Steve Parsoneault

  • Athlete Profile
  • Nickname : Paleo Steve
  • Current Affiliate : Crossfit Sanitas
  • From : Simi Valley, CA
  • Region : Southwest
  • Year Started : 2008
  • Weight : 176
  • Height : 5'8"
  • Age : 56
Top Achievements
CrossFit Games 2009 (Team) ,
2012, 2013, 2014 - Masters
2013 - Crossfit Games - 2nd
Bio
Steve discovered crossfit in 2008 just prior to moving to Boulder (he lives in the forest at 7,500 ft) . After 3 weeks, he also discovered the paleo diet. He immediately shed about 10 lbs and started one of the first paleo recipe blogs which he still occasionally posts to: stevepaleo.blogspot.com. By 2009, he was competing with his Boulder team and ended up back in California at the “Ranch” in Aromas.

In 2010, his team again qualified but Steve got sidelined by an injury just weeks before the Games – a detached biceps tendon from attempting a 1 armed kipping pull-up (never attempted since…) . He barely missed the Games as an individual Master in 2011. Steve qualified strong in 2012, 2013, and 2014, never finishing less than top ten in the Open. He was also top 10 at the Games in each of those years and in 2013 lost the tiebreaker for 1st place and landed in 2nd. Steve attributes his success to a broad and consistent training regiment, which includes lots of crossfit (he’s a L1 trainer at Sanitas Crossfit), oly lifting, rock climbing, ice climbing, mountain biking, and of course, a paleo diet.

How I Train
5 days per week at noon I’m training outside in hot, cold, sunny, or snowy conditions with a consistent crew of 10-12 guys. It’s a fun throwdown which I program and we all look forward to. The group is highly competitive and includes former college athletes, bodyweight ninjas, and former “strongman” competitors. 2 days/week I participate in our “competitor” WOD at Crossfit Sanitas. My other training is “active recover” – mtbiking and climbing for instance. I really don’t plan rest days but they take me once in a while and other times I’ll just dial back the intensity. I include mobility work throughout the day, every day, and always choose hard physical labor over the “easy” way of getting a job done – no hydraulic wood splitter for me!
Videos