Eat something with protein and fat within an hour of waking up. This alone slows the blood sugar rollercoaster before it even starts. Don't let more than four hours pass without eating something real. Not a granola bar dressed up as food. Something with actual substance. Hydrate before you assume you're tired. Mild dehydration mimics fatigue almost perfectly, and most people never think to rule it out. Your mental sharpness is trainable, the same way your deadlift is trainable. It just responds to a different kind of rep: consistent, well-timed meals instead of well-timed sets. Feed your brain like it matters, because it's doing more work than any muscle in your body.

What We Actually Believe In

By Lynne Steiner • September 14, 2026
Have you ever avoided trying something because you were pretty sure everyone else already knew what they were doing? That's most people's picture of a CrossFit gym. Elite athletes, impossible weights, a room full of people who've clearly done this before. Here's the truth. That's only part of the picture, and it's not where most people start. We didn't write a mission statement to hang on a wall and forget about. We wrote it because we needed to know, on the hard days and the easy ones, why we're doing this. Here it is: We help real people build strength and health that lasts, through every season of life. Every word of that matters. Real people, whether that's your first week in a gym or your tenth year chasing competition podiums. Lasts, not a six-week transformation that falls apart in month two. Every season, because your life at 25 doesn't look like your life at 45, and neither should your training. Here's what that actually looks like day to day. We meet you where you are Every workout fits your body, your day, and your life. We're not building something that only works if you have four hours and zero responsibilities. If a movement doesn't fit where you're at right now, we scale it. That's not a consolation prize. That's the whole point. Longevity over intensity We're building a lifetime of athleticism. For most people, that means training that fits into a full life instead of taking it over. For some people, that means chasing the Open or a local competition because it's fun and they're built for that kind of push. Both belong here. The season you're in determines how hard you push, not how welcome you are. Effort is the metric We measure what you give, not what you weigh or lift or look like. You won't find a "lose the most weight" challenge here. What you'll find is people getting stronger, staying consistent, and being proud of showing up, whatever that looked like that day. Belonging is not negotiable Everyone working toward better health belongs here, full stop. Not everyone who joins a gym has felt that way before. We built this one so you would. Come see it for yourself: Reading about values is one thing. Feeling them in a room is another. Saturday, Oct. 3, we're opening our doors for a free community workout. Two time slots: 8:30am and 9:30am. No experience needed, no special gear required, no membership to sign up. Come find out what it feels like to walk into a gym built for exactly where you are. Reserve your free spot here

The Laundry Basket Rule

By Lynne Steiner • September 14, 2026
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