When Logan Ewing of CrossFit 970 in Loveland was nine years old, a typical Friday night found him and his brother in the basement of their parents’ house. His brother turned on the Xbox and planted himself in front of the television. Logan worked out.
These workouts were secret from his parents. He technically wasn’t allowed to do CrossFit until he was 13, though every once in a while, they let him do a group workout at the gym where his dad coached. But ever since his dad and older brother had started doing CrossFit, CrossFit was all Logan wanted to do.
His basement workouts included a mix of kipping pull ups, box jumps, strict press, burpees, pushups, and situps, with deadlifts and power cleans every once in a while. And he’d try to be quiet, not slam anything, so that his parents wouldn’t find out.
When he finally turned thirteen, he told his dad, “You know what this means.”
He could finally do CrossFit for real.
Logan and his dad are close. “Sometimes too close,” Logan, 17, joked in a recent interview with Denver Box Life. His dad coaches him and designs his programming; he teaches him life lessons including how to be an upstanding gym member who’s good to people and doesn’t make himself the center of attention. Father and son frequently compete together. Their first competition—Logan’s first ever—was CrossFit Salvo’s Toys for Tots when Logan was 14.
“It was me, my dad, and two women from our gym,” Logan said, “and I remember lining up against all these Games athletes, ‘cause a bunch of the BackCountry guys were there.”
First competition, first time pitting himself against high-performing athletes. And almost every competition since—the Wyoming Open, Turkey Challenge—he’s found himself trying to keep up with highly ranked area athletes like Malachi Bennett and Jared Enderton.
Reminding himself of his age is one way he relieves some of the pressure. Last year, lining up next to Enderton and Bennett at the Turkey Challenge, he told himself, “I’m 16 years old. I’m pretty sure with how competitive they are, they do not want to lose to me.”
Logan is 17 now and competing at the CrossFit Games for the first time in the Boys 16-17 division, achieving a dream he’s had since he was in elementary school and saw Kevin Ogar and Pat Burke throw down at the first ever Turkey Challenge. He came close to qualifying before—last year, he missed the Games by one spot—and it’s his last year competing as a teen, so he wants to make it memorable and get on the radar of the individual men in the South West region.
“I don’t plan on this being my only trip to the Games,” he said, “but I’m also aware of what it’s going to take to get there again.”
During the second workout of this year’s Open, Logan had a goal of how quickly he wanted to get through 18.2. He didn’t come anywhere close to it and was upset about it.
“So I went up to the bar for 18.2a [one-rep-max clean] and I just put on some big weight,” he said, “and I hit it and it ended up saving me.”
After the 2018 CrossFit Games, he has new goals to work toward: qualifying for Regionals in the next three years and angling for another Games appearance. But until then, it’s one foot in front of the other, one lift at a time, working through disappointment and challenges and pressing forward.
The Colorado Guide to the 2018 CrossFit Games
Denver Box Life 