Coach Spotlight: Coach Carly

If you've taken a class with Coach Carly, you already know she brings joy, positivity, thoughtful guidance, and accountability to each of her sessions. We sat down with her for a wide-ranging Q&A with Coach Greg, from her soccer roots to the weight room to the brand-new Tectonic Book Club. Here is the full conversation.

Q: You are big on self-betterment and putting in the work. What does training mean to you, beyond fitness?

A: “I work out to make myself better, but not just in one realm. I want to be physically fit, but I know that alone will not create the well-rounded, happy person I want to be. So I put work into the other pieces too. I carve out an hour to train, but I also carve out an hour to journal, or an hour to meet a friend and nurture those relationships. It is so much more than 'I will go sweat and that will be good.'”

Q: What was your first sport, and how did you start?

A: “Soccer. It has always been soccer for me. I started around four, in the little kickers program at Salmon Creek Indoors. Puppy-dog soccer, bumblebee soccer, whatever you want to call it. You have to start somewhere.”

Q: Your dad coached you early on, then you moved to a more competitive club. What drove that?

A: “My dad was my coach at Pacific FC, our local rec club, from about nine to thirteen. I loved having him as my coach and all that quality time, but I was ready for a more serious environment, so I joined the Washington Timbers, now Columbia Premier, for my high school years. I love being surrounded by people who are better than me. Even the 18th slot on an 18-player roster, that is where I want to be, because it makes me better so much faster. I started on the B team and worked my way up to the A team within the first couple of months.”

Q: What made that team special?

A: “Honestly, those felt like the golden years. Our chemistry was so good, and our coach, Peter Pickett, really focused on the mental side of the game. We had team meditations and film sessions. It was not just how good a player you were, it was how well you understood the game: could you see the field, could you make the decisions? Everybody was motivated and showed up, and we got really good. We were traveling the country and competing.”

Q: What has soccer given you beyond the sport itself?

A: “It has always been an outlet. No matter what else is going on in my life, once you step across those white lines and you are on the field, you leave everything else on the sidelines. It is meditative; you get into that flow state and all that matters is those 90 minutes. Beyond that, you can shed whatever troubles you are carrying. I have always loved that about sports.”

Q: Is that part of why you became a coach?

A: “Yes. I have found so much peace, relief, and joy in moving my body, and I want to share that. Some people go their whole life without understanding how to get into their body and really feel embodied; they are so stuck in their heads. Being able to give yourself to the physical, whatever you are engaged in, is powerful.”

Q: When did strength training come into the picture?

A: “My mom saw a personal trainer twice a week and invited me along. We would get up at 6 a.m. before school. I was so inspired by how strong she was, and by the discipline of working on herself before her workday. I fell in love with it immediately.”

Q: What hooked you about lifting?

A: “I love the quantifiable progress. I am on the 20-pound dumbbells, and three weeks later I am on the 25s. You are literally getting stronger.”

Q: You played in college too. How did training evolve there?

A: “I played soccer at the University of Rochester, and our offseason had a lot of strength training: single-leg stability, explosive work. As soccer players we did not do much upper body, but I excelled in the weight room. I am competitive, so even though I was not the best player on the team, I was one of the strongest in the weight room, and that felt good. I like being at the top of the leaderboard; that external validation is motivating.”

Q: How did you find Tectonic?

A: “After I graduated I came home looking for a team environment where I could keep pushing myself physically, and I found Tectonic. I love this community so much. The only thing I knew about CrossFit was from memes making fun of it, and then I started and fell in love. It is really amazing.”

Q: Favorite lift or movement?

A: “I feel like such a gym rat for saying it, but I love bench pressing; there is just something about that push. And I have really come to love the snatch. I had never done a clean or a snatch before Tectonic, and skill-building is fun to me. So the snatch and the bench press are probably my two favorites, for completely opposite reasons.”

Q: You are launching the Tectonic Book Club. How did you choose the first three books?

A: “I picked three books that all look interesting but come from three different genres, so hopefully there is something for everybody. They are all similar, shorter lengths too. I do not want to put a thousand pages out there and expect everyone to finish in a month. I want a little variety so people can have their voice heard on what they like to read. I have not read any of them yet; I want to read them along with the club.”

Q: What would members be surprised to learn about you?

A: “I was born with 11 toes. I had one removed. I asked the doctor if I could keep it in a jar, and he said no; apparently it is a biohazard.”

Q: What would you say to someone nervous about their first class?

A: “I am so glad you are here. These workouts are for everyone. They can look intimidating, but I promise there are ways to scale so you feel challenged but comfortable. Showing up is the hardest part, and you are here. Let's go.”

Q: Do you have a member moment that stuck with you?

A: “A couple weeks ago, on bar muscle-up day, George slowed down and did every single step, then flipped over the bar and got it on his first try. The grin and the energy that exploded out of him: sprinting laps, high-fiving everybody. We had a party.”

Q: Rapid fire: coffee, gym song, post-workout meal, favorite place?

A: “Butterscotch latte. Gym anthem right now is 'Kia Boys' by Prof. Post-workout is a protein smoothie: food in face, fuel the machine. And my favorite place is Hawaii, just outside Honolulu, where my family is from.”