CrossFit Games Athlete Shelly Chapple Shares Her Story

Women’s Age Group Athlete: 60-64

It’s easy to be astonished by today’s top CrossFit athletes in the individual division (ages 18-34). Their actual jobs are to train multiple times a day, day in and day out, maintain a rigorous, individualized nutritional routine, maximize recovery, and therefore, they understandably earn the title of Fittest on Earth. But what is more astounding are the age group athletes who have careers beyond fitness and families to prioritize over their training. That’s why I couldn’t have been more excited to share Shelly Chapple’s story.

As of the 2022 CrossFit Games and the 2023 quarterfinals, Shelly is the 8th Fittest Woman (ages 60-64) on Earth. I had the pleasure of sitting down and hearing all about her background, motivation, and CrossFit journey.

Athletic Background, Family, + Career

Shelly attended a 3A school in Snyder, Texas where she played softball in the summer league and dabbled in track and field. “I wasn’t a runner; I was in the field event. That required strength,” she chuckled as she recalled her days participating in shot put and discus. Shelly admits, “I’ve never been a runner.” Additionally, Shelly “lived and breathed” volleyball. That passion earned her a scholarship to play division II volleyball in college for a year, but then her life became more family focused.

Fast forward, and she now has two sons and four grandchildren. She currently works from home as CPA which she describes as a priority above her training. She explains, “Between the Open and quarterfinals, work was busy and stressful, and I was missing days at the gym, so I didn’t think I would do very well.” We can all appreciate that struggle! However, she gets herself in the door as much as possible anyway by negotiating with herself that she doesn’t have to necessarily “kill it” every day, and sometimes it is ok to just show up and move. Like the superwoman she is, she finished quarterfinals in 8th place this year, and will compete in semifinals later this month.

Beginning CrossFit + First Competitions

In 2015, Shelly was traveling back and forth between Houston where she was living, and Midland where she was working. In Midland, she had a friend who was also her personal trainer, but had transitioned from training to pursuing a career as hairdresser, and had started doing CrossFit. This friend would, as Shelly puts it, “talk [her] into doing things like running at 4am.” And like all CrossFitters do with their friends, she asked Shelly to come try a WOD. Shelly admits, “I said, ‘I can’t do that’… I said, ‘I can’t do that,’ so many times.'” After going to support that friend in a local competition, finally Shelly agreed to giving it a shot saying, “I might try it, but I don’t want to compete.”

She recalls that her very first CrossFit workout had handstand push-ups programmed. She again stated, “I can’t do that,” but after observing other athletes kip, and using three pads under her head, she surprised herself. “I remember the next day, I was so sore,” but she went back the second day and has been going back ever since. “So I always tell new people, ‘you got to come back the second day. I don’t care what happens, I don’t care how sore you are, you got to come back the second day. Because if I had not gone back, I may not have ever gone back.'”

“I love the challenge of [CrossFit]. You think you can’t do something and then you do it, and it’s so gratifying. That’s what has kept me going.”

Shelly Chapple

When her first Open came around, everyone told her to sign up, but she didn’t even know what it was. One of the workouts had toes to bar which she had never attempted, but she was able to complete one rep at a time. That year CrossFit took the top 200 qualifiers in the masters division and Shelly claims, “I was like 196.” The first WOD in the next event had ring dips which she could not do at the time, so she decided to not participate. The next year she placed higher in the Open and was able to do qualifiers, so she asked a coach from her gym to prepare her for that season. She had already come a long way from the woman that had once said she wasn’t interested in competing.

Her coach had her sign up for a few competitions in preparation. The first was The Fittest Experience (TFX) in Austin, the second was The Granite Games in Minnesota (2017). With two years of CrossFit experience under her belt, she had no expectations for herself, and ended up 5th at The Granite Games. “It was so much fun because I didn’t feel any pressure.” Not only did she have an amazing time, but she is also still really good friends with some other women she met at that competition.

Throughout 2017, Shelly trained with Marco Coppola, a member of CrossFit Overtake’s Team Density (a team who has continued to make Games appearances), with an effort to get to the CrossFit Games.

Sadly, things took a turn in 2018, where she won the qualifier for The Granite Games, but had been battling shoulder issues. During the second WOD in that competition, her shoulder went out. She reflects, “I had to withdraw. It was very tearful.” When she returned home, she required surgery on her shoulder which meant wearing a sling for seven weeks, being out of the gym for four months, and doing rehabilitation for six months.

After the shoulder ordeal, she decided she did not want to return to the other gym she had tried before that is much closer to her home. CFOT and its coaching was worth the 30+ minute commute, and as she puts it, “That’s where my friends are. Even though I’m the only one my age, those young women just treat me like I’m their age. So it’s kind of nice. And I just love it there. They’re my friends. It’s a great place to be. The coaching is excellent.”

Games 2022

Last year, CrossFit Overtake’s owner and coach, Matt Kyser, was asking his athletes about their goals for the upcoming Open, and Shelly expressed that she wanted to at least make quarterfinals. Better yet, she made the semifinals, and loved the workouts. She humbly says, “I did really well,” an understatement to the fact that she came out with the number one ranking. It came as a surprise, she says, because she had trained for the season, but not with real intention. She explains that Matt had been there to answer questions when she had them, but after semifinals, he became much more involved. “I would take my usual rest day and he’d go ‘Where are you?’ ‘You gotta get here!'” He programed extra work specifically for her and she realized she needed to train more than her typical five days a week. It paid off. “By the time we went to Madison, I recovered well.” Matt had effectively prepared her, and he helped her warm up and strategize throughout the Games. She says she “owes him a lot.”

Her post-semifinal training picked up to two hours a day, six days a week. She would do the 5:30pm class because that is the only class she could attend due to her full time career, and then she would stay for extra work afterward. She claims, “I am really goal-oriented in that if I have a skill that I need to improve, I will do extra work on that.”

Looking back on Madison, she says, “My actual favorite part of the whole thing was the people from the gym that were all there. I don’t take attention well, I’m actually uncomfortable with it, but people there (the group of women), make you feel like a celebrity. It’s just so funny, I’d go out and see them, they’d be dressed in their Shelly shirts.”

Shelly won the first event and at the end of the first day, she was in second place. She adds, “…but so were five other people.” The second day consisted of a swim event which was not something she was excited about; however, she was grateful to not see open water swimming. She had been swimming for months “just so she wouldn’t drown” and was just trying to get comfortable and relaxed in the pool. Her proudest moment was that she made it through that swim event and was surprised she made it through the first round.

Overall, her opinion about the CrossFit Games last year is that it was a learning experience. She encountered frustratingly questionable judging and can also pinpoint areas where she could have performed better. After the final WOD in Madison, she explained that she took some time for herself alone in a restroom. She says all weekend people had been telling athletes where to be and when to be there, and when it was over, there was a sense of now what. She didn’t know where anybody was (her husband, coach Matt, or the people from the gym), so she just took a moment to herself.

Training, Nutrition, + Mindset

When asked about her nutrition, Shelly shares, “I’d not really paid attention until about spring of 2022.” At that time, she had gained some weight and wasn’t sure why exactly because she was not eating all that much. CFOT had someone named Tristan share a presentation about nutrition on a Saturday, so she attended that. She wanted to lose 10 pounds in order to improve her gymnastic skills. The eye-opening moment for her was when Tristan said one of the ways you can tell you’re not eating enough is that you’ll feel it in your workouts. She was afraid to eat more because she wanted to drop weight, but she had suspected that she wasn’t eating enough. He set out a meal plan for her involving reverse dieting. When she had fixed her nutrition and began eating for fuel, she lost about eight pounds which did in fact improve her gymnastics, plus she felt better overall. Contrarily, he had her on a cut during the Open in which she said she felt horrible. Specifically, 22.2 (deadlifts and bar-facing burpees) felt miserable. Bad timing for a cut, but the rest of that year, she became a believer that nutrition is everything. She’s not working with Tristan anymore and is handling her own nutrition. Right now, she’s eating the same things, but not measuring as much. She shares she is living a “normal life, but probably needs to dial it in.”

Shelly shared with me that she had taken a suitcase full of food and supplements to Madison for the 2022 CrossFit Games. She also had a kitchen in her room, so she made a trip to the grocery store when she had arrived.

Final Thoughts

When asked what advice Shelly has for other adults wanting to become more competitive in the sport of CrossFit, she emphasized the importance of nutrition and sleep. You have to focus on your nutrition, get quality sleep, find a good coach, and work on your weaknesses.

She says after the 2023 season she expects to back off a bit. Perhaps that is so she can spend even more time doing the other things she loves outside of the gym: spending time with her family and watching the Houston Astros or Dallas Cowboys. She has also been brainstorming a way to give back to her gym. She particularly wants to help the female athletes but isn’t quite sure how to best do that yet.

I, personally, cannot wait to see what Shelly does this season and beyond.