EPIC Golden Kettlebell Club Member Name

Karen Duong

How long have you been an EPIC Member?

May 2013

What is your favorite EPIC Class?

The Blast

EPIC Fun Facts

Karen is a trekkie. HUGE Stark Trek fan...Live

Give us a quick background on yourself.

I thought I was athletic enough until I took my first class at Epic in May 2013 and got my ass kicked by Alex’s class and realized that I wasn’t as fit as I thought I was.  But it only took that one class for me to get hooked to the type of training Epic provides, which I had not found anywhere else, and it was the beginning of a physical and mental transformation for me from partying hard to training hard.
After my first Spartan Race at Tuxedo in 2013 I knew that I wanted in on the OCR action and Epic has helped me with accomplishing more than I thought I could ever do physically.  I’ve also made some amazing and incredible friends through the Epic community and I could not ask for better partners in adventure to share great experiences with outside of the gym!

Have you done any OCRs? If so, which?

Since joining Epic the OCR races I’ve done include Spartan Races and Battlefrog.  It was because of Epic that I felt “positive peer pressure” into completing a Spartan Race Trifecta in a weekend in Hawaii, something I thought was out of reach for me but Epic helped make it a reality, along with now competing in the Elite heat at Spartan Races, too.

Toughest Obstacle

Toughest obstacle for me remains the spear throw–I haven’t hit one ever!! That’s where I try to do burpees the fastest.

What has been your biggest accomplished since joining EPIC?

It’s hard to identify my biggest accomplishment at Epic because I feel there are so many milestones I’ve hit along the way, but a couple of feats of strength that I surprised myself with while at the gym are being able to do kip-up headstand to handstands and the peg wall.

What's next on your list of goals that EPIC can help you achieve?

Next goals that Epic will help me get to are hopefully to be able to do a strict muscle-up and to finally hit a spear throw in a race!

What would you tell other members of EPIC? What about those thinking of trying or not yet at EPIC?

For my fellow Epic members I’d like to tell them thank you for always motivating me and pushing me to new heights.  The friendships I’ve made through Epic are truly priceless and I wouldn’t give anything up for them.  Epic has helped change my lifestyle for the better and I could not be happier for it.  For people who are thinking about trying Epic I’d tell them to just try it and have fun because it’s one step in the right direction.