S06122 BISON 15 - Strong Turtle Energy - Adaptation Equals CrossFit Success with Mo Boak

Botox and Burpees talks with longtime @crossfitbison member Mo Boak @mobee515 about how a return-to-office mandate forces a full reset of her workout routine and why she refuses to let fitness be the thing that breaks.

Mo shares how she shifts from midday classes to the 5 a.m. crew, stays durable through smart scaling, and builds real confidence over time. 

• balancing work, commuting, and parenting without quitting training 
• switching from lunch-hour workouts to a consistent 5 a.m. CrossFit routine 
• using sleep and bedtime consistency as part of the program 
• leaning on coaches and training partners to choose smart weights 
• playing to strengths from running-based sports while building upper-body skills 
• staying healthy through scaling, pacing, and leaving ego out of it 
• raising kids around fitness habits and everyday functional strength 
• focusing on body positivity and long-term progress over big goals 
• best advice for new CrossFitters

#crossfitcoach #CrossFitCommunity @CrossFitAffiliates #supportyourlocalbox #crossfitaffiliate #gymowner #HealthyLiving #GymLife #CrossFit #FitnessJourney #BotoxAndBurpees #podcast @botoxandburpeespodcast 

Transcript

Meet Mo And Her CrossFit Start

SPEAKER_01 0:04

All right, welcome to another episode of Botox and Burpees, the Bison 15. I have with me one of the stalwarts at Bison, CrossFit Bison our gym. It's Maureen, better known as Mo Boak. She's been at CrossFit Bison for nine plus years at this point. So she's been, she's seen it all at this point. And uh I'm gonna let Mo go ahead and introduce her, and then let's get right into the topic that we're gonna talk about.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

All right. Thanks for having me, Sam. Um, not sure quite what I sign up for doing this, but I'm game. Um but yeah, I've been uh an active member of uh Bison for about nine years. Um really started CrossFit um sort of by accident with a little push from my husband. Um, after we had our first child, we were trying to figure out how do we both work out and be more efficient. And so I was doing a different workout uh program while I was pregnant. And he would had joined CrossFit right before our son was born. So as he started doing it and got really into it, he was like, I think you should do this. One, I think you would like it. Two, I think it would help our schedule be more aligned because we can all have the same schedule. So we used to pass the kids off in the parking lot and do back-to-back classes for many years. Um yeah, that's really kind of how I got started with CrossFit. And it's been a great place ever since. Um I really, you know, going on 10 years, love it, still, still learning, still trying to get uh Rx on many movements.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Um, but yeah, it's been great. It's so funny because you plus so many other parents, I see the the kid handoff all the time in the morning. Uh, and I know a lot of athletes also can probably relate with that, or the um, I have to get out of here right now so I can get home and then my spouse can get here. Uh and so uh there are a couple couples where we always know if the class runs even a touch late, like the next um person in the couple is gonna be a little bit late. So I but I think that's a lot of dedication. Like that that really means a lot in terms of you know prioritizing fitness and sort of you know squeezing it in when you have when you're parents and you have a lot of you know work responsibilities and and ki you know family responsibilities. So um so what do you want to talk about, Mo?

Return To Office Changes Everything

SPEAKER_00 2:28

So I think one of the biggest things um I think a lot of people have experienced this probably the last 18 months or two years, companies that had increased flexibility of remote working have really changed the policy or sort of gone back to prior COVID type policies. So it's been a big lifestyle shift because I think for many people, um similar like my age and my um parenting life cycle, who we were five, six years ago is actually different than what we are now. So, like logistically, it's changed. You could have more kids in the house um now, so your life is sort of set up differently. So now going back into the office, depending on your commute level and flexibility, really puts a wrench into whatever program you've been doing for the last few years.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

So, what what are you man? So where were you in terms of your work mandated responsibilities and what changed at that point?

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Yeah, so I kind of have an interesting um perspective because it's not it wasn't really a COVID mandate. I um I've I'm actually coming up on 18 years working for my company. I um manage a regional underwriting team. I'm an insurance underwriter. And um we started work from home flexibility in 2009. So we were like well ahead of the curve. And um because of that, you know, I think people really, really appreciated the flexibility. It was actually like an employee benefit for a long time that people stayed because of our hybrid work style. So um ironically, our division, the division I'm in, was slightly more ahead than most other divisions. A lot of the, so my office is sort of in the the middle of nowhere in New Jersey. Um, so a lot of people have long commutes. So we had this increased flexibility first. A lot of the other offices that are in major city hubs didn't have that flexibility. They had the more standard five days in the office that we saw uh pre-COVID. So when COVID happened, some of the other divisions scrambled because they never had done it before. Our division was great. We're like, oh, we got this, we're already set up, everybody had a home office. Um, it was no problem. So at that point, uh, pre-COVID, I was working um two or three days in the office. That's it. The rest was at home. So it was really flexible. Yeah. Um and then, you know, obviously COVID, we are home for 18 months, I would say, um, which was great. I feel like that was, I mean, it was great in some aspects. Parenting while working full-time was totally insane. And I don't actually know how we got through it, but we always joke if daycares hadn't reopened, we probably wouldn't have had our third kid because we were maxed out. Um, but so back to the office, we they adopted a hybrid routine. So they kind of had everybody across the company on the same three, two. So they wanted three days in the office, two days at home. So for our division, that was an increase because people were two days at home for the most part. Um, but what happened, and I think you kind of see it in other companies, people just didn't come back. They refused. So they, you know, were just ignoring the mandate and not coming back. Um so our CEO sort of like doubled down and said, like, all right, fine, then nobody gets work from home. And so um it was about a year, it was a year ago, uh, January um 25, where they put out the mandate, everybody was five days in the office, no matter what you did before, no matter what division, everybody was five days, with uh direct manager flexibility to approve one flex day.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Wow. And

Rebuilding Training Around 5 A.M.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

so what was your workout schedule like before when it was 3-2 or you know, two, three, whatever? And then and then when it went full five or maybe one flex, uh, how'd you sort of figure that out?

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Yeah, so um pre when I had the flexibility, I was home more, I was a big midday fan. So I used my lunch hour to get my workout in, likely bisons, uh, I can make it there in five minutes on the dot. Um and it was a huge flexibility for my family. My husband could do the 5 a.m. class, he's always been an early riser. Um, I could, you know, man the kids in the morning, get everybody out the door, do the midday class, and then pick right back up from work and finish out the day. So for many years it was great, um, especially when you have like the young kids. Um, you know, you never know what your night's gonna be like with sleep interruption and all that stuff. So the midday class was great. So they didn't have to get up so early. Um, and it really worked well for our family. So conversely, when they announced this return to office, um, I think I went through the stages of grief, you know, like full-on denial, anger. I was, you know, quitting my job, we're moving, we're I was buying a new car. Like um, there was probably some temper tantrum stamp stomping in the kitchen. Um it was really hard because like one of the big things I was most worried about was my workouts. You know, like what am I gonna figure this out? Um so after, you know, the full circle and uh they gave us like a few months to like mentally adopt coming back to the office. Um so I I reached a stage of acceptance. I guess some days I'm still not sure I'm totally there, but um I decided like I can't let this ruin my fitness, right? Because it was kind of like you gotta figure it out. So luckily, um, and my husband will attribute uh Dave's great programming to this, but my husband's much better at working out by himself than I am. I really appreciate the class environment and like it motivates me to get up, knowing like, you know, Susan's gonna be there to, you know, pick my weights for me. Um but um so what we've been doing now, and pretty much it's about a just about a year now coming up on it, is um my husband and I get up together. The kids are a little older now. Um, we have a pretty good setup in the garage. My husband works out in the garage at 5 a.m. I go to the 5 a.m. class at bison. Um, and I've slowly turned into a pretty steady 5 a.m.er um over the last 12 months or so.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

That is crazy. So um, yeah, the 5 a.m.ers are uh at every gym, obviously, very dedicated. Like you're not there at 5 a.m. to like be social, like chill, hang around afterwards. Like if you're going to the gym at 5 a.m., you have stuff to do. You got to get in, you gotta get out. You probably didn't get enough sleep most nights anyway. And so it's like, but it's such a dedicated like fitness crew. So um what time do you go to bed in order to get up to make 5 a.m. class?

SPEAKER_00 9:44

I think that's the biggest, like there's like a pressure to go to bed, right? It's like almost like an increased anxiety about that. Um, I do try to get into be in bed by nine. Um, and I'm pretty pretty consistent with that. Again, my family, um, I'll blame my husband's DNA, were a family of early risers. So like I was probably only sleeping max till like six anyway. Um, so like it's not like it's a crazy shift, but um obviously you you gotta get to bed in order to feel functional. And as the kids have gotten older, you know, the practices go a little later. Um, sometimes getting to bed at nine is hard, but um, I've been trying to be as consistent as I can getting the sleep because I do think it's so important. I've always been a big sleeper, so um, I'm known to be cranky if I don't get enough sleep. So it is it is important.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

How many days a week now do you make it to bison?

SPEAKER_00 10:37

So it was interesting. Um, when I was a middayer, I was pretty much like four, I was do like three midday classes and then I try to do a Saturday class. So I was doing about four days. Um now I'm actually averaging probably more like five days because I've found that the more you wake up at, you know, 420 every day, um, my body clock is being reset. So it's like I don't actually sleep in even when I have the day off. So like I've been enjoying getting up more. So I've found myself going even more often than I was before.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Wow. That's pretty cool. And

Athlete Background And CrossFit Strengths

SPEAKER_01 11:14

then for the gym itself, uh, you were a collegiate athlete, right? You were um field hockey, was that right?

SPEAKER_00 11:20

I played field hockey and lacrosse in college.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Wow, that's pretty cool. And um, were you not? Uh did your team where did you go? Didn't you guys win, or you guys were playing at a very, very high level in college?

SPEAKER_00 11:32

So I went to Bryant University in Rhode Island. And um when I was there, we were division two. So it was they have since moved up to division one, but it was a really nice balance of being a student athlete. We all knew we weren't going pro in anything. Um, and they actually cared about you getting your classes done and having good marks and stuff. So um it was it was a really great uh post-high school balance. Um, my field hockey team made it to the final four, the NCAA Final Four, um, which is pretty cool. Um, and then lacrosse, we we never quite got there. We could never beat uh Stonehill, it was our big rival. We could never quite get over the hump, but we had, you know, great career with both sports. Um, it was a great experience.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

And then, so what do you enjoy about CrossFit the most? Um, what kind of workouts, what kind of program do you like? You're a very good athlete. I and I will tell you what I think you're good at after you tell me what you think you're good at, or what you or what you find most challenging in CrossFit as well.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

Um, field hockey and lacrosse are both running sports, right? So I know I've always been a really strong runner. I was a midfielder um my whole career. So I was I was definitely running a lot all the time. So any of those type of workouts, I know um running's like no big deal for me, and I'm always happy to run. Um, and I so as a result, I think my leg strength stuff is far superior than my upper body. I was never a gymnast. Um, you can see the women that were gymnasts, even as children, for not even not even like you know, collegiate gymnasts or anything, but you can just see, I can see in my daughter, if you build that upper body strength at an early age, it just stays. So all the upper body stuff is definitely a huge learning curve for me. But it's it's fun to keep trying to learn new skills in your 40s and still trying to get there. Um, but yeah, I would say um I I the biggest part about CrossFit for me personally, with my job, I have to make a lot of decisions all the time. And I love CrossFit because I don't have to decide what to do. Somebody's just telling me what to do. So I am happy just to show up and I'll pretty much do anything, I'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

So I really like um when you guys in the class try to figure out, like, you know, because you're friends with my wife, Susan, and you know, which weights you guys are gonna choose, like you mentioned. Like, are you guys gonna go lighter at the 5565? Are you guys gonna go to 75? Are you guys gonna push it at 8595 or even hot heavier? Like, you guys um have a very nice sort of like, you know, sort of discussion. Um, and sometimes you guys push each other, sometimes you guys actually are like, oh, let's all like feel better and move down. What what makes you guys decide like what to do on any of these workouts weight-wise?

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Well, I think uh, you know, I was because I played two sports in college, I actually um didn't get to experience true off-season conditioning as a collegiate athlete. So I never really lifted in college because I was always in season. Um, you know, really because the heavy lifting and programming with strength and conditioning coaches is really all off-season work that I got to skip out on. Um, so I think that was also a big learning curve coming into CrossFit. Oftentimes I don't know which weight to do. Um, I don't know how how strong I can be. Um, and I think our coaches are really good at that. Um, I love going to the midday class on Fridays when I do work from home because Liz is great at always pushing me um to go heavier. Um, and she kind of like knows my body and knows what I can do. But I think, yeah, you find your people and you kind of you see who the scores are similar to. And I think sometimes it is like, should we push each other? Can we do this? Like, it's because sometimes you just need that confidence for somebody else to say, like, you can do that. It's so, you know, it's only five reps. We can try that, you know. So I try to um still trying to figure out, you know, where I can be. Um, but having good people around you certainly helps versus you know, working out alone, I probably would always go lighter.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

You're very durable. I don't

Staying Durable With Smart Scaling

SPEAKER_01 15:40

um know if I've seen you miss an extended period of time at the gym. Is there anything that you do in like specifically to make sure that you can um stay healthy? I mean, even though you're you're attending four or five days a week at this point?

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Yeah, knocking what I even through college, I never really had any major injuries. So like I don't have a lot of like physical baggage, I guess you could say. Um, but I do try to just like listen to my body. Like, so sometimes like if I if I don't feel it that day, like I'm very comfortable scaling. I don't have to push all the time. I don't have that. Um, I've always been uh like motivated against myself versus other people. So like I'm perfectly fine with like backing off a workout if I don't feel like because I at this point in my life, I don't want to get hurt. I'm just here to work out and stay healthy. Um and I actually I was um found myself in fun great functional fitness yesterday. Uh we did farmer carries this week, right? And so yesterday at lacrosse practice, I found myself carrying a bucket of water balloons across the lacrosse field, you know, full of water. So I'm like, oh, I can do this, you know, this is crossfit. Um, but yeah, I think I think I just try to be smart about it. Like, you know, I don't do a lot of the movements that are a little date, I don't do a lot of upside down stuff because I know I I don't have that core strength. So I try to scale appropriate um just to make sure I don't get hurt and stay healthy.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

That's really smart. So now you have three kids. How do you approach their um development as athletes and um training? Uh, is there anything that you have taken from what you've learned and apply it to them?

SPEAKER_00 17:27

I think um, you know, obviously my husband obviously is an athlete too. I think we just try to instill in our kids that even if you don't play sports, obviously we'd love them to play sports because we had such a positive experience playing team sports, but you have to work out, period, like everybody does to stay healthy. So I think they see it in us. They know it's part of our routine. They um see us, you know, every morning at 6 a.m., usually both sweaty. Um, usually my my five-year-old will say when I give him a hug in the morning, he goes, Oh, you smell like a bison. So that um so I think they just they think it's normal that everybody works out every morning. Um, I think they have no concept that other a lot more most parents probably don't exercise, right? Um, so I think we just try to instill that and keep them healthy and running around as much as possible. We try to stay active with them. Um, we're just now with our almost 10-year-old, Dave's been getting it uh showing them, you know, deadlifts and we had them do benching. Um so we're gonna we have all the stuff, you know. So it's like we're we're hoping they spark the interest and ask to do it, you know, because we you can only push so far.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

So

Fitness Goals Without Chasing Trophies

SPEAKER_01 18:43

where do you see yourself uh in terms of your fitnessing over the next five, 10 years? Do you have goals? Do you have anything specific? Um, do you um some people like to challenge themselves? Like, is there anything specific to you at this point?

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Yeah, I mean, I I think the the years of um you know needing something to chase are behind me. Like I did post-college, I did like a bunch of marathons. I, you know, I did I did stuff that I felt like I needed to um be motivated by. Now I'm motivated just to go and keep getting better, working on new skills, trying to finally get a chest to bar, maybe someday, you know. 10 days and count it, 10 years plus. But um yeah, I mean, I'm really I don't need like to chase something. I'm just there. I'm happy to be there. I'm happy I can be there. Um, and I feel great, you know. So I think I feel better at 40 than I probably did early 30s in terms of strength and um body positivity and that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Yeah, which is amazing. So I think as an example, like I always look to you as an example of what people at the gym can achieve without having to have the goal of being a CrossFit Games athlete. Like, because you're very Someday I'm gonna get there, Sam. Like you you um have a full-time job, you have three kids, you um have uh plus Dave, which uh you know, it's not a fourth kid, but like he's I'm sure he's a handful too. Uh and you you guys are very involved in your kids' sports, you guys are very active in terms of their development. I know how much Dave coaches and how and and you as well, and and yet you pull it all together and still make it to the gym. You still make uh fitnessing a priority, and uh which I I think is amazing that you say that you are uh are more uh body positive now than you were even five, ten years ago pre-kids, before you had um all these changes. Uh what is it that you uh like to see in terms of your body image and how that can translate maybe for others as well at this point?

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Yeah, I mean, I think I feel like stronger than I did probably in my 30s. Because in my 30s I just ran. I ran a ton. So while I might have been like slightly leaner, um, I just feel like my posture is better. Like I like feeling strong, I like feeling fit. Um, and I think you know, CrossFit's done that for me. Obviously, as we've gotten older, we've been a little bit more mindful of like eating and and drinking and stuff like that too, which I think helps um because you can't get away with it as much, I think, as you get older. But um yeah, I think like we are busy and I think we choose to try to lean into that and just try to we're not trying to make huge like decreases, it's just like don't gain weight, just stay the same and keep going, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:52

Well, that's pretty awesome. Um uh I think it's very inspirational, honestly, because uh like I said, there are some people who uh when you're young, you have all the time in the world, and like you said, your metabolism allows you to enjoy life, uh you know, drink, party, go out, uh, and then as you start to figure out like all the other responsibil responsibilities you have, uh, you just have to sort of keep all of your boxes checked and you can actually get fitter, you can actually learn new skills, like you said, you can actually uh get stronger. And uh I think that's a good goal for me and for everybody else.

Advice For Progress Without Ego

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Um if there's one piece of advice you could give to a CrossFitter, like if you had to look back at yourself, you know, when you started, what kind of what would be the one piece of advice you would give yourself?

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Well, even I when people ask me about CrossFit, I always say um the biggest thing is you have to have uh confidence to ask for the scale. So you can't let your ego get in the way of the workout and just make sure you're even if it's a slower progression, like make sure I'd rather someone go in baby steps and slowly progress over time. So you don't get hurt, you can stay longer and you can keep um improving versus people that like go like a million miles an hour and try to push out the gate. Um, I think you just you're gonna burn out, probably like in anything in life, right? Like slow and steady. Um, Michelle Fruciano and I uh we refer to ourselves as the slow turtles, our strong turtles, because we're 10 years plus and we're you know finally almost at Rx in some of these workouts. But I think you just have but you have to be okay with that, you know. You know, at this point in your life, you can't expect you're gonna be able to compete with a 20-year-old, too. So I think you being aware of where you're at and just trying to um just keep showing up, you know, try to get there. That's half the battle.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

That's just uh that's awesome. I love that phrase, strong turtle. That works. Mo,

Thanks And Wrap Up

SPEAKER_01 23:55

thank you so much for your time. Uh good luck. I know we had to squeeze this in early on a Sunday morning just so that you can get to all the other responsibilities you have today. So I really appreciate it. And uh thanks so much.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

No problem. Thanks for having me, Sam.