S06E124 BISON 15 - Make Your CrossFit Routine Your Character Builder - Summer Vanwyckhouse
We sit down with Summer Vanwyckhouse @summervanwyckhouse to talk about how CrossFit took her from a soccer-focused teen to a confident, consistent athlete who loves hard workouts and supportive people.
We also connect training to her life as a nursing student, from building perspective in clinicals to choosing smart scaling that keeps her healthy and improving.
• starting CrossFit to get stronger for soccer
• loving the group dynamic
• building skills like double unders
• staying active at college with club soccer plus CrossFit-style options
• why younger adults may choose hot Pilates or hot yoga
• why CrossFit can feel intimidating
• the power of scaling workouts
• how nursing clinicals shape motivation and gratitude
• what a healthy gym culture looks like, including clear boundaries and respect for women
#crossfitcoach #CrossFitCommunity @CrossFitAffiliates #supportyourlocalbox #crossfitaffiliate #gymowner #HealthyLiving #GymLife #CrossFit #FitnessJourney #BotoxAndBurpees #podcast @botoxandburpeespodcast @crossfitbison
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TRANSCRIPT
Sam Rhee (00:00.802)
All right, hello, and welcome to another episode of Botox and Burpees, the Bison 15. We have with us a great bison athlete, relatively new, about a year at our gym. It's Summer Vanwyckhouse. Thank you so much, Summer, for being part of the podcast and guesting. And today we're gonna talk a little bit about her fitness experience and her experience with CrossFit as well. So, Summer, welcome to the podcast and I'll let you take it away.
Summer VanWyckhouse (00:31.078)
Thank you so much. I'm really excited to be here. yeah, so I started CrossFit when I was fifteen and I'm twenty now. I started at CrossFit Waldwick and then I started at CrossFit Bison like a little bit more than a year ago. And my favorite part is I just love how everyone pushes each other and I feel like it's so cool seeing everyone being different ages and then like we're all together working out. It's nice to like have other people to look up to and
to like push yourself with like so many different people around you.
Sam Rhee (01:03.182)
So, what made you start at CrossFit Waldwick at age fifteen? Obviously, was it something you wanted to do? Was it something someone got you to do?
Summer VanWyckhouse (01:11.568)
So I did like I went to Catholic school and I did varsity soccer there freshman year. So I kind of wanted to become stronger on the soccer field because I feel like I was an offender and I'm always like I'm a little short, I'm like five three, so I feel like I wanted to be better at like bodying people off the soccer ball. So I was like thinking about joining a gym, but then I was like, if I was just thrown to a gym I would have no idea what I'm doing. So I was like, why not try CrossFit? And it definitely made me stronger, but then
I kind of liked that more than I ended up liking soccer. And yeah, I just feel like I joined it to push myself and I just ended up really liking it more than I thought I would.
Sam Rhee (01:49.966)
Hm. So what is it about the workouts in CrossFit that appeal to you specifically?
Summer VanWyckhouse (01:56.773)
I like that it's workouts that I wouldn't choose to do by myself. Like if you were to like tell me to go do 30 burpees, like I would stop after the third one. But I think it's because someone's forcing me to do it. And then I have other people around me that like in my head I'm like, you can't let them down, you have to keep doing your burpees. And it's just like stuff that I wouldn't choose to do, but it's stuff that I should be doing anyway. And I feel like that's what I like about the actual CrossFit part. And then like you keep track of your stuff. So I know I've always done like 15 pound barb.
dumbbells but I recently started to be like you should be doing twenty pounds. So I just keep upping it.
Sam Rhee (02:32.691)
what movements do you find most challenging in CrossFit that you feel like you could still have a lot of room for improvement on?
Summer VanWyckhouse (02:42.49)
my newest thing I just got like double unders consistently. I feel like I used to be doing them where I would do double unders like in a workout for as long as I can and then like when I would stop at around like twenty I would just do singles and I recently started doing it where like you're just doing double unders. my next movement that I'm trying to get is toes to bar probably or just like upping my weight. Like I used to do eight pound wall balls and then I started doing ten pound wall balls. I feel like just trying to push myself a little bit more this summer.
Sam Rhee (03:12.386)
What was the trick with getting more double unders? Was there anything specific? Like
Summer VanWyckhouse (03:17.682)
I Bobby used to like tell me that my arms look like fish 'cause I'm like I use my arms instead of using my wrists. So I feel like I just started to think more about my wrists. So then when I'm not going like this, I'm less tired. So I'm just like that and I feel like that really helped me.
Sam Rhee (03:34.37)
really good. I I know that you're going back to school soon and so we only have you at our gym probably for another month or so and then what do you what do you do when you're at your your college?
Summer VanWyckhouse (03:45.327)
Yeah.
Summer VanWyckhouse (03:51.441)
So at college I still do club soccer, which is nice because I just love like the social aspect and like I've played soccer since I was little. So it's like not too much of a commitment, but it's just really fun and you make new friends in college from it. And I do that when I'm at school. And then besides that, there's a CrossFit gym and there's also this like organization. It's called Move to Heal. And it's like CrossFit inspired movements. But then there's also like
What's the word? Like a discussion kind of after and I feel like that's really cool. It's similar to CrossFit. And then I'll do CrossFit occasionally, but they only have it at like six o'clock at night, and I'm like a morning workout person, so I just try my best.
Sam Rhee (04:33.368)
So right now CrossFit is at a crossroads in terms of the HQ, the big organization, they're they're trying to increase the demographics for younger athletes. and as you know, our our gym has a lot of pe athletes probably over the age of thirty. We have a lot of families and parents and so forth. You're probably one of the f few younger athletes that we have at the gym. So what is it that you think
Prosphite can do to help appeal to, say, a younger demographic?
Summer VanWyckhouse (05:09.838)
Mm.
That's hard. I feel like
Sam Rhee (05:17.014)
Or w let me ask you this. Why do younger athletes not just all go to CrossFit gyms? Like, what is it what other things do they prefer and why do you think they prefer those things versus say maybe CrossFit that's your in terms of your friends or peers?
Summer VanWyckhouse (05:30.18)
Yeah, okay, I feel like a lot of my friends do like hot Pilates or like hot real hot yoga. I feel like it's cause they want to wear like cute outfits and then you're like you know what I mean? But I really like CrossFit because I'm like I just like to like like you're not doing burpees like in real hot yoga. You're like you're like I don't know, you're like hardcore. That's what I really like about it. But I feel like some people are like intimidated by it, I feel like, because you see all like the movements and the workouts.
And a lot of my friends, I posted like something on my Instagram story about like Murph and they like, my god, you do like a hundred push ups, two hundred sit ups, three hundred air squats, and then you run again and I'm like, Yeah. But I feel like it's just intimidating, but I feel like 'cause there's so many ways to scale and like if you can't do one movement, you can like fix it another way with something else. And I feel like that's really cool about CrossFit. But I feel like if you're not like used to it or you don't know anything about it, I feel like it is intimidating.
Sam Rhee (06:27.662)
What is it about your personality that lends you to doing hard things? Cause these are hard things. Like you go to the gym, it's there's a lot of intensity. It's not it's it's fast, like you said, and there's a lot of different movements. So what is it about your personality or how you've sort of approached your life that makes that appeal to you?
Summer VanWyckhouse (06:50.762)
I would say I always try to walk into the gym a better p I try to leave the gym a better person than I walked in there. I always try to push myself and I feel like with being a nursing major and I just started clinicals and you see people in the hospital and people who can't walk or can't eat by themselves and then I just like kind of came to a realization of how lucky I am that I am able to do this and I just really like that I I like need to work out like
it makes me happy inside to like be pushing myself into be doing that stuff. So I would say my personality goes along with it because I just try to be my best self and to become a better person each time by each workout I do and give it my all each day.
Sam Rhee (07:35.148)
Why did you decide to go into nursing, by the way?
Summer VanWyckhouse (07:38.427)
I knew I wanted a job where I could help people and then I think when I was like a sophomore junior in college, I was like er sorry, a sophomore junior in high school. I was like when it started to become real, like college and what you major in, I wanted a job where I could help people, where I could have like a stable income when I'm older. And as I like looked into it, I knew like nursing was something I more so wanted to do.
my aunt passed away from breast cancer when she was thirty two and I was like a little bit younger, so I feel like that also had a impact on me for wanting to choose healthcare and yeah, I feel like nursing's gonna like the perfect thing for me though.
Sam Rhee (08:17.246)
Hmm. So describe the social environment of CrossFit or CrossFit gyms or at least bison. So you said that was a very positive aspect for you. what is it that you like about that that part of it?
Summer VanWyckhouse (08:34.394)
I love that everyone is different ages. Like there's people like my partner today, she was like having kids and then like I'm just twenty, but we're just like in it together and I feel like it's just so cool that there's just so many different types of people. And then there was like a girl next to me who's in her sixties and she's working out and she's awesome. Like I just think it's so cool that there's so many different ages and so many different groups of people that can push you. And I just like I'm an extrovert. I love talking to people and it's like if I was just in a gym and it was just like
you, yourself and you, like there'd be no chance to like talk to people or like get to know other people to push yourself more. I just love how CrossFit, like everyone, especially in Bison, like wants to be the best version of themselves and they're all so kind and so friendly. And it's just really nice that there's so many different people that you get to talk to and meet and then they like you all have like a common goal. You all want to be more fit. You all want to push each other.
Sam Rhee (09:30.354)
I've talked to young women, also my daughter and others, and I think one of the issues that they deal with in a social situation, sometimes at gyms or other places, is that if you are nice to someone or you're kind to them, guys will mistake that as some sort of interest. And I know you're a very extrovert friendly person. Does that is that a problem for you, or how do you navigate those social situations?
as a young woman, dealing with guys in all of these types of situations.
Summer VanWyckhouse (10:04.164)
Yes. that's another thing that I really like about CrossFit, especially like CrossFit Bison, there's no like weird old creepy guys. I actually like everyone just like high fives you and then like goes on with their day. I was I still have a membership for like a gym like near my house, but I like only use it for the sauna. And when I go in there, there's so many creepy guys. Someone said to me last week, I'm not even making this up, you're living proof that God's an artist and I was just like, my god.
Like the older guys they're just so weird and creepy. But that's what I like about CrossFit is like you know when you're going to work out, like you don't have to worry about some guy in our gym being like saying something like that. It's just like guys though at regular gyms it's like insane. But I just feel like y I try not to like pay attention to that. Like I just was like, my god and walked away. Like you just can't
Sam Rhee (10:56.014)
I mean, it's it would be funny if it wasn't so s weird, you know what I'm saying? Like, and I feel like, well, first of all, I know that most of the guys at the gym was like, if anyone ever acted that way at our gym, like, you know, there's a very it's very important that we have a great community, great standards, great culture. And it's not just like
Summer VanWyckhouse (11:04.326)
Yeah.
Summer VanWyckhouse (11:16.068)
Okay.
Sam Rhee (11:23.298)
The creepy old dudes, but if it if there was anyone who was toxic or not nice to somebody, or, you know, you know, anything that's bringing anyone down, period. Like that's sort of what a gym needs to do to sort of make sure that that vibe is good. And I'm I'm glad that you you feel that way. I'm glad we don't have creepy old old dudes at our gym. so talk about some of the friends that you made at Bison and
Summer VanWyckhouse (11:32.89)
Yeah, I think.
Summer VanWyckhouse (11:45.945)
Mm-hmm.
Sam Rhee (11:53.292)
Like how you've related to them, how they've pushed you, or maybe you've pushed them in terms of your fitness journey.
Summer VanWyckhouse (11:59.847)
Yes. So my like my normal crew during the week is like my nine thirty class and I knew Bobby from CrossFit Waldwick and so it's like I've known him for f like four or five years. So yeah, it's nice 'cause he sees my improvement from like when I kind of first started to now and he's just like so nice and he's so good. He's like a really good coach. and then Liz also coaches a lot and Liz is awesome. She's like
Sam Rhee (12:14.4)
wow.
Summer VanWyckhouse (12:29.292)
human sunshine like in a person. Like she's so nice. So those are I feel like the coaches that I normally have on like a weekly basis. And then the people in the class, like we have like Kelly, she's awesome and then like Karen and they're all like forty ish year old women and like they run around me in the workouts. I have to like keep up. Like it's crazy. But I just feel like it's such a good crew and they're all so fit. And then like Kristen and like Aaron Brady, they're both
like nurse practitioners. So I like to like talk to them about nursing and stuff and I feel like it's so cool to see like they're like a version of me like in the future. Like they're healthcare baddies and they're in the gym working out and they're just awesome too.
Sam Rhee (13:12.046)
That is really cool. I I never thought about that from a mentoring standpoint, but you're right. We have a lot of people who are in healthcare, who are NPs, who do a lot of healthcare work, and they're also amazingly fit. You're right. All of those people you mentioned are they have families, they have kids, and yet they've maintained an insanely high level of health and and fitness, which absolutely so.
Summer VanWyckhouse (13:13.434)
Yeah.
Sam Rhee (13:41.686)
What do you foresee yourself in the future? So let's let's fast forward summer Vanwyckhouse, say two or three years from now. So you've graduated. how do you s foresee your fitness journey or and also like your your personal journey at that point?
Summer VanWyckhouse (13:57.307)
Yes. So like two to three years from now, I wanna move back home from college and then I my goal is to work at Hackensack, but we'll see. And I just wanna be a nurse, so I'd work like three twelve days a y a week and on my off days I would go across the bison of course. I my goal I like am one of those people that's gonna be stuck in Bergen County. Like I am never gonna leave. I like love it. so my goal is like and also I'm a very like what's the word?
I don't like change. Like I'm very routine and structured, so like I don't like to switch up what I do. So I definitely like see myself being at like CrossFit bison for like a while. my goal is to work and then just be at the gym on my off days and then during the summer I love to go to the beach.
Sam Rhee (14:46.104)
Pretty awesome. yeah, there are so many people from the area that have been lifers. Their families are from here. No matter where they went for school, education, training, work, they come back. North Jersey is just like a really fantastic. I mean, obviously we all live here, so that's that's we've made that choice. what do you s foresee yourself in terms of healthcare? Like, is there any particular specialty or field that you have seen that you really like so far?
Summer VanWyckhouse (15:16.176)
So I'm in clinicals right now, which I really like because I get to like see all the different types of like things what's going on and it's really nice because you learn so much and you just like it gives you a whole new perspective. I know going into college I wanted to do pediatric oncology, but like as I keep doing it, I'm like, my god, that's so sad, I don't know if I could do that. But I definitely really like kids or babies. So maybe right now I think my goal is nick you, but that could also still change. But
I feel like that's a good goal for right now.
Sam Rhee (15:47.95)
So if you had to give the five year ago Summer Van Wick House or someone just starting CrossFit or someone your age who's thinking about it but is like, you know, I've done mat Pilates, but this just looks really scary to me. Like, I don't know, what would you say to them?
Summer VanWyckhouse (16:05.284)
I would say to go for it and give it a chance, but you also have to give it time. Like you can't expect to like love it instantly, especially because learning all of like the hang snatch and like hang power snatch clean, like all of that stuff, I feel like it takes time. And to really like see a difference, like I feel like you have to wait a couple months before you like really give your like opinion on it. But I would definitely say to try it because I feel like you have a whole new version of yourself like waiting for you and CrossFit can like bring so much out of anybody.
And I feel like anyone could learn or grow by just trying to start CrossFit for the first time.
Sam Rhee (16:40.216)
You know, I've I've s I've been in class with you and I've seen you you're very careful to stay like you you bring intensity, but you are also very measured in terms of like there are some people that just bite off way more than they can chew. And somehow you you feel it seems like you know what you want to do or what you can do. and how do you figure out, like, for example, that you did eight pound wall balls and now you're ready to go to ten or
You do this and now you're ready to go to that. Like, have you had any injuries in CrossFit or or how if not, how have you avoided them?
Summer VanWyckhouse (17:19.326)
I haven't had any injuries in CrossFit and I feel like that's because I instead of going like all out, like I know in most like Rx workouts it's like a fourteen pound wall ball or like thirty five pound dumbbells, but I feel like I really try to like start a little lighter and then I like see it out and then I'm like I could push myself and go a little heavier or like I could balance the reps depending on what it is, or if I go really hard on one movement I could sacrifice it a little with something else. I feel like I really try to like
strategize what I'm doing by when I'm doing it and I feel like just having like a mental note of like I know my like one rep max is and I know like what I normally go for. So I'm just instead of going from like an eight pound wall ball to fourteen, I'm just slowly working my way up or instead of going from a fifteen pound dumbbell to a thirty pound dumbbell, I just am slowly going up by like five pounds.
Sam Rhee (18:12.098)
Yeah, like for example, today's workout, let's talk about that. You it was a twenty four cal ski, max wall balls, then twenty four cal bike, max rope climbs, and two hundred meter run together with max kettlebell swings with you and your partner, two minute thirty second stations. So how did what did you do and how did you figure out what to do for that workout today?
Summer VanWyckhouse (18:34.182)
So I loved this workout and it was really nice 'cause it was raining and it was like the perfect time when it stopped raining was when we went for our run. So we started off on the running station and it we like finished at about a minute, so then we had a minute and a half of kettlebell swings to go. And we broke it up by doing like fifteen, fifteen and then we would alternate by how much time we had left and we like got around
forty to forty five each time, which was like a good pace, and we kept that for consistently for the three rounds. And then the second one was we had the ski, which that's a hard movement for me. We really don't do it that often and I'm like not that good at the form of doing it. But I still tried. And then we did wall balls and that was good. I feel like we were pretty consistent with each round with our time. And then for the bike we did
Around twenty calories, like we had ten each, and then we got capped and then we had to go to the rope climbs and we scaled that and we were just doing like pull ups with the rope. But it was still a really good workout and I feel like I was like sweating so much after.
Sam Rhee (19:41.294)
So so that's awesome. You guys really sort of figured it out and and got a good push from it but still found like the right scales that worked for you guys. so I would say in the future I really would like to see where you go in terms of your CrossFit progression. You've made like you have made a ton of
ton of improvement over the past I guess years since you've been at at Bison. And I didn't know you were in nursing, but that's awesome. And like I said, that you're there's so many mentors at at Bison who are just killing it in that profession and you're gonna do well to if you followed in their shoes, I think you'd be really, really successful. so what do you do in your off days when you're not doing CrossFit?
Summer VanWyckhouse (20:16.176)
Thank you.
Summer VanWyckhouse (20:38.534)
What I'm not doing crossing.
Sam Rhee (20:38.626)
Like do you do other exercises or anything else like non CrossFit related?
Summer VanWyckhouse (20:44.344)
Yeah, so I go to the sauna a lot. I love the sauna. I try to push myself by doing twenty five to thirty minutes and I'll do that like three to five times a week depending on how busy I am. I feel like it really helps with my sleep. That's my favorite part of doing it. And I just love when you get to like the 20 minute mark and you have like five or ten minutes however much I'm doing that day, you like really have to push yourself to stay in. And you just feel so good after. So I love to do the sauna for like workout wise. I also love going on walks.
I go on walks a lot with my mom and my dog and we'll do like three to four miles and that's like a good way I like to stay fit. And then in my free time I'm a huge reader. I love to read. And
What else do I like to do? and I love to like hang out with my friends and my family. I'm very like I'm extroverted. I just love to be with people.
Sam Rhee (21:35.48)
How's your nutrition? Do you do anything for your nutrition at age twenty? Like or not worry about it at all?
Summer VanWyckhouse (21:43.471)
I'm like I could be way better about my nutrition, but it I definitely have an improvement from like when I first started. Like when I was fifteen and when I first started CrossFit, I like I have a picture for my camera roll. I my Starbucks order that I would get every day was like twenty dollars because I would get a large refresher, a coffee, I would get a like a sandwich, and then I'd get a cake pop and it like twenty bucks and I was like, What are you doing? And then I'm like
I can't be doing that anymore. So I definitely don't eat like that anymore, which is good. I definitely like I try to be healthier. I was very picky until like I was like seventeen or eighteen. Like I didn't have lettuce until I was eighteen years old because I was like petrified of it. I don't know. but then I tried salad and I was like, This is an amazing thing. So I have salad a lot or like wraps or
like chicken or steak, like that's like my I definitely eat healthier than I did, but I still have room for improvement.
Sam Rhee (22:42.944)
I if I was your therapist, I'd dig into that petrified of lettuce thing, like way in. There's gotta be something really interesting about that. But I I'm glad you're eating the salads now. That's awesome. Summer, it's been such a pleasure to talk. I hope we have another opportunity in the future to catch up and find out what your continued athletic and academic progression is. and
Summer VanWyckhouse (22:51.406)
Yeah.
Sam Rhee (23:11.8)
Thanks again so much, Summer. I hope you have a great academic year on clinicals. I know it's gonna be there's some crazy stuff that I'm sure you're gonna see that I would love to hear whatever clinical stories you have with when you come back with those. And good luck and yes just and continue to enjoy life. You are such a beacon in our gym. Like I said, you are a very
social super positive. I don't think I've ever seen anyone who's talked to you at the gym not come away happier or, you know, in a better mood. So that inspires me to do the same thing, to try to be more of a light around me in in class as well.
Summer VanWyckhouse (23:55.386)
Thank you so much for having me. I had such a good time and it was so nice to talk to you. Thank you so much.
Sam Rhee (23:59.182)
Thank you, Summer.
