LGFG Profile: Ben Gold
Written by Michele Vieux
If you’re anywhere near Point Loma any morning of the week, you can’t miss the super couple, Ben and Marta, who joined Invictus back in June when they moved to San Diego from Hawaii. Thanks to Honorary Invicti Cheryl Brost, and a drop-in visit by Ben back in 2013 on a visit to San Diego, they were already familiar with the Invictus methodology and knew they must be a part of the Sea of Green.
Since Ben and Marta joined, they’ve rarely missed a day of class, participate in almost every event we have to offer, and are all around great members of our community who we are lucky to have. Ben decided to also participate in our current ‘Look Good, Feel Good’ Challenge and agreed to share his struggles and triumphs with the world through this exclusive interview.
Before beginning CrossFit in July 2011, he was admittedly leading a very unhealthy lifestyle. “I had a slight stroke, was admitted to a hospital and had numerous brain scans and several doctors and psychologist visits. Their recommendation was medication – high blood pressure, blood thinner, and other pills to calm me down. I was just not into all the pill taking, but I wanted to fix myself, and I knew it would be through exercise. I began my quest to find a gym, and that’s when I found CrossFit,” explained Ben.
Immediately upon beginning his CrossFit adventure, he did a challenge similar to the LGFG with the sole intent of making himself healthy again. With a starting weight of 267 pounds, he whittled down to 207 within five months by eating right and exercising.
So why is he doing THIS challenge? “Fast forward to today – the move to Cali, trying to unpack containers, find storage facilities, remodel the house, keep the kids happy, and keep tenants happy, I find myself 30 pounds heavier,” shared Ben. But it’s not just about the weight loss in this challenge for him, even though his body weight goal is 197 (watch out fellow challengers!). He wants to be more competitive as well and knows that the proper lifestyle will help achieve this.
“Sometimes it’s hard to be on track when you are new to San Diego and all the wonderful eateries she has to offer,” he said, explaining that he’s using this to get back on track and instill some healthy habits.
“At the end of the day [I’m doing this challenge] just to feel better, to be healthy and to be on this earth for a while,” he said. “I have children – my youngest is eight – and I just want to be around for them and to watch them grow into strong, healthy, happy adults.”
One of his (and Marta’s) healthy habits is in the way they choose to get to the gym every day. “We live in South Mission Beach and my choice of transportation to get to the gym – it’s all pedal power [because] we chose to take the awesome bike paths from the beach to Invictus.”
Besides being a super dad, super athlete and a super friend, this guy sells cars and in his former life, was a manager for Palm Springs Ford Lincoln Mercury (anybody need a car?) and owned a retail smoke shop. But for now, he’s happy living the dream as “Marta’s personal assistant, slave and chauffeur; and gardener, cook, and mover; and mechanic and special best friend…well you get it.”
Biggest vice? Like many of us, that pesky wine list that’s attached to the dinner menu. He’s combated this by cooking more at home for the family and making it a fun time for he and Marta to spend together. He shared that he doesn’t have a specific favorite meal, “but it always seems to be with the same person that I have enjoyed some favorite flavors – me as head chef and Marta as my sous chef prepping in the kitchen – we have made some fine Paleo-style meals.”
Ben played the normal sports growing up; Little League Baseball, Pop Warner Football, he wrestled in high school as well as played football, and even played one year junior college football. Then it was nothing for 20 years until he started racing District 37 off-road desert races where he was sponsored by Ford Motor Co. He reminisced on those days, “I raced a KTM 525 dirt bike 100 miles across the desert almost every weekend – can you say fast times and a lot of injuries and broken bones?”
He’s since ditched the bike and picked up the barbell and now his favorite moves are strength-based. “[I love] deadlifts and pressing overhead [because] I feel that I can keep up with the youngsters,” he grinned. “If not just completely crush them.”
Coming from a rough line of sports and a history of injuries, he has been astonished at how he’s remained injury-free since joining Invictus. “The biggest surprise for me is that this is the first time that I feel that I have been injury-free. I feel that we are provided the proper warm up and stretching technique geared toward and for the workout of the day.”
I asked him how he thought he could most improve from Workout #1 to Workout #2 and narrowed it down to the pull-ups. “I think that one of the greatest gifts from my medical episode is my short term memory [loss]. What was the workout?” he asked. “I hope it’s deadlifts or something overhead….oh now I remember, it was the pull-ups and I must do more than before!” Watch out fellow Invicti, I spied him and Marta at the pull-up Skills & Drills Clinic last month, so he has been practicing!
Something he doesn’t need much practice on is styling his thick, dark, well-groomed hair. Do you know the secret? According to Ben, it’s “Water, yea mostly water, every now and then I take whatever shampoo and conditioner Marta gets – some fancy shamancy stuff with Hawaiian plant roots grown at the base of the volcano.”
And for the obligatory close to any Invictus athlete profile, I asked him to share his favorite animal and to that question, I received the most beautiful answer.
“[The] golden eagle. When I used to race, I would get up before the crack of dawn, pre-check my gear and motorbike, then take off for a 2- 3 hour practice race across the desert. About 80% of the time I would ride by myself due to the fact that my schedule was best set for me and no one else. On some of my most awesome rides across the Coachella Valley, heading into the mountains toward Big Bear or Joshua Tree, I would stop to look back and reflect on the desert floor below and in the peace and silence of the morning, in the beautiful morning light, there was my soul companion from above who flew over me as I rode. My spirit who flies free. My golden eagle.”
Get it Ben!!!