Local gym sends two athletes to CrossFit Games
Jordan Troyan, 35, and Kurt Stein, 55, will compete in Wisconsin this weekend
Jordan Troyan described the CrossFit Games as the Super Bowl of CrossFit. Kurt Stein corrected him saying the games were more like the Olympics of the sport, with countries from around the world represented by athletes at the games.
Troyan, the owner of CrossFit Rage in Skippack, competed in the event in 2013 and 2014, while Stein, one of his members, qualified in 2015. After a long wait, the two have worked together to get back to the mountain top of their sport.
Troyan and Stein will once again compete in the 12th annual CrossFit Games in Madison, Wisconsin from Thursday through Sunday.
“We’re both hungry and driven,” Stein said. “We’ve both had a break from the games... People kind of think we’ve fallen off or we’ve given up but there were factors that caused the void whether it was injuries or life in general, and now we’re back.”
“Once you stop something, getting back to that same level again isn’t easy,” he added. “We’ve done it.”
Troyan, a 2002 Pottsgrove grad, was a swimmer in high school and then at West Chester University. He worked for seven years on the Sea Isle City Beach Patrol and kept in shape swimming, running and weightlifting, eventually working as a personal trainer at LA Fitness.
A friend got Troyan into CrossFit in 2011 at CrossFit Pottstown on Hanover Street. Not long after, Troyan decided to open his own gym, CrossFit Rage, in May 2012, while he was working as a substitute teacher. What started with four members has grown to 115 members in just more than seven years.
“I’ve always been active,” Troyan said. “I’ve always been involved in fitness. I’ve always stayed in shape throughout my entire life. Transitioning from swimming to CrossFit is pretty easy because in swimming you’re pretty much racing against the clock and that’s what CrossFit is. You’re racing against the clock. It’s competitive. It’s fun.”
Stein was a high school football player and wrestler growing up in Iowa before a college wrestling career. He’s lived in the Schwenksville area for the past 25 years and originally filled his drive to “push the limits” with running, working his way from 5K races all the way to marathons.
While trying to find a way to keep his son active during the summer months in 2009, Stein was recommended to try a CrossFit gym out of someone’s garage. He spent a week watching his son work out before giving CrossFit a try, doing the Filthy Fifty workout.
After being beat up by the workout, he continued coming back for the work outs and eventually got into the competitive side of the sport at the coaxing of Troyan when he joined CrossFit Rage in 2013.
“I thought I was in great shape,” Stein said of that first workout. “I had great cardio and stuff like that, but when it came to bodyweight movement stuff, it just killed me. I don’t like to get beat like that, so I said, ‘I have to come back and get better at this.’”
The first step for qualification in the CrossFit Games is The Open. CrossFit releases a workout online and registered athletes from around the world complete the workout, are judged by their affiliate and see where their scores rank.
The Top 200 athletes advance to the Age Group Online Qualifier. After another set of workouts, the Top 10 advance to the CrossFit Games.
Troyan, 35, is in his first year competing in the 3539 division of the Masters Classification. He competed against competitors several years his junior in his first few times at the CrossFit Games, finishing 24th out of 26 competitors in 2013 and 20th among 43 competitors in 2014.
After a few close calls in the past four years, Troyan finished 12th in The Open before placing 10th in the Online Qualifier to make this year’s CrossFit Games.
“I’m definitely amped and looking forward to go back again,” Troyan said. “I’ve been trying to make it back. My last year was 2014. I made it to regionals in 2015 and 2016, and then missed it in 2017 and 2018 ... I’m just looking forward to getting back on that competition floor again.”
It came as a bit of surprise when Stein qualified for the games in the 50-54 Masters division in 2015. He finished 7th in The Open before placing 12th at the games.
“It was a great experience for myself and my family in 2015,” Stein said. “That only fueled the fire.”
Stein had knee surgery following his CrossFit Games debut in 2015, which washed away his 2016 season. He later had to deal with a shoulder injury.
In 2017, Stein got through The Open but finished 24th in the qualifier, four spots away from making it to the games.
Stein approached Troyan about helping him train for this year’s competition. Stein gets up at 5:45 a.m. to commute to his job in the city before getting to CrossFit Rage around 6:30 p.m., where Troyan stays with him to train after closing time. Stein’s wife, Bethany, waits to have dinner with him around 9 or 9:30 p.m. every night before he gets up to do it all again.
The hard work paid off as Stein, 55, placed third in the 55-59 division in The Open and ended the qualifier as the top ranked athlete in his age group.
“Obviously to get the games is a goal but also to do my best and perform at the highest level like I did in The Open and the qualifier, which will hopefully place me at the top,” Stein said. “Because that’s what we worked for. I think Jordan’s training, his mentoring, his coaching has allowed me to be in that position.”
There will be 120 masters athletes at the event this weekend and two of them are both from the same gym in Skippack. Both Troyan and Stein noted that will make the trip even more special.
“Having a good friend and a coach with you makes the journey that much more enjoyable,” Stein said. “We’re looking forward to a lot of great memories over the next week together.”
“There’s not many gyms I know of that have two masters athletes who are going to be competing out there,” Troyan added.