Beast Craft

What started out several years ago as a couple of trainers, a box and a barbell on Eddyville’s court square has grown into a focused conditioning and injury prevention program.

Lake Barkley CrossFit is easy to miss if you don’t know what you’re looking for, a white metal building at the edge downtown Kuttawa. The building comes to life twice a day, filling before daylight to start the day and again as the sun begins to set on nearby Lake Barkley.

During both sessions the gym has a split personality, serving those coming to take part in CrossFit classes as well as a conditioning hub for area athletes. Owner Cory Jessup said as the gym has evolved, he’s found a calling in working with student athletes in helping them achieve their physical goals, and also in preventing injuries.

“The biggest aspect here is that the kids aren’t getting hurt,” Jessup said. “It’s a lot of responsibility. That’s why parents bring their kids here.”

Above, Lake Barkley CrossFit coaches Cody Brandon and Allison Murphy show proper technique to members of the Caldwell County Lady Tiger soccer team. Brandon and Murphy teach strength and conditioning in addition to injury prevention methods.

It’s a process for coaches to learn new techniques, which are passed on to athletes. The training and conditioning is specific, like the ACL-tear prevention program used to reduce knee-related injuries. Jessup said coaches teach the proper way to stretch and prepare to reduce the likelihood of an injury that’s become all too common in youth sports. In a 2013 article in the Journal of Athletic Training, knee joint injuries were cited as “the second most commonly injured body site after the ankle and the leading cause of sport-related surgeries. Knee injuries, especially of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), are among the most economically costly sport injuries, frequently requiring expensive surgery and rehabilitation.”

According to the article, girls’ soccer had the highest injury rate (12.2) followed by boys’ football (11.1).

Jessup played high school football at Marshall County and college at Western Kentucky University. He said his strength and conditioning coaches were instrumental in developing him into not only a fast player, but also into a healthy one.

After his playing days were over, Jessup said an injury led him to looking at new ways of training. His journey led him to CrossFit.

“It healed me,” Jessup said. “CrossFit gets a bad rap, but it teaches us a lot of the moves that are natural.”

Jessup said that learning and implementation of CrossFit peaked his interest in working on ways to develop safer training methods for athletes.

The results speak for themselves. During his years training, Jessup said none of his athletes have had a knee-related injury. Part of that is due to designing each plan specific to the demands of the sport.

But it isn’t just about keeping the players safe, it’s also about helping them improve. Lyon County junior Sydney Melton said her regimen is helping move her toward her goal of playing in college.

“It’s helped me tremendously,” Melton said. “I’m faster now. I can hit the ball harder than I used to.”

Melton was one of Lyon County’s most consistent hitters in 2019 with a .432 batting average, second only to Calista Collins (who also trains at the gym). Melton’s 48 hits resulted in 10 doubles and eight home runs.

The catcher for Lyon County’s 2019 Fifth District and Class A Region champion softball team doesn’t take her training lightly. It’s not uncommon to see her performing a snatch — one of the fastest and most difficult moves in CrossFit requiring a perfect blend of speed, strength, coordination and determination — that would put most college athletes to shame.

“When I’m down, this is where I come to,” Melton said. “I want to play college ball. Corey understands that.”

Melton’s season is nearly year-round. When she’s playing, she starts her day with a 5 a.m. trip to the gym to condition. During the weeks she’s not playing, she adds in afternoon workouts geared toward both strength and agility.

Above, Lyon County’s Sydney Melton fitting chin-ups into her workout. Below, Melton trains on the slide board, a specially designed piece of motion training for aerobic conditioning and multi-directional movement. Lake Barkley CrossFit is the only gym in the area to offer the piece of equipment, which was designed to improve directional movement in athletes.

She’s one of several players dedicated to honing not just her skill on the field, but herself as an athlete. The gym works with athletes from six counties and several sports, including the Dawson Springs girls basketball team and standouts from Marshall County’s hoops program like Zion Harmon, Tyler Powell and Tyler Stokes.

Kelsie Adams of Caldwell County joined her fellow Lady Tigers training at the gym on June 20. About a dozen members of the soccer team — along with head coach Rhett Miller — went through a workout designed for the rigors of the sport led by Allison Murphy and Cody Brandon. A Marine Corps veteran, Brandon is a native of Crittenden County, while Lyon County fans will remember Murphy during her time leading the Lady Lyons on the basketball court.

At times during the session Brandon and Murphy work with athletes as a whole, having them go through lunges and conditioning exercises before a brisk jog of less than a hundred yards. Other times, the two conditioning coaches work with a specific athlete if they need individual attention.

The jog is shorter than Adams is likely accustomed to during the season.

“Usually we have practices in the morning,” Adams said. “We always run two miles. We also do sprints.”

Three to five nights a week Adams and some of her teammates take part in classes at Lake Barkley CrossFit as part of a group, and 1-on-1 with the staff. Adams said she uses the run rocket, a harness designed to improve speed and agility utilizing a system of springs and pulleys on what looks like a giant fishing reel. It works sort of like one, too.

“I’m always on the run rocket,” Adams said. “[The conditioning] varies. Somedays I’ll do box squats. It depends on what we’re doing.”

Adams — who started coming to Lake Barkley CrossFit in November of last year — also plays on a Pumas Futbol Club travel team and is a former Olympic Development Program athlete. With the demands of being a student athlete and travel player, Adams said she decided to give up playing for ODP.

But the gym isn’t just for athletes.

Next to the Lady Tigers is a group of moms twice (or more) their age taking part in a class even more intense than the soccer players workout. In other areas are individuals getting in their own workouts.

Lake Barkley CrossFit’s members are as diverse as you’ll find, from their weight and age to their motives for being there.

That individuality is taken into account.

“I’ve got a math teacher over here working out next to a varsity basketball player and a varsity cheerleader,” Jessup said. “We have kids in here as young as 6. I love it. I’ve got kids who aren’t athletic, but we train them just as hard. I care about the outcome of these kids. The coaches here do, too. I’ve had coaches helping kids with homework. One was teaching someone how to drive out in the parking lot.

“People want to send their kids where they know they’re safe and they’re getting results. That’s what we do.”

While Jessup oversees the operation and works individually with athletes, he said a lot of what they’re able to do is through his coaches.

In addition to Murphy and Brandon, other coaches are Jacob Martin, TJ Palmer of Livingston County, Ray Witherspoon and Dr. Travis Luna. Their backgrounds and ages are varied, from former athletes to military veterans.

“We’re a family,” Jessup said. “I don’t make a decision without consulting my coaches. My coaches teach the classes. They know the athletes.”

The staff have the benefit of equipment as unique as they are. There’s racks lined with traditional free weights and barbells, along with the boxes CrossFit participants are known for jumping onto. But not many gyms benefit from a batting cage. Or an NFL combine-caliber vertical jump machine, a $700 chunk of rubber.

There’s also slide board, an octagon that looks like the surface of an air hockey table. It functions like one, too, allowing athletes to work on sliding and transitioning in multiple directions.

“That was specially made for us,” Jessup said. “The company we got it from said the only other ones it had made like it are at the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville.”

To keep up with events and training options, follow Lake Barkley CrossFit on Facebook and Instagram.

Above, Tyler Stokes surveys the court for Marshall County during a match against Murray earlier this season. Stokes is one of several athletes traveling to Kuttawa to train at Lake Barkley CrossFit

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