Member Spotlight: Chelsea Montgomery
What is a Chelsea Montgomery, even? It’s straw hats and arm tats, it’s hugs and coffee mugs, it was once a Camp Gladiator, now turned CrossFitter, and, perhaps most importantly, it’s this month’s member spotlight. Peep our Q&A with Chels and get to know her a little better!
Q: What brought you to Renew?
- Becky’s hungry butt
- Sadie threatened to end our friendship if I didn’t join
- I heard Hroch was starting Saturday Pour Over Seminars after community wods
- I wanted to grow as an athlete and coach
Q: What’s your favorite thing about CrossFit?
Being challenged, while simultaneously being humbled.
Q: Does your family fitness too?
Cooper (youngest brother): Yes
Dad: No
Mom: Chases goats on the family ranch
Jordan (younger brother): Beer can curls
Erica: Secretly, and in our garage, despite everyone’s efforts to get her to join
Q: What is your most cherished tattoo and why?
A: Oh, man. What a good, good question.
My grandmother, Goose, was my best friend, and she kept little “treasures” in bell jars in her home. I lived with her my last year at A&M (Whoop!), and shortly after I graduated and moved to Houston, she passed away due to congestive heart failure.
The anatomical heart in the bell jar on my forearm represents her heart; how much of an impact it had on me, and how much of an impact I can have on my family, friends, and the people I coach if I lead the way in taking care of my physical heart in ways she didn’t know how. And that, my friends, is how I got into coaching. #fullcircle
Also tattoo pro-tip/fun fact: if you’re going to get a tattoo, don’t just assume the artist knows everything about what you ask them to create. Before getting what happens to be my first real tattoo because my white girl tattoo doesn’t count, never once did I think to ask the Aboriginal Canadian princess who made this piece if she had actually drawn an ACCURATE anatomical heart. Rookie mistake but I asked all of my nurse friends and WE GOOD, Y’ALL.
Why is your Insta full of farm animals? Please explain.
I grew up on a small ranch west of Austin surrounded by everything but horses. Why no horses? Because horses = expensive. No one lives on the ranch currently, but we still raise livestock, so once a week(ish) I drive out there to feed, put out hay, fix fences, birth goats, castrate calves, drive tractors, chew tobacco, wear wranglers, shoot guns, skin deer… you get the idea. And then I take pictures of all of the (live) animals while I’m there. The goats are really cute, but the cattle are my favorite because they have been a life-long project, and they taste great.
So, basically, we can thank Becky’s hungry butt and Sadie’s threats for giving us Chelsea. Three hugs for Chelsea Montgomery!
