From Fat and Tired to Fitness Leader

Jonathan Breeden: [00:00:00] On this week’s episode of The Best of Johnston County Podcast, our guest is  Amy Locklear, the owner of CrossFit 4042, which is right behind the Hampton Inn and the McDonald’s here at 4042 or 40 Veterans Parkway.

We talk to Amy about her growing up in Ohio, her move to Johnston County, and her journey into fitness, and why she joined CrossFit, why she now owns her own CrossFit, and how CrossFit is making the difference in lives of citizens right here in Johnston County. So listen in.

Welcome to another episode of Best of Johnston County, brought to you by Breeden Law Office. Our host, Jonathan Breeden, an experienced family lawyer with a deep connection to the community, is ready to take you on a journey through the area that he has called home for over 20 years. Whether it’s a deep dive into the love locals have for the county or unraveling the complexities of family law, Best of Johnston County presents an authentic slice of this unique community.

Jonathan Breeden: hello, and welcome to [00:01:00] another edition of the Best of Johnston County podcast. I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden, and on today’s episode, we have Amy Locklear, the owner of CrossFit 4042. We’re gonna talk to her a little bit about how she got to Johnston County, her journey into fitness, what is CrossFit, how it works, how it differs from traditional gyms, and some of her favorite community involvement.

She’s very involved with the community, and she’s also doing Launch JoCo, so we’re gonna talk a little bit about that as well. But before we get to that, we’d like to like, ask you to like, follow, subscribe to this podcast wherever you see it, whether it be on Apple, YouTube, Spotify, TikTok, X, or any of the other social media channels of the Best of Johnston County podcast.

The Best of Johnston County podcast comes out every single Monday, and has now for over 30 months. So you can go back and listen to the previous episodes. We’ve had the vast majority of the county commissioners. We’ve had tons of small business owners, including Just Dog People. That was one of my favorite episodes.

I learned so much about dogs. We had Michael [00:02:00] Soler just a few weeks ago, with K9 Blue Line Dog Training, with interesting dog tricks. We do try to educate everybody if they take the time to listen to this podcast about the businesses in Johnston County and how they can help the other citizens of Johnston County.

Welcome, Amy.

Amy Locklear: Hello. Thank you. All right,

Jonathan Breeden: cool. This is gonna be fun, even though you’re a fitness person and I’m clearly not a fitness person. But anyway, so what’s your name and what you do?

Amy Locklear: Amy Locklear. I own CrossFit 4042, right, pretty much walking distance from here.

Jonathan Breeden: Right, right. So you’re right there behind the Lowe’s.

Amy Locklear: No, I’m right over here. Oh. Right behind the Hampton Inn. I can literally walk across.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, oh, you’re behind it.

Amy Locklear: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: Why did I think it was behind Lowe’s?

Amy Locklear: We used to be back there.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Well, that explains it.

Amy Locklear: We used to be back

Jonathan Breeden: there. Yep. All right. I, I, that’s good. Yep. So now, so now you’re behind the Hampton Inn.

We’re by the Hampton Inn. Behind the McDonald’s.

Amy Locklear: Yeah, gotta go to McDonald’s to get

Jonathan Breeden: there, for sure. Right. Okay. Well, that’s awesome. Okay. Yeah, so literally I can… Guys, I, I, now I have even- Less excuse … less of an excuse, right? ‘Cause I can walk there from my office here. And so, and I guess it’s [00:03:00] always gonna be 4042 to me.

Amy Locklear: I know.

Jonathan Breeden: Now I always have to say 4040 Farmers Parkway. Veterans. I’ll be… I’m not

Amy Locklear: rebranding. Yeah. No. If you’re from here, you know what 4042 is. Right. You know

Jonathan Breeden: what 4042 is. Yep. Right. No, I agree. It’s, I mean, I understood with Interstate 42- Yeah … and all that, why they had to do it.

Amy Locklear: We’ll figure it out.

Jonathan Breeden: But it’s always gonna be 4042 to me.

Amy Locklear: Oh, yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: So- understand … anyway, so, So where are you from?

Amy Locklear: Originally from Ohio. We moved back, we moved to North Carolina ’88, so I’ve- I’m pretty much a native now. Okay. High school in Raleigh, and I’ve been in Johnston County for 26 years now. Oh, man. Okay. And we got married in 2020. Nope, 20,000. Nope.

Jonathan Breeden: 2000.

Amy Locklear: There it is, 2000. So we’ve been married going on 26 years, and I moved out here and we got married.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, you got here the same time I got here. I got here in 2000 when I got out of law school. Mm-hmm. So you, you and I have seen this thing sort of explode. Yes,

Amy Locklear: it’s grown up big time.

Jonathan Breeden: So what’d you do before you got in the gym business?

Amy Locklear: Well, I was a high school special ed teacher for a couple years. I went to school graduated from Meredith in Raleigh as a social work degree. So kind of everything kind of goes together social [00:04:00] work, special ed, and then, you know, dealing with people in the gym is, is pretty much social work every day.

People come to me for many, many different reasons, so just being able to communicate with people is huge. So a background in social work. Fitness was not on the radar when I was younger. That was not-

Jonathan Breeden: Okay … there. Were you always somebody that ran and stayed in shape- No … or is this like a road to Damascus kind of thing?

‘ Cause some fitness people, like, used to look like me, and now they are in really good shape.

Amy Locklear: Well, it was, it was kind of a little bit of both. Through high school I was not healthy, but I did enjoy… I never did, like, team sports. I was never a team sports person, but I liked to run. But, like, I’d go run to Shelley Lake and be smoking a cigarette before I got out of the parking lot.

So I mean, it’s just, I was healthy and unhealthy at the same time. More unhealthy. And then three kids later, I remember telling my husband I was tired of being fat and tired, and that was back in 2004 when she was born. And I started the fitness journey on my own, you know, ’cause I was a stay-at-home mom.

At this point I’d, I’d taught school before that, [00:05:00] and then stayed home when my two younger ones were, were born. And then I just, you know, it just happens. Life happens, and peaked out about 210 and was tired of, of that.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh my goodness. And then I- I can’t imagine you weighing 210 looking, looking in the great shape you’re in now.

It’s …

Amy Locklear: Well, it’s, it was hard, you know? I just decided I was tired of it and and right around New Year’s I was your typical New Year’s resolutioner, and if I could tell you what clicked, I could be a millionaire. I don’t know what clicked in my head at that point, but you hit a point when you’re like, “I’m done.

I’m done.” So, I did it on my own. I kind of followed, loosely followed Weight Watchers ’cause I couldn’t afford to really go anywhere else. Did exercise on my own as I’m losing weight. Neighbors, family was like, “Man, I wish, you know, I could do this,” and just made me start thinking, “Hmm, maybe I could help people on this side of things.”

When I was in high college, I loved all my PE classes, but I never put two and two together that fitness could be a, a career. Okay. That just wasn’t, you know.

Jonathan Breeden: So when did you start CrossFit? Not when you [00:06:00] bought it, but when did you start in CrossFit?

Amy Locklear: From 2013 we opened and I was there from day one. I haven’t owned it since 2013.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Right.

Amy Locklear: The Gammon, Drew Gammon owned it back then, so I started it with him as just one of his coaches, and I kind of helped him build the community up and people always joked, “When are you gonna open your own?” I’m like, “Eh, I enjoy this side of things, you know, let Drew handle the business side of things, let me deal with the people.” That was my jam. But then things just progressed over time. So 2013, that’s since I’ve been.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Amy Locklear: We’ve been open for, you know, 13 years.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. So that’s when you first got into CrossFit

Amy Locklear: Mm-hmm

Jonathan Breeden: and then you got into it and you became a trainer.

Amy Locklear: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: Almost instantaneously.

Amy Locklear: Yep. It was one of those that I was kind of resistant to it at the beginning because it was different. I was more used to the boot camp style classes, and CrossFit was hard, and I didn’t like that.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Amy Locklear: And it was just kind of humbling to me, and I was like, “Oh, wow, I’m really not good.” But it hooked me from the get-go, and 13 years later I’m still hooked.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. So how is it different? Because, you know, we had [00:07:00] Woodall’s Fitness on a few episodes ago, so go back maybe, I don’t know, two or three months if you’re listening to this, and his is about movement. It’s coach-led classes as is CrossFit. His is ropes and tires and not ellipticals and free weights

Amy Locklear: Mm-hmm

Jonathan Breeden: and boxing. But yours is not your traditional gym like the two different branded Fit4Life’s

Amy Locklear: Right.

Jonathan Breeden: We have here, or Gold’s Gym. So how is it different from Woodall’s, and how is it different from a traditional gym?

Amy Locklear: With a traditional gym, you walk in, there’s machines and there’s no one there to hold you accountable. So you join Planet Fitness, I’ll put that out just ’cause it’s one of the big ones.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. It’s the biggest one.

Amy Locklear: You join, you don’t show up, you don’t show up. You walk in and if you join the gym here and you’re missing for a week, I’ll probably give you a call or a text to say, “Hey, everything okay? What’s going on?” It’s more the accountability side of things that people are looking for, ’cause it’s easy to join a gym and just donate your money.

Right. And that’s not what we want. You’re [00:08:00] not gonna get results if you don’t show up, and we don’t want you not, you know. And you know, with similar I believe, you know, with Woodall’s is this, you know, they have a very similar probably, they’re very accountable.

They, that’s more- Right … you know, you’re, you’re there f- because of them. So my members come because of, you know, the community. It’s much more community-based. You make friends there. You know people are waiting for you. If I don’t call you out, someone else may call you out. You know, they may message you on Facebook.

They may, you know, “Hey, where you at? We’re missing ya. What’s happening?” They t- may take a picture if you have a spot, like, “Where you at? Your, your spot is missing you.” So a little peer pressure going on in there, but you know, they come for the workout, but they really stay for the community. You can-

Jonathan Breeden: Right. And so- As is Woodall’s, yours is instructor-led.

Amy Locklear: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: You don’t just show up, do 25 minutes on the elliptical, then go and do some shoulder presses or whatever. Yep. Everybody’s sort of doing the same thing, following some, whatever- Yep … the instructor decides they’re gonna do that day.

Amy Locklear: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: So talk a little bit about that, and what are some of those exercises.

Amy Locklear: Sure. [00:09:00] Everything’s coach-led, so you come 5:00 AM class, you come to 6:30 PM class, it’s gonna be the same workout. They can access their workouts on an app, so they can see what the workouts are all week long to kinda get themself ready. I tell people, “Don’t look at it to decide if you wanna come to class.

Look at it to s- if you s- need, like, running shoes that day.” So we’re there to, to lead you in the exercises, whether it, like for example, today we had some gymnastic rope climbing skills. So we spent the first 10 minutes of class just pla- playing on the ropes. Whether you’re getting up the rope all the way, whether you’re just laying down and standing yourself up just working on hooking your feet.

So whether you’re 18 years old and can climb up a rope like a monkey, or I had one lady in there who was 68 today. They’re both doing the same workout, it just looks a little different. Okay. So you can work out next to your grandchildren and your grandmother and your mom and all in the same class, and they’re doing the same workout, but just different versions.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay

Amy Locklear: so it helps them. So everything is modifiable. Like I said, there’s days that… My daughter is a coach at the gym. She [00:10:00] is 21 years old. My mother is a member, and she’s 79 years old. They’re in the same class. Morgan may be up front doing muscle ups and all the crazy stuff that you see CrossFitters do, and then my mom’s, you know, doing box step ups, they’re doing ring rows.

So it is just to their intensity level.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Amy Locklear: And so we can meet you where you’re at, no matter what- what’s going on.

Right.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. And so do you. I mean, I know you’re offering classes five times a day, five days a week approximately and then you’re also doing some Saturday classes. I mean, do you come to the same one every day? Do you come three times a week? Does your, you gotta take a day off because your muscles gotta rest? I mean, how does that work?

Amy Locklear: The program is made for you to come if you wanna come six days a week, come six days a week. We don’t have a specific, “This is leg day, this is arm day, this is back day.” It is full body every day.

So you could come Monday through Friday. A lot of people do that and take Saturday, Sunday off. We have some people who just do three days a week. It really depends on your schedule, what allows. And most people pick a class that they come [00:11:00] to every time. So if you’re gonna come to 9:00 AM most of the time, that’s your class time but you don’t have to.

If something comes up, kids’ field trip, whatever, and you wanna come to 6:30 PM, you can come to 6:30 PM. So you don’t have to pick a certain time you come to. You just show up.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. And so the classes are at 5:00 AM.

Amy Locklear: 6:00 AM

Jonathan Breeden: 6:00 AM

Amy Locklear: 9:00 AM

Jonathan Breeden: 9:00 AM.

Amy Locklear: And then we start back at 4:30 PM.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Amy Locklear: 5:30 and 6:30.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. So six a day, Monday to Thursday.

Amy Locklear: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: And then I know Friday evenings.

Amy Locklear: Friday we have a little different schedule.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Amy Locklear: 4:30 is our last scheduled CrossFit class, but we do have a Phoenix program.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Amy Locklear: That is run on Friday nights. That is completely free. It has nothing to do with my membership. It’s people are in recovery. So it is 48 hours sobriety. You just show up. They do a little talk. I don’t know who’s coming to that. I don’t lead them. One of my other coaches who is, that is their passion. She is a volunteer for Phoenix, and she leads the class. So none of your information is sent to me at all. It is [00:12:00] kind of anonymous class that you can come to for free.

Jonathan Breeden: Do they sign a waiver if they get hurt?

Amy Locklear: They do.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. I was about to say.

Amy Locklear: But it’s through Phoenix.

Jonathan Breeden: I mean, the lawyer in me is like.

Amy Locklear: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: “Wait a minute.”

Amy Locklear: But it is through Phoenix.

Jonathan Breeden: Like you need a waiver because people could get hurt.

Amy Locklear: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: Doing this.

Amy Locklear: They have the waivers. And that is housed through Phoenix. It’s through their database, so that’s all in their stuff. But it’s just a way to connect. It’s just a sober, active community.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. And so when somebody comes and they say, “Okay, I wanna join CrossFit,” they don’t immediately just go into a class. They sort of go into this on-ramp, like, so you kinda learn what it is, like-

Amy Locklear: We do one of two ways, yes.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Amy Locklear: There are some that are more comfortable starting a little private one-on-ones, a couple sessions to get their feet wet. I’m, I have confidence in my coaches that if a new person jumps into class, that they can, they can guide them correctly.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Amy Locklear: And we don’t have 20 people in a class. So we have classes that, you know, 15 or below kind of is our numbers.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Amy Locklear: And our sweet spot, usually about 8 to 10 is what we have in each class. So all of our coaches can handle new people

Jonathan Breeden: Okay

Amy Locklear: … know how to, how [00:13:00] to modify- Right … without, you know, causing any injuries.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. But you do have that on-ramp program for people-

Amy Locklear: Yes …

Jonathan Breeden: to get started and sort of familiarize their self with this type of- Mm … of exercise. So what are some of the equipment that you use? Like, you have, you have, you have barbells.

Amy Locklear: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: I know that’s a thing with-

Amy Locklear: Yep …

Jonathan Breeden: with CrossFit. I think you have bikes.

Amy Locklear: We have bikes. We have rowers. So our cardio equipment’s the bikes and the rowers, and then we have out we run outside also. Then barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, all of that, and then we have the rigs. So when you’re doing gymnastics moving, meaning like pull-ups. Gymnastics would be any body weight movement.

It could be, you know, jump rope. It could be air squats. But we have the barbells. Anything we can do with a barbell, you can do with a dumbbell. So you can always modify. If someone has a mobility issue with shoulders, we could- we put dumbbells in their hands instead of a barbell. Someone can’t hang on the rig for whatever reason, they can’t do a pull-up, then we got the Ring Rows.

So there’s always ways to… But it’s, yeah, you walk in, it’s a open, big open space.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Amy Locklear: The floor is open. And today we needed barbells, so you get your own equipment. You put your [00:14:00] own equipment away. It’s kind of, you know, so you get to pick what- What’s working best for you, and we’re there to kinda guide you.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. All right. Well, that’s cool. I know you do a kids fitness program.

Amy Locklear: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: And we’re recording this in the middle of April. You have one getting ready to start.

Amy Locklear: Today.

Jonathan Breeden: This will probably not run- … till probably June- … so it will be over, but, but,

Amy Locklear: For the summer …

Jonathan Breeden: for the summer, right.

Amy Locklear: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: So tell me about your kids fitness program, how it works, who it’s for-

Amy Locklear: Yep …

Jonathan Breeden: what it, what it is.

Amy Locklear: Elementary age is what it’s for, so elementary up until about middle school. We have anywhere in that range. Right now, this session is gonna be on Wednesday nights. Last session was Mondays and Wednesdays.

Our coach is a high school teacher, so she, you know, we work around her kids’ schedule also. So she does Wednesday nights with the kids. They do pretty much what the adults do, just in a, you know, a smaller version of that. So they, they learn proper technique. They’re learning the running, the jumping.

They just like to move. They always have a little game at the beginning and the end. You gotta start it with some fun stuff. You got like the little sandwich of fun, fun, and then work in the middle. They get to [00:15:00] work on some, you know, team, team work together. Some classes, they team up together, so they kinda pair up.

Some are on their own, but they’ll get on the bikes. They’ll get on the rowers. We get them on the pull-up bars. We have light barbells. We have, like, 15-pound trainer bars for the little ones, but also PVC pipes just to get something in their hands to move, you know, properly.

Jonathan Breeden: I gotcha. And so you run those year-round. And they run in sort of six-week-

Amy Locklear: Six-week, …

Jonathan Breeden: eight, sort of six-week sessions.

Amy Locklear: Yep, yep.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Amy Locklear: So you can, you know, if you know you got a sports coming up, you can skip this six-week session and join in on the next one, or on the, the times that we have two times a week, you can pick to come twice a week or once a week depending on your schedule.

Okay. So it’s pretty affordable.

Jonathan Breeden: So what is that cost for the kids?

Amy Locklear: $60 for the session. Okay. For the six-week session. So if you’re coming once a week, it’s $60. Twice a week, it’s $90.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. So very affordable.

Amy Locklear: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: Gets kids moving.

Amy Locklear: And classes go on, kids class and adult class same time, so if a parent wants to come work out while their kid’s working out two birds with one stone.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Well, that’s cool. That’s cool. You also do some [00:16:00] nutrition. I know you’re, I mean, you’re not a nutritionist, but.

Amy Locklear: Right.

Jonathan Breeden: You do some nutrition coaching.

Amy Locklear: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: Some meal planning. Talk a little bit about that.

Amy Locklear: Yeah. I’m a nutrition coach. I partner with Healthy Steps Nutrition, and they are my nutritionist backing. So everything, all the information that is given out is backed by, you know, licensed nutritionists. It is an app also, and we work on habit-based. So everything that we do is we take a big holistic approach at CrossFit 4042. We want these to be lifestyle changes, not quick fixes, so that’s how we kind of approach the nutrition also, is we’re gonna talk to you.

We’ll sit down for, like, for an hour, maybe an hour and a half the first time we meet, and we’re gonna go through your day. Your support, your sleep, your stress, your nutrition, and your movement. So it’s not just what you eat. Like I said, if you’re sleeping like garbage and you’re working out, you’re probably not gonna see the results you want.

So we’ll attack kind of things like that. We’ll pick one thing at a time. So the more I put on you, the less likely you’re gonna succeed. So if I know, okay, we need to really work on your sleep, that’s all we’re gonna work on [00:17:00] this month is your sleep. So we wanna really focus on long-term habits that are gonna stay with you.

We’ve just started partnering up with a lab company that you can go get some lab work done to really test out 100 and some biomarkers to see where you’re at and then we can get them analyzed to see, okay, what can we do with lifestyle, nutrition, and supplements? If something is flagged medically, that’s not me.

That’s not me. So I know where my limits are. So if something’s flagged that you need to see your physician 100%, we send you over there. But this is a way to kind of really get a look at, okay, why am I always sore? What’s happening? I’m not recovering. I’m not. You know, we can look at some of your biomarkers to figure out what’s going on.

Jonathan Breeden: So what are some suggestions you have for people to get better sleep?

Amy Locklear: Get a good nighttime routine.

Jonathan Breeden: That’s true.

Amy Locklear: It’s, you know, you’ve got to come up with a good nighttime.

H- rou- ’cause if… Just like anything else, you need a routine. If I’m, like, going to bed at 9:00 this night, 12:00 that night, sitting on my phone, you know, cutting screens out about an hour before I go to bed.

You know, don’t lay in the [00:18:00] bed and scroll through your phone. But just, just coming up with a good routine for your night.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Well, that’s cool. That’s cool.

Amy Locklear: It’s simple and easy.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, and, you know, it needs to be dark.

Amy Locklear: Yep, needs to be dark.

Jonathan Breeden: Needs to be cool. Cool. Right? No caffeine after lunch.

Amy Locklear: Yep, yep.

Jonathan Breeden: You know? I mean, I don’t think people realize, but caffeine has a sort of 24 hours life.

Amy Locklear: The sugar. You know? Right. The amount of sugar you’re eating later in the day can affect- Right … how you sleep.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. With the time you eat your last meal.

Amy Locklear: There’s a lot to go into it, so when you talk to somebody about it, you know, you can’t, you can’t… like, I’m not gonna tell you, “Don’t drink coffee. Don’t do this, don’t do this, don’t do this.” Right. We’re gonna say, “Let’s do one thing at a time,” ’cause it gets so overwhelming. Right. I mean, that’s why people fail- Right … in most things.

Jonathan Breeden: And y’all help, you help with meal planning-

Amy Locklear: Mm-hmm …

Jonathan Breeden: i guess, as part of this same- nutritionist thing.

Amy Locklear: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: So is that a subscription type thing- No … for this nutritionist help- The nutrition- … for the meal planning? Yeah.

Amy Locklear: If you want the meal prep guide, it’s on the website. You just click the button, ask for it, and you’ll get sent the meal prep guide.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, okay.

Amy Locklear: It’s just a quick and easy.

It’s free. It gives you some really [00:19:00] good recipe ideas and just some good little, little quick little hacks. If you… You know, the nutrition program is, is a, is a monthly, program also.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. All right. Separate from the CrossFit-

Amy Locklear: Right …

Jonathan Breeden: exercising.

Amy Locklear: Yep. It is separate.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Amy Locklear: So if you decide, if we work together a few months, you’re like, “I’m good,” it doesn’t affect your, your CrossFit membership.

It’s, it’s separate.

Jonathan Breeden: Now, you also offer online-

Amy Locklear: we did that a lot with,

Jonathan Breeden: gym training. Yeah. How does that work?

Amy Locklear: We did that a lot with COVID. When COVID came around, every- everyone had to change things up, so we did offer some online stuff through YouTube. We did the kids classes on, on virtual.

If you are not local and you wanna work with me with nutrition, we can 100% do that remotely. I don’t need you, we don’t need to come in the gym at all. You don’t have to be a gym member to work with nutrition. Some people aren’t ready to start at all. And then again, if you want, you know, an online training program, well, we can give you some…

You know, I can send you and we can work together that way, where you’re, you’re kinda- Okay … doing it on your own, but I’m sending you the, your program that you can work on.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. All right.

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Jonathan Breeden: So you got several people doing that even now, so you keep working on that?

Amy Locklear: Yeah. Yeah, we definitely try to, you know, keep people engaged.

Whatever, you know, if you’re going out because you’re having a baby or your wife’s having a baby, you don’t wanna fall off-

Jonathan Breeden: Right …

Amy Locklear: we’ve got a home program that you can work on.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. And you also people realize, you know, HSAs are now a thing. These sort of health savings accounts. You can use your health savings account to pay for a gym membership.

Amy Locklear: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: And you can help people learn how to do that-

Amy Locklear: Yep …

Jonathan Breeden: and you can help them with that, right?

Amy Locklear: Some people don’t realize even their insurance has, You know, I’m on, I’m on a few insurance plans, that if you look through your health savings kind of benefits, and, you know, you, I’m on some of those too, where I tell people all the time, “If I can save you money and you’re [00:21:00] paying for it already with your insurance, let’s figure out how to, how to make this work for you.”

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Well, what do you think, I mean, you’ve been in the fitness business now for 13 years, what do you think the biggest mistake the just average American is making in their diet or their exercising or whatever that they could fix fairly quickly if they just decided to?

Amy Locklear: as far as moving goes and adding fitness goes.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, moving, yeah.

Amy Locklear: Just move.

Jonathan Breeden: Just move. Right.

Amy Locklear: Just move. No matter what it is. I don’t care if you come to CrossFit, you do yoga, you go swimming, you go walking. Find something you enjoy. If you don’t enjoy it, you’re not gonna stick with it. If it’s not convenient, you’re not gonna stick with it. So trying to find a gym 25 minutes away may be a little bit of a deterrent.

You know, you wanna find something that’s close, that’ll fit your schedule. So again, just move.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. Start moving, right?

Amy Locklear: Start moving. Right.

Jonathan Breeden: And you know, and you could sort of do habit linking. You know, you could, put your gym shoes on the toilet. So you gotta move them when you get up in the morning.

Amy Locklear: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: You know, you could do [00:22:00] like that, or you can if you’re on your treadmill at your house or whatever, you can watch Bravo. You know, the Real Housewives show

Amy Locklear: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: Kinda thing. or me, you know, what got me into walking was podcasts.

Amy Locklear: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: And I really love to listen to podcasts. I’m always learning. I listen to mindset podcasts, I listen to customer service podcasts. I listen to family law marketing podcasts. And so I’ve gotta be walking really to be able to listen to my podcasts. I’ve got a few that I really wanna listen to. And if I’m not walking, I’m not listening to them. And so you have to sort of come up with something that you do during that time, whether it’s watch a show or listen to a podcast, stuff like that to make it where you wanna do it. And then, you know, then once you start.

Amy Locklear: It becomes a habit.

Jonathan Breeden: You know, it becomes a habit.

Amy Locklear: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Right. And you can link other things to it to make it maybe less painful or whatever.

Amy Locklear: Yeah. Me when I was a stay-at-home mom, that was when my husband would get home, I’d go for a run. Not that I love running but it got me out of the house.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. That’s [00:23:00] exactly-

Amy Locklear: And I would just, I would go, that would be my time to look at yards. I’d do think about things, just to 30 minutes of, of nothing, and that was what got me kinda moving after the kids were born.

Right. Right.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. And any movement is better than no movement.

Amy Locklear: Any movement is better than a no movement. Correct. You know? Yeah. And we’ve done no snooze challenges at the gym. People are always like, “Oh, I just hit snooze and I couldn’t make it in.” All right, one week, put your phone somewhere else. Don’t hit snooze. Soon as it goes off, get out of bed.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, and, and hitting snooze is one of the worst things you can do for your sleep and waking up-

Amy Locklear: Mm-hmm

Jonathan Breeden: because you, it, it, it delays your waking up. It, it dry, it can make you groggy throughout the day-

Amy Locklear: Oh, yeah

Jonathan Breeden: because you come out of REM sleep, you’re not back in it. You know, I mean, all the sleep stuff I’ve read and heard- … says hitting snooze is one of the worst things you can do-

Amy Locklear: Yep …

Jonathan Breeden: for your sleep.

Amy Locklear: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: And I used to do it, and when I started hearing that maybe 15 years ago, I stopped.

Amy Locklear: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: Now I just, I just get up-

Amy Locklear: Yep …

Jonathan Breeden: and sort of-

Amy Locklear: As soon as it goes off

Jonathan Breeden: and then you wanna, and then you wanna get some sunlight.

Amy Locklear: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: Right? You want, you wanna get sunlight. You wanna get that-

Amy Locklear: Morning [00:24:00] walks are great

Jonathan Breeden: morning walks. You wanna get sunlight in your eyes, hopefully within 20 minutes of waking up because that helps- wake you up and, and stuff like that, and get you-

Amy Locklear: Yeah

Jonathan Breeden: ready to go and-

Amy Locklear: Yeah, it’s hard when you go to the gym at 5:00 AM when there’s no sunlight, so all the lights are on in the gym when you walk in the door.

So it’s- Right … just a little bit of little brightness so you can wake up a little bit.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. I tell you what, people that get up that early- I mean, I know they get more done, and they’re probably way more successful, and I’ve stu- but I’m like, man, that, that’s a different thing. Like, I, I am-

Amy Locklear: They are different

Jonathan Breeden: not a morning person. I’m a night person.

Amy Locklear: Yep …

Jonathan Breeden: you know, and I’m just like, I got so much respect for people that get up that early.

Amy Locklear: Yeah. The 5:00 AM-

Jonathan Breeden: And if you go to bed early, you can get up that early, but I don’t wanna go to bed early because I wanna go to sporting events and- … do stuff like that.

Amy Locklear: So that’s what I tell people, the 5:00 AM class is not bad. It’s the night before. You gotta, you gotta plan the night before.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Y- y- ’cause you gotta go to bed. Got it. And, and you also, if you’re gonna go to bed at 9:00, you probably need to be eating your last meal at 5:30. A- a- I mean, really.

Amy Locklear: It’s just a whole life change.

Jonathan Breeden: It’s a whole life change. Yep. Yep. Right. It really is.

Amy Locklear: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: So, anyway. Yeah. Well, there’s tons of books about getting up [00:25:00] at 5:00 AM and how they really do run the world. So Amy Locklear does run the world, I guess, ’cause she’s up at 5:00 AM.

Amy Locklear: They say a lot about that. Yep. Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: So anyway so what are some of the community service things. I mean, you’ve been doing a lot in this community for a long time. What are some of the ones that you’re still doing and some of the ones you enjoy most?

Amy Locklear: Right now, I’m with Launch JoCo which has been a great. Talking about staying up late, that’s been the hardest part of Launch JoCo, is not leaving till 9:00 PM 9:00 PM, knowing I gotta get up.

But Launch JoCo has been great, the connections you make there. We’ve done work with AMRAP 4 Autism. It’s a Charlotte-based organization, but they’ll partner up with a local one, and we partner up with First In Families, which is the Johnston County version, or based part of First In Families, where it helps families that help with children or even adults who are special needs, services they may need, like horseback riding.

You know, this therapeutic horseback riding would be helpful, but they can’t afford it, so it’s a way to kind of, give back to them.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Amy Locklear: We’ve done, we do a lot of drives. We just collected a whole bunch of stuff. The Isaiah House 117 [00:26:00] which is phenomenal.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, I know the Isaiah 117 House.

Amy Locklear: There you go.

Jonathan Breeden: they were on this podcast about a year ago.

Amy Locklear: Oh.

Jonathan Breeden: Go back and listen to that. At that time, they were getting ready to break ground on the house.

Amy Locklear: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: The house is now open. It is a place for children to transition into foster care.

Amy Locklear: Ooh.

Jonathan Breeden: It is absolutely beautiful. It’s an amazing house. It’s stocked full of toys. I’ve still amazed that they built it. And you know, it’s unbelievable.

Amy Locklear: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: And it really is making things better for foster children.

Amy Locklear: It is.

Jonathan Breeden: Here.

Amy Locklear: Yeah, I can’t.

Jonathan Breeden: In Johnston County.

Amy Locklear: Yeah, we delivered, and luckily we were able to go in and view the house and kinda get a tour of the house, and I think I only cried twice.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, no, it’s.

Amy Locklear: The stories are just.

Jonathan Breeden: No. Yeah.

Amy Locklear: Oh, it’s amazing.

Jonathan Breeden: It’s in Selma, and

Amy Locklear: Yeah

Jonathan Breeden: it is a place for foster children. It’s a transition place so when they’re coming in to foster care and they’re in the custody of the county it’s a place, it’s a home for them to go to while the social worker tries to find them a home for them to stay in. So it is not a foster home, it’s a transition home, and they’re there [00:27:00] for 12 to 24 hours while they find a home that will take these children because oftentimes it’s an immediate thing. They’re coming there from a trauma situation, whether it be a shooting, a drug bust, a fire.

You know, I do that kind of work. I’ve, I’ve represented- Yeah. So,

Amy Locklear: mm-hmm

Jonathan Breeden: parents and, and, and kids in foster care for many years and, and that’s its own series- Yeah … of podcasts. Oh, yeah. But, but it is really good that, that, that place is there- Yeah … and they’re doing a great job as well. Any other groups you work with around here?

Amy Locklear: We’ve… Like I said, I’ve been in the area except for 26 years. Oh, yeah. My kids have grown up through the whole, the whole Cleveland system.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, yeah.

Amy Locklear: Cleveland Elementary, Cleveland Middle, Cleveland High School, Westview all of them.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh.

Amy Locklear: And my grand- my grandkids are here now, so, yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: PTA and-

Amy Locklear: PTA, all this stuff and-

Jonathan Breeden: Do you ever do the band?

Amy Locklear: No.

Jonathan Breeden: The band’s serious.

Amy Locklear: Did not do the band.

Jonathan Breeden: Wasn’t- The, the Cleveland band is serious. Yes. We got- Yeah …

Amy Locklear: I got some of my members have band kids, and they are very- … very dedicated into their in- into their band.

Jonathan Breeden: That, that’s awesome. That’s awesome …

Amy Locklear: which is, which is great. But no, they, this community is, is… I try to give back as much as I can. We do a Operation Christmas [00:28:00] Child every year at the gym where we pack the boxes. Then a group of us went to Charlotte to the packing center in December. So that was pretty cool. Collected stuff when Helene came through took my Tahoe packed to the brim up to Boone filled with stuff. So I have a very generous community.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. No, you really do, and y’all have done a lot over the years for sure even before you owned it. When did you buy CrossFit 4042?

Amy Locklear: I’ve owned it for three years. May will be three years.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Amy Locklear: So back in 2023.

Jonathan Breeden: 23. Right. Okay.

Amy Locklear: Drew transitioned. You know, he just busy guy.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah.

Amy Locklear: And so it was time. You know, over the years, been asked if I wanted to, you know, take it over, and I’m like, “Nah, not sure that’s not what I wanna do.”

Jonathan Breeden: Right, so what are your plans for the future? I mean, obviously you’ve added the nutrition service, the meal planning, the online, the kids. You got more ideas?

Amy Locklear: You know, I’d love just to keep it rolling. I mean, we got good momentum right now. We have a good membership base. We have a very loyal membership base. We’ve had people that have been there since we opened in 2013. And [00:29:00] before, we were doing some bootcamp stuff out of the skating rink that Drew’s father owned, Ron Gammon owned Innerskate.

So I was doing bootcamps out of there before that opened, and some people came from there to CrossFit. So we’ve had people with us for quite a while. Like I said, I just, that’s my, you know, I just love doing it.

Jonathan Breeden: No, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. And you are taking new members.

Amy Locklear: Oh, yep.

Jonathan Breeden: Love to have more members if you’re interested. Can you come and do a couple classes for free?

Amy Locklear: Yep, yep.

Jonathan Breeden: To see if it sort of, if it fits you and what you’re looking to try to do it.

Amy Locklear: Yep, 100 You come in it’s three classes we offer. Love to sit down and, you know, we sit down and talk before you kinda sign up for that, just kinda see where you’re at, what you’re looking for. Those three classes if, you know, come in and do those, more than likely, 90% of the time you join after that.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, that’s.

Amy Locklear: ‘Cause you kinda get hooked.

Jonathan Breeden: You get hooked on it. Yeah, I get it.

Amy Locklear: That’s get from the get go

Jonathan Breeden: that’s great

Amy Locklear: but we, you know, anywhere, any fitness level you’re at.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Amy Locklear: Is you know, any size, any age we got a place for you.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, cool. Well, how could people find out more? what’s your website, phone number, all that stuff?

Amy Locklear: Easy, crossfit4042.com. [00:30:00] That’s where we’re at. We’re on Facebook, we’re on Instagram. I’ll just find, call, follow CrossFit 4042 and you’ll find a lot of our stuff on there. Just shoot us a message and

Jonathan Breeden: All right. And one, the last question we ask everybody on this podcast, what do you love most about Johnston County?

Amy Locklear: Oh, the, just the area. I love how the schools are still community schools. I know my kids… I always knew my kids’ bus drivers, always knew my kids’ teachers. Well, so it’s just, of course, you know, the answer’s always the people, but the

Jonathan Breeden: Right

Amy Locklear: the community and I love how it’s growing, but it’s still small.

Jonathan Breeden: That’s true. That’s true.

Amy Locklear: Still small.

Jonathan Breeden: It right, and yeah, you can sort of find your niche even in this growth. And we’re getting a lot of cool restaurants- … and new businesses here and that comes with the rooftops. I know people don’t like rooftops, but, you know, those, those things, like we’re getting a Whataburger. You know, they follow the rooftops.

Amy Locklear: They follow it. Uh-huh. So, whataburger …

Jonathan Breeden: so by the time this runs, the Whataburger will be open and Amy won’t be there ’cause she’s healthy- … but I will be there eating the Texas burgers at Whataburger. So anyway, we’d like to thank Amy Locklear, the owner of CrossFit 4042, for being our [00:31:00] guest on the Best of Johnston County podcast today. As we mentioned earlier, please like, follow, and subscribe this podcast wherever you’re seeing it, whether on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, X, Instagram, or the other social media channels, the Best of Johnston County podcast. If you’d be so kind, leave us a five-star review down ver- below and tell us what you like about the Best of Johnston County podcast, and even suggest future guests for us on this podcast.

We’re doing this for you, and we’d love to hear your feedback on how we’re doing. Until next time, I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden.

That’s the end of today’s episode of Best of Johnston County, a show brought to you by the trusted team at Breeden Law Office. We thank you for joining us today and we look forward to sharing more interesting facets of this community next week. Every story, every viewpoint adds another thread to the rich tapestry of Johnston County.

If the legal aspects highlighted raised some questions, help is just around the corner at www. breedenfirm. [00:32:00] com.