COACH CRAIG “FIREBORN” FERRIS

Craig Ferris - 50 years old

Occupation - Ann Arbor Fire Department, Lieutenant, Engine Company Six

Education - Associates Degree - Fire Science, Columbia Southern University - Macomb Community College, Fire Academy - Emergency Medical Technician - Instructor, START RESCUE LLC, Heavy rescue and vehicle extrication. CrossFit L-1.

About Craig - After years and years of the standard american Yo-Yo diet, chronic cardio, weight machines, and typical globo gym blues, Craig found CrossFit.  He was 45 years old.  This was the first step for a new lease on life.

It’s hard to summarize just how things changed for Craig after CrossFit, literally every conceivable health marker improved in some way.  Here are just a few highlights: Weight loss, lower blood pressure, off cholesterol meds, off sleep disorder meds, better mood, less temper, mental focus, major gains in strength, agility, and endurance.    

Craig credits adopting the CrossFit lifestyle fully with his transformation.  By that he means in order for CrossFit to work, the athlete MUST adopt a CrossFit style of eating that supports the workout.  Get sugar and refined carbohydrate out of the diet immediately, only then does the CrossFit magic happen.  

Craig is a major advocate of low carbohydrate eating.  Having used the ketogenic diet for a 50 pound weight loss over four years ago, Craig now eats according to primal or paleo guidelines.  On a regular basis he focuses his intake to assure a state of nutritional ketosis.  Craig has become passionate about food and its effect on the body, endurance, strength and overall health.  He is constantly reading, researching, and consuming as much information on the subject as time permits.  

In an effort to give back, help others, and contribute to the Menace family, Craig received his CFL1 early in 2018.  His next step is to become a Primal Health Coach through a 13 week online certification program.

COACH KYLE DILLARD

lKyle ‘I don’t have a cool nickname’ Dillard. I’m 33 years old, originally from Bolingbrook, Illinois. I’ve been in Michigan since I was about 12 years old and consider myself an official Michigander. When I’m not at the box, I work full time as an IT Administrator which technically makes me a nerd, but admittedly do not play video games or even own a gaming console, so figure that one out. I am recently married to my beautiful wife Kristen who is also an avid Crossfitter.

I have two French bulldogs, Jax and Madison (get it, b/c that’s where the games are), and they’re the coolest dogs in the world! I’m a coffee fanatic, I’m obsessed with gadgets and tech, and a I’m huge foodie. Outside of CrossFit I enjoy playing all sports - most recently golf, sand volleyball, and SpikeBall have been my favorites.

Athlete background:

I’ve always loved sports and competition - I played basketball and soccer growing up as a kid, as well as rode BMX through and even after high school. After High School I started working out at ‘globo gyms’ in between drop-in basketball sessions and became addicted to fitness. Gradually I started to dabble in the bodybuilding/men’s physique competition realm for about four years in the Michigan NPC. Eventually I got tired of the politics and the spray tanning and went back to just working out for fun. Getting bored of that pretty quickly and missing the competition aspect I eventually found CrossFit. It didn’t take long before I was hooked and found CrossFit Menace which has been my home ever since. I obtained my CF L1 certification Q1 of 2018 and have been coaching as many classes as possible and loving every step of the way. I see myself continuing to coach far into the future as well as pursuing more certifications across the board. I thoroughly enjoy helping others achieve their CrossFit goals, I love to teach and help people learn new skills. Seeing people get healthy, get off their medications, and enrich their lives is one of the largest contributing factors to my passion for helping others in this sport we call CrossFit.