Gallery • 5 Photos

Lucy Sandeen

Celeste Parke-Reimer does a hang clean at the Power House.

Junior Celeste Parke-Reimer first broke her pinky finger in seventh grade. She had been playing soccer since elementary school, but when her injury temporarily took her out of the sport, she was forced to reevaluate the role that soccer had in her life and realized that it no longer brought her much joy. After a couple of years without a sport in her life, she and her mom decided to give CrossFit at the Power House gym in Highland Park a try.

Parke-Reimer began by taking teen classes and quickly fell in love with CrossFit. Soon, she started a personalized training program, worked out for three hours every day, and participated in a CrossFit competition. After the competition, however, Parke-Reimer learned that she had a stress fracture in her spine and was forced to stop CrossFit completely.

“It was a really high peak, and then a really low low,” Parke-Reimer said. “I just had a lot of back pain and went through the competition, but it got to the point where sitting hurt, walking hurt, and I couldn’t do anything.”

Parke-Reimer transferred to SPA from Central at the beginning of her sophomore year. CrossFit had previously provided to her a strong, close-knit community, but her back injury took that away for her 10 months of recovery, which made the transition to the new school more difficult.

“Going from [CrossFit] being such a big part of my life to being totally cut off from it was really hard, and especially being at a new school, the gym was always a place that I’ve had and it was hard to not have that anymore,” she said.

After Parke-Reimer recovered from her back injury, she decided to try SPA basketball junior year as a way to meet new people but developed stress fractures in her shins after only a week of playing which ended her season. She also recently developed a muscle injury in her back. Since then, she’s been trying to get back into CrossFit, but her previous competitive workout regimen was too intense and time-consuming, especially considering her multiple injuries.

“I’ve had to readjust my priorities, especially because it’s junior year, which is a lot of [academic] work,” Parke-Reimer said.

She’s started participating in the teen classes again at CrossFit, but because of her “fair share” of injuries, she said she’s not as adventurous as she used to be.

“My New Year’s resolution is not to get injured this year,” Parke-Reimer said.

Parke-Reimer has felt that CrossFit fits her fitness needs better than organized sports because of its convenience and flexibility. Because her workout schedule is up to her, she enjoys it more.

“Because [CrossFit] isn’t mandatory, I enjoy it more, because I actually choose to go,” Parke-Reimer said.

CrossFit also focuses on injury prevention, which Parke-Reimer appreciates.

“Injury is just a part of every sport. In soccer and basketball, if you have any pain, you just need to forget about it and play through it. If you want to exercise with people and have a good time and get stronger, CrossFit is a great option,” she said.