After qualifying for the CrossFit Games in 2011 and finishing 36th, Nick Urankar spent four hard years fighting for another shot.

In 2015, he finished 28th, excelling in events like the snatch speed ladder, where he finished sixth and the one-rep max clean and jerk, where he tied for second.

The lifelong athlete was attracted to CrossFit over seven years ago. After finishing up his college football career, Urankar’s self-described “hyper competitive” nature drove him to start running marathons before discovering CrossFit. Previous injuries including a twice-broken back at first discouraged him from the heavy lifts, but as he increased his strength, he began excelling and quickly qualified for his first Games trip two years after starting.

 

 

FHQ: How long have you been doing CrossFit and what was your background like before you started?
Nick Urankar: I grew up as an athlete – pretty much any and every sport I played. I was actually a really good soccer player and then we moved to a small country town that didn’t have soccer, so I played football and just excelled in all positions went on to play college football.

I live in Indiana…I’m married I have two little girls, so I kind of have to stay in shape because they’re six and two and a half, so soon there will be boys.

I own CrossFit 061, so I do all of that and do a lot with the family, so it’s a lot of management. When I’m at home, I don’t train. It’s been a three year process to get to that, but when I’m at home I’m a dad and a husband.

 

FHQ: As a CrossFit Games veteran, what are you doing now to prepare for the Games? What are your goals for this year?
Nick Urankar: I’m working on what I suck at a lot – it’s really the first year that I’ve really done that. I’m really attacking everything and enjoying it. I’m just trying to get better – number one, I’ve got to get to Regionals and then two, get back to the Games and do a lot better than I did last year. I think we all have that mentality going in.

 

FHQ: So, what exactly do you suck at?

Nick Urankar: Legless rope climbs, long moderately-loaded workouts, GHDs, high grip-intensive workouts where you have to hang on for dear life and overhead stability so anything where you have to have a load overhead for a long time. Rowing, running, all that non-fun stuff.

FHQ: What’s your best memory from the 2015 Games? What about the worst?
Nick Urankar: Just being there. It was my second time at the Games, so I know what’s it’s like being around guys you’ve looked up to.

You hear first time guys after Day 1 being like “I’m going to do this and that,” and going on and on about being better next year. All I did was kind of stop all of them and say this is just Day 1 of the thing you’ve trained for all year. You’re worred about next time – this might be the only time. I missed out a couple of years in a row because I did that. So this year, I really took every moment and was in it even if it was sitting on a couch in a room that only 40 men in the world can go to.

On the paddleboard, at one point I just stopped and looked out into the ocean and thought this is it, they’re not doing this again next year, I’m one of the luckiest people to get to do something that will never be done. Even in the moments of competition, being able to reflect and create memories.

 

FHQ: What does your typical workout/fitness routine look like?
Nick Urankar: It evolves every year, but right now I like to be up for about two hours before I do anything – I usually just have a bunch of coffee I don’t eat a ton in the morning.

I’ll start around 10 and I’ll normally lift, not necessarily heavy, just something to get me moving. I’ll start with a hard workout and it’ll range from five to 20 minutes and then I’ll take a short break and go right into something else, same kind of style.

I’ll go for maybe four to five hours and maybe have a 30 to 40 minute break, but I kind of run from one thing to the next thing and throw in 3 or 4 things I really suck at and 1 or 2 things that are just fun. I’ve enjoyed the suck this year. I don’t really dread the pain like I used to.

 

FHQ: What’s your favorite thing to do you do to stay active outside of CrossFit?
Nick Urankar: We go to the park a lot and just play but my favorite thing is just kind of roughhousing with my girls. We eat dinner at my wife’s grandparent’s house on Saturday night and I’ll just lay on the ground and they’ll jump on me and we wrestle around. We also call it snuggle time.

I love that kind of stuff. Just being able to hang out with them and not have any stress. I used to kind of stress constantly about training and eating and sleeping and just to be able to step away from that is nice.

 

FHQ: If you got to program the Open this year, what would you choose?
Nick Urankar: If I got to program it, it’s going to be heavy and high skill for moderate reps – 10 clean and jerks at 315 pounds and 30 handstand pushups — I’ll crush that. The heavier and the faster, the better. I’m training for Regionals and the Games, but 80 percent is Regionals.

 

FHQ: What kind of music gets your pumped up during your WOD?
Nick Urankar: Depends on the time of year. If you catch me leading up to Regionals and the Games, it’s loud and sounds angry. If you saw me training, it’s kind of scary. When the season’s over, I’ll do techno upbeat poppy stuff because I’m more relaxed but when I’m focused I want it to be intense.

 

FHQ: What does your typical nutrition look like? What is your favorite cheat meal?
Nick Urankar: I don’t stress about it. I used to be really strict – very strict, so by the time Christmas came around, I’d be so burnt out going through the whole summer and I’d be dying. Normally, the Open and Regionals would come around and I’d be eating worse because I’m so stressed.

Now I’ve changed it around – during the summer, if I want to have a few drinks or eat ice cream, I do. My wife kind of takes care of my nutrition side – she cooks dinner, she’ll have meals I can take with me, but otherwise I just try to eat clean, but if I don’t have something I’ll go grab a sandwich. I won’t eat pasta or a whole lot of stuff I’m not supposed to be eating, but that’s not to say I won’t go grab donuts on a Saturday.

I just try to maybe one time a week eat things I shouldn’t. My wife does a great job of taking care of my food for me. She’s actually starting right now to time me out with my meals better because I’ll go from 8 a.m. from 2 p.m. (without eating) just because I’m training and not focused on food.

 

FHQ: Are you taking any supplements regularly?
Nick Urankar: If it’s a really tough day, I’ll take a preworkout from EPIC and I’ll take just a mono-structural creatine and maybe some DCAs. That’s about it, unless I throw in a shake at the end.
FHQ: What’s one item on your bucket list that isn’t CrossFit related?
Nick Urankar: I guess it’d be easy to say – I want to go on a cruise. I’ve never done and I want to do it just to say I’ve done it.
FHQ: What’s something that people may be surprised to learn about you?
Nick Urankar: I love the movie Mary Poppins – I just do. I’m just a kid – I don’t mean that in the sense that I like to play or anything like that, I like kids movies I like to jump in a bounce house or play in the indoor play center. I still love it – I just to pretend that I’m doing it because of my girls. My wife always makes fun of me because she left one time to go somewhere and I went to see a movie and I went and saw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
FHQ: Do you want your daughters to get into CrossFit?
Nick Urankar: I am a parent who allows them to explore so I want them to explore as much as possible. I don’t think of them doing CrossFit as their main training thing. I want them to play every sport imaginable.

My daughter played baseball this year, she does gymnastics, she’s done dance. She just turned six, so I’m hoping within the next year or two she can get into some other sports. CrossFit can be a means to help that, because I feel like as a kid there’s so much value in the team sports and you don’t get to experience that a lot. CrossFit is going to be there. As a kid, I just want her to be able to experience so much. She doesn’t do our CrossFit kids – she’s not interested, but she knows how to squat.

 

FHQ: What else is important for people to know about you?
Nick Urankar: I just love what I do. I’d say years before I found this there was always a void that I have – you always feel like there’s something more for me – as a kid I knew that I was going to be good at something in athletics but I didn’t know what and after football ended I thought that was it. After this started, there’s no more wondering, it’s like everything is filled. I’m just so lucky.

You can keep up with Nick, who’s currently sitting in 268th place in the Open overall, by following him on Instagram at @nickurankar or liking his athlete page on Facebook.