ABOUT
“If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.”
– Fred DeVito
our community
CrossFit 1490 first opened its doors in January of 2019 and has been on a mission to serve the Marietta community ever since.
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When you walk through our doors, everyone around you is rooting for you to succeed in your fitness goals. We love to work hard, poke fun at each other, laugh, push each other and ultimately get healthier together.
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Here, you will find a group of people that want the best for each other and show up every day to put the work in.
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Though we are a close group, we always have room for one more and we hope you will find your way through our front door today!
WHY THE VITRUVIAN MAN AND 1490?
Leonardo da Vinci drew the Vitruvian Man in 1490, and it represents proportions and anatomy of the human body in relationship with the cosmos.
At a superficial level, the Vitruvian Man with outstretched arms and legs is perfectly proportioned and concentrically based. At a metaphysical level, the Vitruvian Man embodies a timeless human quest: If we could harness the power of our minds, we could figure out how we fit into this universe.
It has always been important to me to have balance and symmetry in my own life, and the Vitruvian Man represents that.
meet THE OWNER, AARON HOUCHIN
I was born in Clearwater, Florida, and grew up in Ozark, Alabama. I love football, baseball, grilling, and working out. I played baseball in college and some semi-pro football after college. I have a bachelor’s degree from Huntingdon College in Human Performance – Sports Management. I would like to give you a little background into why I chose CrossFit.
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About three years ago, I was working as a personal trainer at a large gym. I didn’t have trouble working out or motivating myself to train. But something was missing. I had reached a peak and had no motivation anymore. I tried different workout partners. That did not help, and I even got a few different gym memberships to motivate myself, but nothing worked.
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One day, I happened to see a few guys at the gym doing CrossFit and talked to them briefly about why they liked it. The answers I received from them were exactly what I needed to hear. They told me there is nothing else in the fitness world that compares and challenges them like CrossFit does. It is constantly changing and evolving, and it focuses on functional movement as well as cardiovascular components.
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I was definitely intrigued by this, so I hired my co-worker Michael, a well-rounded Olympic lifting, functional fitness coach to help me start this journey. He asked me, “Why do you want to start CrossFit?” My response was simple: I was bored with my workouts and needed a challenge. What I didn’t know was that not only was it going to be a fitness challenge but a mental one as well.
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From day one, I knew I had to work hard at this to become great. We started off with a workout called “Fran” (21 reps of barbell thrusters/pull-ups, then 15, then 9). I finished in 8:22. The 50th percentile for males is 4:40. It was a sign of a long road ahead.
Another example of how long of a road it was for me was when the coach asked me to flip up against the wall and do a handstand push-up. I had never even attempted to do one, but with 20 people around, what’s the worst thing that could happen? I took a few steps back, got some momentum, placed my hands on the ground, flipped up, and slammed into the wall—full speed. I lost my balance and crashed into a trash can. All the athletes in class ran over to see if I was okay. Other than my ego and picking up a dented trash can, I was fine.
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With CrossFit, I’ve learned it’s all about the process of trying something new and learning how to become better with every WOD. Without CrossFit, I would not push myself to become a better athlete every day by eating cleaner, sleeping more, and adding more mobility to my day. CrossFit has given me something I can do that is community driven, healthy, and fun, and I want to offer others the opportunity to experience what I have by opening CrossFit 1490.