NEW ORLEANS — Donald Brignac may be in his 60s, but at Crescent City CrossFit, he’s beating out some of the younger men when it comes to daily workouts.
He’s also competing in this year’s CrossFit Open.
“Most of the time I’m in here with 20, 30, or 40 year olds, and keeping up with them so it’s a shock for them, but not my friends,” says Brignac.
That’s because his friends know that 63 does not slow Brignac down.
Each week he competes against hundreds of thousands of CrossFit athletes from around the world participating in the annual CrossFit Games.
For six weeks, the competitors perform the same timed movements in the game’s criteria.
Those movements are then entered into a database in order to consider who makes the cut to move on to the next round.
“It makes me feel like I’m not getting old, I expect that of myself to keep up with those folks and that’s what I always wanted to do and I take a lot of joy in keeping up with them. I get a lot of satisfaction keeping up with them,” says Brignac.
Brignac, an Algiers native who lives in Lafitte, was a competitive runner for 30 years but for the past three years, he’s found his new passion.
“[I am] retired from work, and I was looking for a challenge, my running was going downward, so I didn’t have the motivation to do it. So, I was looking for something else to do,” says Brignac.
Just last year, he ranked in the top 200 fittest men over 60 in the world, but he hopes to rise to the top in 2018.
“It’s fun and I promise the folks my age that are looking for something to motivate them that they will feel excited and they will feel motivated after they finish,” says Brignac.
For more information on Crescent City CrossFit, click here.