San Francisco Commercial Video - Crossfit Journal Robert Strawder

“I remember scanning the room left to right, my dresser is on fire, my shoes are on fire, my hat rack is on fire. Everything is on fire. As it coming around, the fire made it's way towards my bed. Which out of some miracle had not caught on fire yet.”

Imagine waking up to this scene. This was a reality for Robert Strawder one fateful night in San Francisco just a handful of years back.

Robbert is a burn survivor and he still lives in the very city this happened. After seeing our last CrossFit films, CrossFit HQ hired us to capture another inspirational story. This one featuring Robert and his incredibly powerful story.

Robert is just getting started with CrossFit. In fact, this was his first time and we had the privilege of being there to shoot it. Robert is on a mission to regain full mobility and strength throughout his body by working with one of his close friends and manager of a CrossFit Gym in Potero Hill.

His story of survival is captivating and inspiring, Stawder hopes that his journey, which is on-going, will help inspire others who are struggling to regain the life they once had. In the course of his interview, we appreciated how vulnerable he was by expressing some of his deepest inner thoughts and feelings during the course of his recovery. He commented that when he met with other burn victims they told him they were inspired by his choice to embrace his wounds and pursue change.

During our interview with Robert he spoke for almost two hours telling us his entire journey, all of which was deeply moving. Within his larger tale were several other smaller stories that yielded their own victories. He shared about how he is a man who had been broken, but has now choosing to embrace his scars, to not hide them. He is at peace with the way he is, but aspires to be stronger and healthier and inspire others to not give up and do the same, no matter the challenges that befall us.