Keith DeJesus

In early 2014, Keith DeJesus was working from home, raising three young kids, and walking into downtown Westborough every morning for a cup of coffee — mostly just to get out of the house. His youngest was barely out of diapers. He and his wife, Caryn, figured it was time to get back in shape. A friend named Bill Arneth told him to try CrossFit.

So he did. He didn't come in chasing anything in particular. He came in because hauling a car seat into the back of the car had left his back inflamed and angry, and he didn't like the feeling. “What is this?” he remembers thinking. He was hoping to get in shape. That was the whole plan.

What surprised him first was the soreness. For a while he figured he could only make it in twice a week, because after a session he could barely move. That changed fast. What surprised him more was how driven he got — and how quickly the place stopped being a gym and started being a group of people he actually wanted to see.

Somewhere in there, the coaching started doing its quiet work. Keith remembers Mike barking “pick it up!” at him during wall balls when he'd drop the ball — and being grateful for it, because it pushed him past where he'd have quit on his own. He remembers Mike telling him to ditch the band on his pull-ups, something Keith was sure he still needed and clearly didn't. Little by little, the work showed up in the numbers: his deadlift climbed from 135 pounds on one of his first days to 300. Over the years he'd log more than 300 personal records.

Here's the part that tells you who Keith is. In February 2015, about a year in, he sat down and emailed Mike a list — his goals for the next twelve months, ranked in order of importance. General strength first. Skills second. Nutrition third. Then five specific numbers he wanted to hit.

By that December, he'd hit every single one. The deadlift he blew right past — 285 became 300. And three of them — the back squat, the shoulder press, the clean — landed on the exact pound he'd written down months earlier.

That was the first chapter. Here's the part that matters more.

Keith has now been training at Prototype for twelve years. His best year of showing up wasn't 2014, when he was staying up late for the WOD — it was 2024, a full decade in. Somewhere along the way, the point stopped being to prove something every single day. In late 2023 his work schedule shifted to a hybrid split between Waltham and home, which blew up his old standing noon-class routine.

Then, in March 2025, his back started talking to him. Keith made a call a lot of people don't: instead of pushing through it or quietly drifting away, he stepped out of group classes and started working one-on-one with Mike on Individual Program Design — training built specifically around his back and the positions his body needed. There was one condition. Keith didn't want to lose the community; after a decade, the people were the point. So the plan was simple — sort out the back, then come home. Three months later he was back in group classes, and he still runs the correctives and drills from that stretch to keep himself moving the right way.

He didn't quit when it got complicated. He modified, and he kept showing up.

Ask Keith what all of it has actually bought him, and he won't lead with a number. He'll tell you he can still keep up with his kids — frisbee in the yard, swimming, running, shooting hoops, skiing with his son. And he'll tell you about the doctor's office, where every visit he half-braces for bad news (high cholesterol, high blood pressure, something) and every visit it doesn't come. He's convinced the training is a big part of why.

His kids have grown up fast; one heads off to college this fall, which he still can't quite believe. The plan that started as “get back in shape” turned into something he intends to keep doing as long as his body will let him.

If you're watching your own kids grow up fast and quietly wondering whether you'll still be able to do stuff with them in ten or fifteen years — Keith's story is for you. You don't need to be the strongest person in the room. You need to be the one who's still showing up when it counts.

This story was produced with the help of AI tools, drawn from Keith's own interview responses and his training history at Prototype. Every detail was reviewed by our team before publishing.