DECEMBER 2023
GET TO KNOW TIFFANY’S SUCCESS STORY AT FIT2LIVE BELOW!
This month’s spotlight is on the ultra consistent, team player and early rising 6am’er Tiffany Schmitt!
Tiffany started her Fit2Live journey in October of 2021.
Before starting her journey at Fit2Live Tiffany had tried many different gyms, but nothing quite fit the bill for her….until she found Fit2Live!
Over 2 years later and Tiffany is still going strong. She is on one heck of a committed club streak of 17 months in a row with 20 or more classes a month.
Tiffany is also a new member of the 500 CLASS CLUB AT FIT2LIVE, SURPRISE! Check her out in her sweet blue 500 class club t-shirt soon!
She is a supportive Fit2Live community member, supporting her fellow F2L’ers in class and at events. She attends every community event she can and usually provides some seriously good cold brew coffee when it is needed most.
She is all about the functional fitness lifestyle, attending the CrossFit Games over the summer and standing on the podium at this year’s Fall Brawl Competition!
It’s safe to say she has found her forever gym at Fit2Live, and we love having her with us at Fit2Live!
For these reasons and many more, Tiffany has been chosen as our member of the month for December!
Tell us a little about yourself, where you’re from, what you do outside of Fit2Live, family, etc.
Greetings!! Thanks for reading far too many sentences about me!
I was born & raised in the San Gabriel Valley, California (aka “The SGV” or “626”). It’s a vibrant immigrant community, primarily first-generation immigrants from various Asian countries. My parents immigrated from Taiwan in the late 70’s/early 80’s.
Fast forward, I left the nest in 2016 for my MBA at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. After graduating in 2018, I moved to Michigan for work. To the chagrin of my family and friends back in Killa Cali, the midwest is home now!
My partner, Josh, and I are DINKWADs. The WAD part is Benny and Jette. They live their best life at our “Country Crib” in Saline. I fund their lifestyle – bully sticks that get eaten in <5 minutes & way too many toys – as a Director at a local marketing agency.
I’m a studio art major who painted thru undergrad & started my career in advertising and accelerated into brand/product marketing for Fortune 500 companies, and now general management.
When and why did you get started at Fit2Live and what keeps you coming back?
I knew I had to come back to CrossFit when my carry on bag felt heavy. In that moment, when I was struggling to lift and place my bag, I realized how much strength I had lost.
Not having a daily commute to Battle Creek was the biggest unlock. I made the jump back on Oct 25, 2021 with my first foundations class with Coach Brandon!
I keep coming back for a couple of key reasons:
I learned in lockdown how important exercise is for my mental health.
The Fit2Live community, of course! It’s unparalleled…more on that in the next question.
You are quite the consistently dedicated 6am’er, looks like your committed club streak is up to 17 months in a row!
What do you like so much about the 6am crew and why do you choose to start your day off with some functional movement at sunrise?
I attend 6am because my hypothesis is that if I’m less awake, it hurts less. It’s untested and likely a null hypothesis.
What has kept me going is the fun 6am crew aka The Breakfast Club! REAL RECOGNIZE REAL ….aka I think there’s an even deeper level of camaraderie among folks who are willing to get up at the crack of dawn to attempt 1RMs/get their functional fitness on!!
You are quite the foodie. Tell us your favorite food destination/city,state or country and the food of choice from said place?
The SGV hands down! You can find incredible regional Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Japanese, Asian Fusion foods & drinks side-by-side with incredible Lebanese style al pastor street tacos, Cuban croquetas and refugiados, and American pastrami gravy fries. Win-win.
How about your favorite restaurant and favorite food/dish of choice?
I’ll pick a local one so folks can also enjoy/try if they so choose: Mabel Gray. I always order the tasting menu w/ the drink pairings AND a bowl of their truffle fries.
What would be your final meal be?
My grandmother’s spinach noodles and 芝麻大餅 (scallion sesame bread!). If you’re feeling adventurous, here’s the recipe for the noods.
Spinach Noodles:
Ingredients:
120g fresh spinach
300 ml water (or 1 1/3 cup)
660g bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
Instructions:
BLEND 120g of fresh spinach with 300ml of water until there are no leafy bits & it looks like green juice
COMBINE 660g bread four + salt in a large bowl & give it a lil’ mix so it’s evenly dispersed
MIX MIX MIX:
If you’re using a mixer — on low (2 speed on a Kitchenaid) and add the green juice in batches (I split it up in ~3 separate pours) so that the liquid can absorb evenly
If you’re about that manual life (it was me for 25 years of my life, no judgement) — use a fork, chopsticks, spoon, whatever floats your boat to mix it!
Mix for 5 minutes
N.B. the dough is going to be a lil’ dry looking but don’t add anymore water. I did have to get my hands in there to incorporate the extra flour at the bottom of the mixing bowl.
KNEAD:
Once there’s a formed but lumpy dough ball going, knead with the mixer for 10 minutes or by hand for…longer
You’ll know your texture is there when you press your finger in the dough & it immediately springs back
REST: We all need it, but particularly this dough — cover the dough & let it rest for 30 minutes. While you’re waiting, you can start the sauce!
CUT IT: Cut your dough in half so it’s easier to work with in the next steps
ROLL IT: make sure to sprinkle flour on your work surface so your dough doesn’t stick! I used a rolling pin & rolled it out as thinly as possible. Usually, I know my noodz are thin enough when I can see the pattern on my counter like a windowpane , but not so thin that it breaks! The shape doesn’t really matter too much BUT try to keep it a bit oblong like a squoval.
FOLD IT: When it’s at the desired thiccness, place your squoval vertically. We’re going to fold it into itself 4x so it’s easier to cut.
Flour both sides first so it doesn’t stick!
Take the top of your dough piece and fold it hamburger-style about 1/4 of the way down.
Take the bottom of your dough piece and fold it up hamburger-style so it meets the top part you just folded down
Now just fold these together like closing a book & viola!
HAND CUT IT: Your piece should now be close enough to a long rectangle. You’re going to now cut it at your desired thickness. Like so:
Pork+Tomato Sauce:
Ingredients:
1lb Ground Pork (any ground meat works, really)
450ml of Chicken Stock
320g of tomatoes (~4 small tomatoes), diced
3 green onion stalks, chopped
20g garlic (about 6 cloves), minced
18g ginger (a small nub that I had on hand), minced
6g cilantro (it’s what i had left so this isn’t necessary if you don’t have it on hand. 6g was about 7 stems with just the leaves picked off)
2 tablespoons of fish sauce (yes, it adds umami!!)
Black Pepper to Taste
Salt to Taste
Instructions:
HEAT tbsp of oil in a pan — Chinese cuisine is best with a light oil (like canola)
COOK UP: Once it’s heated, cook up the green onion, garlic, ginger for about 1 minute. This should be sizzlin’.
ADD:
1) 1lb ground meat & cook until browned
2) ground black pepper (to taste) and the diced tomato , let this sauté for about 5 minutes
3) chicken stock + salt (I didn’t add any because my stock has sodium added) & bring to boil
Because mine had a bit more of a watery consistency (tomatoes release varying levels of liquid, etc) I let it continue to boil and reduce down for about 10 minutes
If you still think it’s too watery, try a cornstarch slurry (¼ cup of water in a small bowl + 1 1/2 tsps cornstarch thoroughly combined). Slowly add while mixing until you get your desired consistency, but it’s not supposed to be like bolognese.
REDUCE the heat & add in 2tbs of fish sauce – let this cook for about 3 minutes on medium heat.
REMOVE & STIR: remove from heat & stir in cilantro.
TOP on your fresh spinach noods & ENJOY!!
Because Grandma Joyce loved HEAT (she used to make her own!), I topped mine with Szechuan chili crisp! (Lao Gan Ma, Fly By Jing, etc)
Name a skill or hobby that you have that not many of us know about.
Because I don’t draw or paint much anymore, my creative outlet these days is mostly in the form of eating & reviewing packaged foods and restaurants, I’ve been:
Yelp Elite since 2012
a contributing writer to TheImpulsiveBuy.com since 2016
If you could make the workout “Tiffany”, what would it look like (movements, repetitions, etc)?
“Annie Drinks Caffeine”
50-40-30-20-10 of: Double-unders
50-40-30-20-10 of: Sit-Ups
10-8-6-4-2 of: Power Cleans (105#/155#)
*In between rounds, rest 1 minute (for sitting on a box & drinking cold brew)
Favorites!
Movie: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
TV Show: Gilmore Girls
Song: You Got To Go (Kyau & Albert Edit) – Above & Beyond
Book: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Quote: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” -Maya Angelou
What is at the top of your bucket list currently?
Travel! I’ll visit Italy and Germany for the first time in 2024. The next up: Japan, New Zealand (hopefully!)
What future fitness goal are you currently working towards?
In the “CrossFit Pyramid” — getting my nutrition base solid & consistent as I learned that I can’t out exercise genetics!
RX’ing the Open one day!!
NEXT UP: NADIR MAKHLOUF-MEMBER OF THE MONTH NOVEMBER 2023
