Member Spotlight: Maria Lantz
“As one of our very few members with prior CrossFit experience, Maria’s enthusiasm surrounding the sport radiates inside our four walls, and everywhere she goes. Maria reminds us how important it is to stop and celebrate victories - both small & large - and we so appreciate that about her!”
Q&A with Maria
What brought you to 23:20, and what keeps you coming back?
I’m obsessed with CrossFit, I think CrossFit defines both high care and high expectations. Members are so supportive of one another and that support includes keeping high accountability of one another.
Where are you from? If not here, when did you move here?
I am originally from the Northwestern suburbs of Chicago but I have lived in Des Moines prior to moving to Ottumwa, since 2005.
What do you do outside of the gym? Both for work and play?
I am the Director of Curriculum and Instruction at the Ottumwa CSD. CrossFit is my favorite hobby but I love spending time with our friends!
If you could do another job for just one day, what would it be?
This is impossible because I think I have the greatest job in the whole universe!
If you had to do 100 reps of one movement (not running), what would it be?
Push jerks.
One year from now, what do you hope to have mastered? What skill or lift do you hope to add to your wheelhouse?
I want to get my toe to bars back!
What would you say to a person who is apprehensive to join a CrossFit gym?
That CrossFit is truly for everyone.
What is one thing that CrossFit has changed about your life that you didn't expect it to?
It has allowed me to experience failure regularly. I try to avoid failure at all costs and CrossFit allows me to fail forward almost everyday.
What’s your party trick?
Affirmation circles.
What is one thing about you people would be surprised to know?
I got my finger cut off when I was a kid.
What is the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
“We don’t rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems.” James Clear, Atomic Habits
