Meet Randy Mulkey of Parkside CrossFit in North Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Randy Mulkey.

Randy, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was already at “Active Senior” status – fit, but at 54 bored with my training – when I found CrossFit. Nine years and four trips to the CrossFit Games (our Olympics) later, I’m still fascinated with this continuously evolving method of developing a “broad, all-inclusive fitness,” utilizing “constantly varied, functional movements done at high intensity.”

CrossFit HQ’s party line aside, my version of “Forging Elite Fitness” has always been “Elite Fitness for Everyone, Not Just the Elite.” Further, as an official Geezer, I want to see my students maintain their gains throughout their lives, hence our motto: “Forti in Perpetuum” – Forever Strong. Although some of my athletes have Games aspirations, my passion has always been to help a new mom lose the last twenty pounds of baby weight, get a guy that pull-up he never got in high school, get folks my age off their insulin and blood pressure meds, and in general promote fitness and health for as many regular folks as I can.

I’m a fan of Malcolm Gladwell, and as a self-proclaimed late bloomer, I was particularly interested in his article on the subject, and his research on the predominance of NHL players with June birthdays. Seems that kids with summer birthdays get into school and organized sports programs with a half year’s size and strength advantage over the Autumn kids like me, hence more attention and coaching is directed to their seeming greater potential. As a coach, my mission is to help the late bloomers and self-diagnosed non-athletes to find the potential they didn’t know they had and nobody bothered to look for.

Has it been a smooth road?
No road worth traveling is smooth. If you want a Ph.D. in small business administration, just start one. The school of hard knocks will provide you with an excellent education.

Or, choose the path of the artist or athlete. Either way, the truth of the old adage, “Adversity breeds character” will be brought to the fore.

I came to Los Angeles from Phoenix to continue my acting career. The only consistent things in my life have been acting and athletics; two things I’ll never master but that continue to hold my interest. I’d always trained private clients as one of my varied enterprises. Along with the many day jobs, I’ve had, it got me to the point that acting was cruising under its own steam, finally earning me the capital to move Parkside CrossFit out of the park after three years and under the roof at our present location on Fulton Ave.

The number one obstacle was finding our location. Six months of scouting within a twenty-mile radius finally got us to Fulton Ave. It was Toni’s experience and negotiating skill that made it happen. The physical work of setting up the space was all us. Then came on-the-job training in local tax agencies, business licenses, LLC setup, web design, social media and a dozen other things some kids learn in school but I was not interested in at the time.

I could not have done any of this without the support of great coaches and teachers, loyal friends and clients and, most of all, my wife Toni. As an owner/operator of several businesses in the past, her no-nonsense street smarts have gotten me further than I ever could have gotten on my own.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Parkside CrossFit – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Parkside CrossFit is one of the more than 13,000 CrossFit “boxes” in the world. When I started CrossFit in 2007, the gym I joined was the second in Los Angeles, 27th in the world.

So we’ve grown a bit. Like all high-profile successes we have our critics, but after helping millions of regular folks get fitter than they’ve ever been, the verdict seems to be that we’re pretty effective.

Still, no good system remains static. Over the years my approach to training and coaching has grown to embrace more than just “extreme for extreme’s sake” workouts like the ones you see in the Games. We need elite athletes and their competitions to show us what’s possible, but for most of us, the feats of the top one percent are not.

Of all the regular guys who train with me, I am most proud of Stan. He came to me at 67, having never exercised a day in his life. Forty-five pounds and six less blood pressure meds later, he’s a perfect example of what I strive for with every single person I train: maximum benefit for that athlete’s needs. Will Stan ever qualify for the CrossFit Games? No. But he has done his first situp, and his first 100 situps, at my gym. He’s also deadlifted 225 pounds and run his first mile, and recently came in 2nd in his age group at a 5K.

It’s the Stans of the world that I’m here for.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
As an actor, Los Angeles is the only place to be. I think we’ve surpassed New York when it comes to cutting-edge theater, exemplified by programs like the Skylight Theater Company and others, and I hope our 99 seat plan survives the battle raging within Actor’s Equity.

As an athlete, I’m spoiled by our weather (aren’t we all) and love the endless places to train and experience every activity under the sun, from surfing and skiing to rock climbing, trail running and mountain biking.

As an Army brat, I have a broad basis for comparison, having moved around the world from Ft. Richardson, Alaska to Tokyo, Little Rock, Arkansas to Creede, Colorado. My wife is Toni from San Diego but has come to love LA as much as me.

If I have to dredge up some pet peeves, traffic, of course, is number one, but in spite of that our air quality is getting better all the time. Any gripes I might have are currently overshadowed by national politics, but I am proud of the hard line Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown are taking against efforts to undermine our high environmental standards. Like I said, I’ve been a lot of places and I know when I’ve got it good.

Contact Info:

• Address: 7300 Fulton Ave., Unit C
  North Hollywood CA 91601
• Website: www.parksidecrossfit.com
• Phone: 818-694-5112
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: Parkside CrossFit page

Image Credit:
All photos by Randy Mulkey