Driven to fitness

When Jacob Mason takes an interest in something, he takes it all the way.

The Port Washington High School counselor who lives in Cedar Grove is an espresso aficionado, so he roasts his own coffee beans. He likes bread, so he makes his own sourdough. He loves ice cream, and makes his own protein version.

Those interests help fuel Mason’s body for another hobby that has already taken him all the way to a national stage.

Mason won the university nationals competition in Olympic weightlifting when he was studying for a master’s degree at Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon. 

And next month he will compete in the CrossFit Mayhem Every Day Hero Service Games.

He won the CrossFit educator division and will partner with the second-place finisher to compete against winners in the military, law enforcement, firefighter and medical divisions in Cookeville, Tenn., on Nov. 15.

“I have an extremely addictive personality. I know that from other family members who have struggled with some things. I needed to channel that into something,” Mason said.

Channel he did. Qualifying entailed sending in videos of five different grueling CrossFit workouts over a 10-day period. 

Mason grew up in Slinger with an older and younger brother and a “super strong” mother, but without a father from the time he was in middle school. His family lived on a farm and the boys built muscle by regularly splitting wood. He and his brothers all got black belts in taekwondo and did plenty of practicing at home.

“There was plenty of wrestling and holes in doors and walls,” Mason said. “I fended for myself pretty well.”

After earning all-conference honors as a kicker for the Slinger Owls, Mason played football at Concordia, doing all the kicking and punting  and playing strong safety.

He has been a workout junkie ever since, even creating a gym in his garage. He trained for the Mayhem CrossFit competition and waited for the workouts to be released. At least 5,000 people across the world competed.

Mason was confident. He ranked 168th of 200,000 competitors in a CrossFit open competition in spring.

Scores were totaled from five workouts:

ν Do thrusters with 95 pounds — pick up bar from ground and put on shoulders, squat below 90 degrees, then lift bar over head; then do 15 burpees over the bar; Do 21 reps of each, then 15, then nine, then nine in 15 minutes.

ν Burn 20 calories on a rowing machine (it takes about a minute, Mason said), doing farmers carries for 50 feet in between with dumbbells weighing 50, 100, 150, then 200 pounds.

“It was very grippy. By the end of it, my fingers didn’t work,” Mason said.  Competitors did as many reps as possible for 20 minutes.

“That one I looked like a crazy person at my house. I did it on my sidewalk,” he said.

ν Hold two 50-pound dumbbells and step over a 20-inch tall box eight times back and forth, then do 12 alternating dumbbell snatches (tap weight on ground and bring over head to locked-out position_ and 48 double-unders with a jump rope (rope goes under feet twice in one jump).Complete six rounds as fast as possible. 

Mason did it in 7 minutes, 48 seconds. 

ν In 10 minutes, do as many sets of five hang clean-and-jerks, 10 back squats, 15 toes-to-bars. Then bring a bar from the ground to waist, then to shoulders and stand up with the heaviest weight possible in five minutes. Mason did 205 pounds, then 295 and maxed out at 355.

 “The five minutes disappears pretty quickly,” he said.

Competitors may do the workouts as often as they like and submit their best scores, which are logged online. Mason was second going into the final day. Only the winners advance, and they get to select a partner to come along to the world event.

He redid his second workout at a gym, but got a worse score so he didn’t submit it. As he drove home with minutes to spare while the school was preparing students for the pre-ACT college entrance exam that week, Mason decided to redo the first workout.

He did well enough to win. He chose the second-place finisher to be his partner and compete as a team against the other division winners in a one-day event.

“One of the fun parts is the competition itself is competing against people from all around the world,” Mason said.

The 28-year-old squeezes in 90-minute workouts in the evening after he puts his 18-month-old son to bed at 6 p.m. His wife Amanda, a chemist who played four years of hockey at Concordia, puts their 2-old son to bed, then heads to the treadmill.

“None of this stuff would be possible without her support,” Mason said.

Following a strict diet is also part of the routine.

“I eat lots of meat. Mason said. “You can’t be shy about food. It is literally fuel.”

During the little free time they have, the Masons like to take walks with the stroller and their two dogs, and they watch online church services and read the Bible.

Mason said he can apply some of his fitness routine to his counseling.

“Do something hard every single day and it just builds up that mental resilience,” he said. 

“In every single one of those workouts, there is a little devil on the shoulder saying you can stop now. You have to push yourself mentally as much as physically.”

He said he “would love for everyone to just get out and move more. I’m a firm believer that movement is medicine.” 

Mason’s upbringing without a father figure drove him to want to help people.

“It would be really cool to kinda be that for kids who are in the same situation as me. I like to get kids’ heads on straight, come up with a good game plan after high school and help them develop into contributing members of society,” he said.

For more information on the CrossFit Mayhem Every Day Service Hero Cup and Games, visit https://games.crossfit.com/everyday-hero/overview.