Local trainer qualifies for crossfit competition

Local crossfit trainer and Small Town Fitness owner Amanda Stone recently qualified for the Legends Masters online crossfit competition.
 Legends is the premier functional fitness competition for masters athletes run by masters athletes.  
 As one of the top 16 women to qualify in her age group, Stone now has the opportunity to compete in a live three-day championship in Carlsbad, Calif., on Sept. 6-8.
 To qualify for the competition, Stone competed in six qualifying workouts over three weeks in June and early July. At the end of the Legends online qualifier, the top 16 male and female athletes from the 35-39, 40-44, and 45-49 age divisions, and the top eight male and female athletes from  the 50-54, 55-59, and 60-plus age divisions, were invited to attend the final live competition. Stone earned one of the qualifying spots in the 40-44 age division.
 Stone said that for the last couple years she has been just on the edge of qualifying and could not be more excited to have earned the right to participate in the competition at this level.  
 “The top women in this competition are legit. Their scores can beat many of the top men. I couldn’t believe it, and now I’m gonna see it in person,” Stone said.
 Stone has only been a crossfit competitor for the last four years. Her athletic career includes 20 years as a professional MMA fighter and several years as a professional thrower, but she was not actually interested in crossfit competition when it was first suggested to her.
 “I wasn’t interested in competing at exercise,” Stone said.
 She originally only competed at crossfit because a training partner at her gym at the time needed a partner for a partner competition. They won that first competition and Stone was hooked.
 As she continued competing, however, Stone discovered that while parts of the competition like barbell lifting were areas where she shined, some of the more gymnastics-inspired elements of crossfit came with much more difficulty. The skills she had to learn for the first time while in her 30s have been her lower scores.  
 “That’s the thing about this sport – you have to be able to do everything,” Stone said.
 To prepare for the competition in California, Stone will spend five weeks training hard, with two a day training sessions. During which time she will have to work on her stamina, agility and speed as well as strength.
 Stone started teaching crossfit when she moved to Weiser three years ago from North Carolina. Although she had trained throwers and coached fighters there, she knew that the crossfit gym would meet the needs of the community more.
 Stone has been incredibly grateful for this supportive community for her gym and her athletes. In many ways, this competition has been good for her to focus on herself as an athlete again, because for the last little while, the focus has been on the needs of her clients and coaching others.
 “I love coaching my athletes. And like many coaches, the success of my athletes has been more important than my own,” Stone said.
 Stone does teach her gym members to always push harder to be a little better each day than they were the day before.
 She is grateful for the opportunity to fully embrace and embody that motto through this competitive opportunity.