1. Tell us about yourself
Hey! My name is Christian Laserna and I’ve been a BeachSide member for 2 years! I live in Ventura and have grown up living in Southern California for all my life. If I’m not in the gym, you can most likely find me spending my days surfing or hanging out with friends at the beach.
2. What do you do for a living?
I am an in-person personal trainer. Along with guiding clients through workouts, I create and implement individualized fitness programs to help them achieve their fitness goals.
3. Tell us something people might not know about you:
I make my own surfboards! I haven’t made any in the last 4 years, but I had been doing it consistently since 2011 when I was in college. It started out as just a “why not” project to make boards at a reasonable price for me and Taylor to save money vs buying at a high retail price. Eventually her and I were able to share ideas on how we would make boards exactly how we liked them to cater to our surfing. I then made boards for other family friends for the next couple years. It’s been a while since making my last board, but plan to do it again in the near future.
4. What brought you to CrossFit in the first place?
Upon moving to Ventura 2 years ago, my best friend and roommate, Taylor Phelps, told me she was joining a CrossFit gym in the area, and after she told me she loved her first couple classes I decided to join myself.
5. What was your first impression?
How has that changed? Before CrossFit, all I did was surf and do classic “bro” lifts in a commercial gym. I actually thought CrossFit was not for me at all, but I always enjoyed functional exercises at a high intensity to help maintain my athleticism. After going to BeachSide, I was immediately humbled by the intensity and skill level I witnessed from the other members. I fell in love instantly with the fun and supportive energy I received from both the members and all the coaches.
6. What was your first “bright spot”?
My bright spot was when I got my first ring muscle up. It took me a while, but was beyond stoked to finally get it.
7. What are you working on now?
Currently I want to improve my gymnastic strength, but my main focus is just increasing my overall strength, specifically with the barbell. Increasing my barbell strength has been a goal of mine for a very long time because it would be awesome to complete all of our workouts Rx’d.
8. What’s your favorite BeachSide CrossFit memory?
I thought my favorite memory was doing the open every year because of the fun and loud energy from our awesome community, but I recently realized that my favorite thing is just coming in to the gym every day and working out with all my fellow members. Not only do we all talk, hangout, and get along together when we show up for class, but we also endure every WOD together with blood (I always rip my hands during gymnastics), sweat, and sometimes tears. Being able to do this every day with my friends makes each class fun and memorable, and it keeps me coming back for more.
