by Jake Thompson

Dean Xu

Suffering brings endurance. Endurance leads to character. Charact...
Dean Xu

Suffering brings endurance. Endurance leads to character. Character creates hope.

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

Dean Xu, head janitor at CrossFit Dallas Central – going on 8 year tenure. Also, I am tech support for a design company, Set and Stone. I was born in Hangzhou, China, but currently hail from The Woodlands, TX.

2. What’s a typical day look like for you?

 

Wake up really early. I usually coach classes at CFDC or take my daughters Lucy and Annie to school. If time permits, I get to come home and watch my other two daughters Frankie and Gigi while Momma Kelly gets to go workout. When she gets home, I usually commute by foot to the gym, train with my fellow coaches, then coach some more, then usually commute home on foot. Most days, I pick up my daughters from school, then come home, make lunches and dinner, bathe kids, put them to bed and WHEEWWWWW, get to relax around 8 pm.

Kelly and I usually stay up working on our computers (she’s a photographer and I’m a graphic designer) and then look at pictures of our kids on our phones for a while before going to sleep. Throughout that time, I’m usually squeezing in more workouts, snapchatting about my kids, drinking way too much coffee, and running from meeting to meeting, literally.

3. How did you get started on your current fitness journey?

I met sam and spencer in 2008 when i dropped into CrossFit Dallas Central. My girlfriend at the time took me and I was hooked. Sam and Spencer thought i didn’t speak english, so that and overhead squats were the biggest challenges of my new fitness journey. The rest was history.

4. What’s one goal you’re currently training to accomplish by December 31, 2016?

I’m currently training to get top 200 in the region in Crossfit Open 2017.

5. What’s one life goal you’re currently pursuing outside of fitness?

To reduce the consumption of the currency of energy and give back to the earth a little more.

6. What does it mean to you to Compete Every Day?

To constantly challenge myself to learn new skills and hone existing ones to make me a better person to contribute to this world. This includes preparing myself physically, mentally, spiritually, psychologically, and morally.

7. What is one obstacle you’re proud you’ve overcome?

Seven years ago, I quit a potentially lucrative career in medicine. Without getting into the political and social reasons for my exit, the decision created a chasm within my family and within myself. It was not easy to hold onto the belief that I had a better purpose in a different capacity.

Without much of a hope and dream that CrossFit was going to be the way i would impact people, I fought daily doubt of my abilities to actually make a career of it. One thing i remembered telling myself was “if there was nothing left, my fitness will still be my daily ritual. If there were no one else training, there still is one. And that is enough to continue.”

Money was never a factor or endpoint, it would only be a byproduct of the success of passion. Seven years later, I can’t be happier cleaning the floors and picking up after all my athletes at CFDC!

8. What/who do you compete for?

The mantra that suffering brings endurance. Endurance leads to character. Character creates hope.

Connect with Dean: Instagram | Website

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