Garage Gym of the Week: The Seedorffs

(Sammie) I'm Sammie Seedorff and this is Marshall. We were both collegiate athletes and we both swam. He played baseball, as well, and we built our relationship off really liking to work out together and when we got married we said like "This is awesome that we have like a team member for life." So that's how we like really got into doing more Crossfit stuff after college and doing lifting and doing stuff together where we get to sweat is always really fun and we look forward to it. We always try to make time every day to work out together. Even on Valentine's Day we were like "What do you want to do today? We will definitely work out together."

So that's just what we like to do and yeah we love our place up here in Dripping (Springs) and love this new gym and we are used to working out a lot together.

(Marshall) We both got into CrossFit a couple years ago. Being swimmers in college you get used to working out in a group of people and it just seemed like a natural fit to fall into that, getting in with the community of people that liked working out and hold you accountable.

Moving out here we've found it's the perfect combination to have a home gym that you can use with busy schedules and growing families, it's easy to come out here and have a workout in the afternoon and not have to worry about making it to a specific class. But it's a good blend to have a class to go to, people that know you're staying in shape and hold you accountable, and then come out here and make sure you're not missing workouts.

(Marshall) We were both D1 swimmers in college Sammie was a stud. Almost made the Olympics and her dad actually got her into Olympic lifting when she was younger.

(Sammie) Through my lifting I felt like I got a lot better in swimming because I was a sprinter and so it was just all the explosive movements so I really gravitated towards Olympic lifting and I still really like to do that today even though I'm 18 weeks pregnant and just working around it but (laughter). So it's fun and I really saw huge improvements in my swimming career because of lifting and it's just something that I didn't want to leave my life. A lot of girls, they'll get done with the college and be like "I just want to have small shoulders and whatever" but there's just a feeling you get after you're done working out and being a strong woman is really fun and exciting. I like Olympic lifting and we we do a lot of cardio together too! Working out together is definitely a big part of our relationship, some time we look forward to every day.

(Marshall) We have some WODs that we keep on the board consistently that we can go back to. We like doing anything with power cleans. I don't know what it is but I'm always trying to get better at power cleans. So about once a week I'll finish a workout and you just put weight on the bar and just see how many power cleans I can do, as like a cash out.

(Sammie) So for me that's probably my favorite too. My ideal workout would be probably like some type of like barbell complex or something where you're moving weight but you're breathing hard too - I don't I mean I don't do maxes all the time but I just like to feel like I'm getting stronger but also getting a workout in.

(Marshall) The most important thing is the rig, that was purchase number one. It's a place that you do pullups, use as a squat rack, and everything that you can do on that. It's kind of it was top on my list, as soon as we even designed this garage.

Maybe I should step back. When we first moved out here, this was just a bunch of trees. When we looked at the house the first thing I said was "We need a garage, we need a place where we can do workouts." I've got a wood shop in the back and that was number one. We built the garage with the idea of putting in the gym, and when we did we bought the rig. I've got the rig we got my barbell, her barbell, some free weights, kettlebells... always love to have more. That's a great starting point. We got wall ball targets, very versatile. Built a plyo box, dip rack, bench.

(Sammie) The wish list is never-ending. It's fun, we definitely have enough though that what we can do whatever we want. It's exciting.

(Marshall) Obviously we work out here the most. We've got a bunch of friends that like to drop in and we've even had parties where we'll end up coming out here having a pullup contest with the people that play card games. The loser has to do three muscle-ups or something (laughter) We've got a couple friends that like to come out here and shoot little videos for social media and do little tutorials on power cleans or whatever. It's nice to have a space where there's not other people walking around. They can come out and just use it. And it's fun for us to have people out and give them an excuse to come over and hang out.

(Sammie) Yeah we just welcome other people coming and we want to... we have this (points to mural). We tried to brand our gym so we have the Thunderbird and it's something special to us. We want to make shirts and have people come use our Fringe gear and our equipment so yeah. It's exciting.

(Marshall) I'd say a rower and a sandbag... TWO sandbags. For sandbag get ups, some carries. The wish list keeps growing.

Freak the neighbors out, running down the street with a sandbag over my shoulder. Apocalypse now.

(Sammie) I would first say just do it because I'm so glad we did. You know money is an issue sometimes but we never looked back on this and regret it. "Oh we're so bummed that we have an awesome gym."

(Marshall) It's a big upfront investment but someone told me one time you're never gonna regret investing in yourself. And investing in your own health and your own fitness level. I would say just do it and make it a priority and save for it.

I would say the one piece of advice that have specific to someone that's gonna build a garage if you're gonna build a garage gym they always build a garage on a slant just like a one or two inch tall so that water runs out of the garage. If you're gonna build a garage specifically for a gym. I would tell them not to do that and just make it completely flat. Something you'll never notice until you put the bar down and it starts rolling out of the garage. You got you go this way (sideways - facing walls) but as soon as you go that way (facing out of the garage). That's specific to building a garage that would be my piece of advice.

(Sammie) We were so pumped to get all this gear in and we wanted to do a workout together like right away. The day we put the rig up, we did a workout.

(Marshall) I think it was like 10 o'clock at night. I couldn't feel my forearms anymore from drilling the concrete.

(Sammie) We can't ever move because we'll have to set up a new one. But the next person will get a rig that's great.