Member Of The Month – May 2026
Our May MOTM goes to our gentle giant Robin!
Robin has been with us for about 18 months, and is such a great person to have in the M Squared community. He is friendly, loves to learn, always positive about whatever the workout is, loves wearing bright clothes (especially pink and purple), and is just an all round lovely person. He has picked up everything so quickly, especially the gymnastics movements, recently getting his first bar muscle ups, and his form is always mega. He always tries really hard, has a smile on his face before and after each workout (apart from one time that involves a row… he’ll tell you about that later), and he is smashing it. He also recently learned how to do a tricep stretch properly. IYKYK lunchtime crew 😉 Let’s find out a bit more about his CrossFit journey so far…
MÂ – How long have you been doing CrossFit?
RB – 1 year, 6 months, 2 weeks, 3 days and counting.
M– What class time do you usually attend and why does that work for you?
RB – Midday during the week works best for me. I should work from the office more, but that would mean missing lunchtime CrossFit. Midday suits me because I’m not allowed to attend the 6am classes because that’s Una’s (my wife) time at M Squared, and later in the day doesn’t work around the kids’ after-school activities.
M– What is your why? Why do you put yourself through it each day? Do you have goals you want to achieve?
RB – Since starting CrossFit, I’ve become fitter and stronger. I feel better physically, my general mood has improved, and I sleep better (maybe I just go to bed earlier). I’ve learned lots of new skills, made progress on many movements and completely failed to master plenty of others.
I’m motivated by that progress, as well as by training alongside the same people week in, week out. The shared effort of working out in a class with other people makes a big difference, I wouldn’t make the same effort on my own.
My main goal is consistency, to do that, I need to avoid injury, which means focusing on good movement and technique, scaling weights and movements, accepting that some workouts don’t suit me, not every session feels good, and I need to get better at taking a rest day.
One of the great things about CrossFit is that there are so many different elements to it that, if you can be consistent, you’re always moving forward.
M– What advice would you give anyone wanting to start CrossFit but is either unsure or nervous? We get people all the time saying they need to get fit first or they could never do what we do? Any advice for those people?
RB – Start now, I wish I’d started sooner. You don’t need to be fit to start CrossFit, you do CrossFit to get fit. Una (my wife) spent two years telling me that I’d love it, I spent two years thinking she just wanted me to join so that I’d listen to her when she was telling me about the WOD (Workout Of The Day). Turns out, she was right, I love CrossFit.
M What is your biggest achievement so far in CrossFit and what are you most proud of?
RB – My biggest achievement is how much I don’t hate running. Before CrossFit, I didn’t run at all. After starting CrossFit, I found out I hated running. After a year, I knew I disliked it. After a year and a half I might finally like it, providing it’s short.
I probably most proud of progressing to lift men’s ‘B’ barbell weights, most of the time. And if it’s not that, then it’s the day we did a 2,000m row, I went out too fast, Gage recommended slowing down, I failed to slow down enough, and somehow held a reasonable pace all the way to the end. I finished completely drained of colour and felt sick for next three hours – type two fun.
M – Yep I remember that day… you didn’t have anything else to give when that row finished haha! Well done Robin! We are all proud of you.
