CrossFit Andalusia has grown in popularity over the past several years and now adds an Olympic Weightlifting silver medalist to it to its list of accomplishments.

Karen Pugh is a trainer and part owner of CrossFit Andalusia, and she recently completed in the Master’s World Cup in Dallas, in Olympic Weightlifting.

Pugh competed with other women from all over the world, and finished in second place in her division.

It was through CrossFit that Pugh discovered Olympic Weightlifting, and it quickly became a passion.

Eighteen months ago, Pugh decided to compete and started out with a few local competitions, which led to Master’s Pan-America’s event in June where she finished third.

“It was after the Pan-America’s where we kind of started thinking we just might have something special here,” Pugh’s trainer Jason Kelley said.

Kelley, who is also a trainer and owner at CrossFit Andalusia, helped prepare her and crunched numbers before and during the completion to give her an edge in the event.

“It was one of the coolest things to actually do,” Kelley said of coaching Pugh to a silver medal.

Pugh and Kelley said that it was intense battle against a tough competitor from Australia for the silver medal.

“Karen would make a good left and then the Australian would do just a little more,” Kelley said. “It went back-and-forth like that for a little while, but Karen did a great job and came out ahead of her overall.

Pugh said that she has only being doing Olympic Weightlifting for a year and half, but it has quickly become something she really enjoys.

“It has been great so far,” Pugh said. “It is really a lot of fun. I have the easy job out there all I do is go out there and lift. Jason is the one helps out with crunching all the numbers.”

With the addition of a silver medalist, CrossFit Andalusia continues to add success stories to their list.

“Our customers all have a story,” Kelley said. “We listen and use the sport of fitness to facilitate a stronger, healthier them by assisting in their becoming a better athlete, all while, using natural human movement, like things they do ever day.”

Kelley said that they have a lot of different types of people who are a part of CrossFit Andalusia, and he emphasized that CrossFit was for every one.

“From kids wanting a chance at an athletic scholarship to kids just wanting to get bigger and faster in all sports,” Kelley said. “Then we have the moms and dads that are just wanting the healthiest lifestyle that exists. We once had a golfer add 30 yards to his drive in just a month. People come here because they want to be a champion in something and that’s what we do, we produce champions no matter what area life that is in.”