Written by Team Juggernaut
Get to know new Team Juggernaut member, Nathan Wilson of Derby City Crossfit in Louisville, KY…
Name: Nathan Wilson 
Age: 23
Height/Weight: 6’1/ 215
Hometown: Louisville, KY
Current City: Louisville
Years Training: 1.5
Years competing in Crossfit: just recently really started taking my training for crossfit seriously, so about 6 months.
PRs in relevant lifts/events:
-Back squat 350
-Front squat 300
-Deadlift 455
-Snatch 240
-Clean and jerk 290
-fran 3:13
-grace 2:25
-Hellen 8:40
Where you Train: derby city crossfit/darkside strength
Day Job: full time student at Jefferson community college and coach at derby city crossfit.
What would be your personal theme song?: Lil Wayne- Drop the World.
What got you into training/competing? What is your athletic background?
When I got out of the marines in June of 2011 and started going to school there was just something missing from my life. For the past 4 years if I wasn’t deployed then I was back in the states training for war. I needed something new to train for. I knew about crossfit from being in the marines, when I was going through scout sniper school we did a crossfit workout every morning or any other time the instructors felt like making us hate our lives. So I knew crossfit was challenging enough and would be a good outlet to get my competitive “fix.” I walked through the doors of derby city crossfit, met Ryan Brown (also a former marine), all the other great coaches there and, have been loving it ever since.
Who have been influential people in your life in regards to training, or just in general?
Definitely my dad for showing me how to do all kinds of man shit from a very young age. I shot my first pistol when I was 3 with a little bit of help. I was brought up hunting, fishing and all that outdoorsy type stuff. So I’m sure that’s a big reason I didn’t turn out to be a huge pussy. And you can’t train for crossfit or anything at all and be a pussy. And all the coaches at derby city crossfit especially Ryan and Waylon for showing me how to get strong, improve my mobility and, lots of other stuff.
What are the greatest challenges you have faced from a training/competing standpoint?
I would say the greatest challenge is just trying to improve my mobility and movement, it is a very slow process and can be frustrating when things like ankle mobility prevent you from doing a pistol squat no matter how hard you try. It can also be overwhelming to try and specialize in so many different things. In crossfit you have to try and be good at everything.
How do you structure you training going into a competition?
I will use the up coming crossfit open as an example. I am going to just focus on getting stronger primarily in the front squat and, use Olympic lifting to keep me athletic and to improve my mobility at the same time. And then around the end of December I am going to transition back into typical crossfit type workouts and focus on getting my conditioning where it needs to be going into the competition at the end of February.
What is your typical diet like?
I don’t really focus on my diet a whole lot right now. I just try to make sure I’m eating a lot of protein. And make sure to have a post workout shake after training. Generally I try to eat pretty clean throughout the day and then I usually get really hungry at night and just end up eating what ever I want. This is definitely going to change when it gets closer to game time around the end of December.
What upcoming competitions do you have? What are your competitive goals for the next year?
I think my gym is trying to put together a small local crossfit competition sometime in November. But I think we are still trying to work out the details so, more to come on that.
The most important thing I’m training for right now is the crossfit open. The top 60 individual males from each region qualify to go to the regional competition.
I would also like to do another Olympic lifting meet before the end of the year. I just competed in my first one about a month ago. It’s a good way to keep you focused on good Olympic weightlifting technique. Weightlifting movements make up a large portion of crossfit.
What do you see as one of the big mistakes that people make when preparing for crossfit competition?
One of the big mistakes I think people make is adding repetition to movements that they are not even taking time to preform correctly. If you can’t front squat 135lbs with perfect form once, then why try to do it 30 times quickly in a workout as a conditioning tool in your training? Find other ways to condition yourself and focus on proper movement. You need to be able to preform movements efficiently. Sometimes less is more.
What advice would you give to someone who is interested in competing in what you do? What advice you would give to a younger version of yourself?
First you definitely need to get the appropriate level of strength. Make sure you build a good foundation. Learn proper movement and gain the mobility to do things like the Olympic lifts.
Make sure your not just finding ways around deficiencies in your body actually correct them before they manifest into something more difficult to correct. Crossfit is a sport of efficiency.
If you have a personal website/fan page/etc, list that here…
I post most of my training videos here on my gyms YouTube channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/dccrossfit?feature=watch
