Two women, the same age, from different backgrounds with different lifestyles sought out CrossFit Central for similar reasons. Although, their lives couldn't be more diverse.

Melissa Joulwan is a freelance writer and a Senior Content Strategist at Razorfish, a large international Web-development agency. She plays the piano in two rock bands along side her husband, and is a founding member of the Texas RollerGirls.

Julie Ward is an analyst for a technology-focused consulting company and is also involved in strategic development and organization at CrossFit Central. She is a Girl Scout leader, focused on activly boosting young girl's confidence, body image, and encouraging community service. Julie is a mother of three young girls.

These two women are both driven, talented and determined. They came to CrossFit Central looking to lose weight and get fit. In the process, they both found a community of people changing their lives each day and the ability to overcome obstacles. What follows are Melissa and Julie's stories, as told by them.

By: Nicole Holstrom

CrossFit is a method of fitness that spans the globe boasting more than 400 facilities in 10 countries including Scotland, Japan, Puerto Rico, and Australia. Millions of people CrossFit every day - Men, Women, Children, the young, the elderly, military personnel, kindergarten teachers, firefighters, and SWAT members complete CrossFit workouts side by side. It is fitness that is meant not for the specialist but instead offers top notch fitness to the masses.

So what does it mean to be CrossFit? Is this feeling reserved for someone who is an Elite CrossFitter? Is being Crossfit a level of fitness that is to be obtained or something to strive for? In trying to better understand Elite fitness and what it means to be CrossFit I sat down with CrossFit Central CoFounder and owner Jeremy Thiel. Being the 3rd Place winner at the International CrossFit Games, I assumed if anyone is CrossFit, it's this guy. What I found out though, was that prior to the CrossFit Games Jeremy didn't think he was CrossFit.

Before beginning CrossFit Central Programs, Susannah was nearly 80 pounds into her weight lose journey. She came to CrossFit Central roughly 7 months ago and has since lost over 30 pounds, 20 inches, and over 14% body fat.

Carey Kepler, Co-founder of CrossFit Central and the CrossFit Woman Program is many things to many people. She is a wife, mother of two, triathlete, marathon runner, personal trainer, and CrossFit Coach. While she was pregnant with her second child Carey continued to CrossFit up until the day she gave birth. Austin Woman recently coined her the modern day super woman. Since that time Carey has returned to training and has lost all of the weight she gained while pregnant. Some say Carey was able to get back into shape 5 months after giving birth because she is genetically better off than others. Carey tells a different tale.

"1 in 6 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer - everyone knows someone with prostate cancer, but nobody wants to talk about it" says Dr. Peter Ruff of Urology Austin.

The statistics are alarming: Prostate Cancer is the 2nd leading cause of death for all men, it is also the most commonly diagnosed cancer for men. In the media and the public eye there is a large amount of misinformation on prostate cancer. One thing that is not debatable - Prostate Cancer is Curable.