He’s the perfect example of the anonymity of those who walk among us. As his friends pass by in the halls of Our Lady of Peace School, they probably don’t realize how special an athlete he is.
But when he walks in to work out at OV Crossfit at the Ohio Valley Mall, that’s a different story. Among the smallish, closeknit family that is crossfit athletics, Brody Allman is known and recognized. As he should be.
The 14-year-old eighth-grader at OLP has ascended at light speed into the top levels worldwide of his age group in crossfit training competition, and his friends probably don’t even realize it. He began training at 12 years old in a youth group at the suggestion of his father, Zack, himself a crossfit athlete. In that brief span Brody has graduated from youth group and vaulted into the Top 100 ranked athletes worldwide in the 14-15 year-old age division.
Now ranked 90th in the world in his age group, Brody knows he can push his body to excel. But do his friends? “No, they don’t know,” Brody laughed when asked if his friends and classmates have any idea of his stature in cross fit.
According to his father, the crossfit community knows Brody and his capabilities. He called the sport a small crossfit community, similar to a family environment. So how did Brody get into this community at such a young age?
“Originally my dad pushed me toward it, and I fell in love with it,” Brody said.
“I fell in love with crossfit about seven years ago,” Zack said. “It was almost like therapy for me as it is for a lot of people that do this. You work all day, you come here, you get fit, you have fun with your friends. It’s almost like football practice for adults. We come and we hang out. Brody saw growing up how much this sport had an influence on me and my mental health and my overall health. How I look and carry myself and everything.
“And so it was just natural for him to come here. He started the youth class and quickly moved out of that into training on his own, creating his own goals and shooting for the stars.”
Another role model entered Brody’s life during the youth classes and has continued on during his individual training: OV Crossfit general manager Jack Bentz. A Wheeling Park High School graduate in 2017, Bentz earned a degree in exercise physiology from West Liberty University. He began working with Brody in July 2021 in that youth class, then transitioned into his coach when Brody branched out on his own.
“Brody is willing to be great no matter what the cost is,” Bentz said. “He does an incredible job of pushing himself through everything that he does. When I tell him jump, he asks how high. He does a great job of making himself uncomfortable, and he’s willing to sacrifice whatever he needs to, to chase a dream that he has which is being the fittest athlete on Earth.”
When asked what Brody loves about crossfit, he replied and responded quickly smiling. But he couldn’t come up with an actual response to an inquiry about the things he dislikes about crossfit. That provided verbal and non-verbal proof he is invested in the sport perfectly tailored to him.
“I love the feeling that I have after workouts. The feeling of accomplishment. The feeling that I’ve achieved something new,” Brody said.
“I try to set little goals and then big goals. Things like PRs (personal records) and then big goals like being the fittest teen in the world.”
Zack Allman used descriptive words like “pain” and “self-competition” to describe crossfit, but he has found these types of experiences have molded Brody into a better form of himself, and not just physically. The proud father has seen his son provide “max effort now in all aspects of life,” and he’s been right there to watch it all. Whether in the gym working out or at home taking out the trash.
“Brody kind of never found his niche in life until here,” Zack said. “And then it just happened to be a sport I also love, so we spend every day together in the car talking about training. We talk about everything that we do here. We accomplish goals together, and it has made us so tight. It’s unbelievable; it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to our father-son relationship.”
Brody’s 2024 projections are exciting because most of the age group competitors ranked ahead of his 90th position are 15-year-olds and will age out of the 14-15 year old division. He projects to land in the top 10 in 2024, with that being a key number for inclusion in the ultimate test: the CrossFit Games in Madison, Wisc.
Other CrossFit sanctioned competitions are on the future schedule for Brody as targets to provide focus and concentration. At those competitions he will be able to judge himself against the best in the country, and possibly the world. The Teen Pit Games in Michigan in October 2023 includes worldwide entries. Also, Wodapalooza is a high-profile competition in Miami, Florida, in February 2024. Then, it’s the CrossFit Open, the gateway event to the CrossFit Games.
“In order to achieve that goal you have to be almost perfect at everything,” Bentz said. “So there’s always improvement. We’re always working on certain things from strength to gymnastic ability to endurance. He has the mental grit for it, the mental and physical grit for it.”
His father said, “The amount of sacrifice that that takes every single day. . . when your friends are going out late, they’re staying out late, they’re eating junk food, they’re eating ice cream. . . he’s eating healthy food, he’s going to bed early, he’s getting up early, we’re training multiple times a day. Just that mental focus. . . you know he has fun, goes to the pool and hangs out with his friends. But there’s that huge chunk of time that he sacrifices to come here every single day. I never have to ask him, ‘hey, come on man, we have to go train.’ He’s always right at the door ready to go.”
The Allman family lives in Glen Dale and includes mother Morgan, who does not compete in crossfit, and 12-year-old brother Ruxin, who has joined the youth program at OV Crossfit.
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