Athlete Spotlight - Danny Barrett

Today we are spotlighting Danny Barrett, CFSJ's former owner of many years.

"I grew up in the Bronx playing baseball and football like most kids, but my lifelong love has always been the martial arts. I have a 25 year history of practicing and teaching various arts. I'm formally ranked in 3 systems and cross trained in a few others which also includes knife, gun and club defenses. I hold a 4th degree black belt in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu from the Pacific Jujitsu Alliance, a Purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Claudio Franca and Yellow belt in Krav Maga under Darren Levine. In my life I've trained with martial arts legends and UFC fighters as well as having taught self defense to people from all walks of life including Law Enforcement personnel.

Why I do Crossfit and CFSJ

My first instructor taught me early on that in order to be a well rounded marital artist you have to push yourself physically, mentally and emotionally to achieve the higher levels of the arts. He also taught me that it must be fun and you have to enjoy training or you won't do it for your entire life. Crossfit has similar elements in that it challenges me physically in the WODs, mentally in fighting the voice inside my head telling me to quit and emotionally when I push through and find that I have so much more to give. I also have a lot of fun doing it.

CFSJ is my home. I was lucky enough to be an owner for a few years and fortunate enough to transfer the box to a group of people who have kept the name and the spirit while taking the place to the next level. I really do feel a sense of community and family at CFSJ where I can be myself, get a great workout and be surrounded by people who I love, respect and enjoy.

My Favorite WOD

My favorite WOD is Cindy. As a martial artist I believe the the only "gym" that I need and the only "weight" that I need that is with me all of the time is my own body. Cindy works the whole body, builds strength and endurance and requires you to recover quickly between rounds. Having chronic back issues and various injuries it is one of the few WODs I can do full out without fear of injury and I always feel euphoric when I'm finished. My best Cindy performance to date is 18 rounds.

My Day Job

I've been running Technical Support Organizations in the Valley for the past 20 years. Today I am at Dell Force10 and my last three positions have been Senior Director of Global Technical Support for Brocade, Silver Spring Networks and Force10 Networks. "

What an inspiring athlete Danny is, we are very lucky to have him in our CFSJ family.