Faces Of New Bedford #131: Justin Coelho

image_pdfimage_print

Meet Justin Coelho, 36-year-old Registered Nurse and Owner of Crossfit Dartmouth.

Justin had always loved and played sports and upon graduating high school, he went to St. Anselm College where he studied Biology to become a doctor and play football. Upon completion of his degree, he realized quickly that he didn’t want to spend another decade in school studying and pursued an education in nursing at Brockton Hospital’s School of Nursing.

Due to the need to gain weight and muscle to play collegiate football, Justin left St. Anselm weighing over 100 pounds more than he did when he entered as a freshman. Following Nursing school while working at Brockton Hospital, he started training at a CrossFit Affiliate, which helped him focus in on a healthy lifestyle and lose the weight he gained while playing Division II College football. Justin eventually left Brockton Hospital and worked for St. Lukes hospital in the ER, Surgical Intensive Care Unit and Critical Care Unit for a few more years.

Towards the end of his time in nursing, Justin volunteered in the medical tent at the Reebok Crossfit Games, where he met the Director of Sales and Marketing of Fitness. They hit it off and Justin was offered a position to work for the Global Fitness brand. He began to immerse himself in the world of Crossfit even more through his new position, visiting Crossfit gyms across the region, learning the intricacies of running a successful CrossFit Affiliate. This experience guided him when he decided to open his own gym in the area, as there wasn’t one in his home town at the time.

Since opening in 2012, Crossfit Dartmouth has serviced the community in more ways than one. Justin has been able to help countless clients focus on a healthy lifestyle, while providing expertise in nutrition and functional fitness. Unlike going to other gyms where the routine gets boring and monotonous, CrossFit is fun and remains fun as it is constantly varied and different everyday. What Justin, and most CrossFitters, enjoy about CrossFit is that it combines multiple fitness modalities into different daily workouts that are executed at high intensity.

He enjoys what he does because as a nurse, he felt like he was treating those who were already sick and with CrossFit, he is able to help people focus on their health and wellness through fitness and nutrition and prevent diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. He has even seen numerous clients able to come off their blood pressure medicine, cholesterol meds and lower their blood sugar through routine workouts and his team’s nutrition counseling. He also has spearheaded several philanthropic efforts through the gym, like a dodgeball tournament held to raise money and awareness for the non-profit 21 FrienDS, which aids and assists those with Down Syndrome CrossFit Dartmouth has yearly Thanksgiving donations to the Veterans Transition Home of New Bedford and yearly collections of gifts during the holiday season for local less fortunate families.

Justin’s passion for fitness is seen daily at CrossFit Dartmouth. Justin not only coaches the morning CrossFit classes, he also trains local sports teams and athletes. He has personal training clients of all ages including clients preparing for military bootcamp, police academies, college athletes during preseason as well as working professionals looking to stay fit and retired adults trying to stay functional during their later years of life. When not coaching or training clients, you can find Justin taking one of his scheduled classes right along side his members.

_________________________________________________________

Faces of New Bedford is a project by Colton Simmons. If you are interested in booking a shoot or getting prints from the series email all inquiries to colton@coltonsimmons.com.

Follow Colton on Instagram: https://instagram.com/simmonscolton

Read more of the Faces of New Bedford series here.

About NewBedfordGuide

Check Also

New Bedford man arrested after reports of person with pistol in waistband walking around

“NEW BEDFORD – Patrol officers have arrested a man in the north-end sector for unlawfully …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Translate »