December Featured Athlete - Ran Gladstone

1. Where are you from? I'm from Israel, Tel-Aviv area.

2. What brought you to Ithaca? I moved to Ithaca 3 years ago for a PhD program.

3. What do you do for a living or go to school for? I'm an applied physics PhD student at Cornell University designing photonic devices.

4. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? I will have finished my PhD and found a research and development job in industry.

5. What’s your athletic background? I'm a rock climber, mostly focused on bouldering, which involves short intense climbs but I also lead climb. I started out 8 years ago back in Israel and fell in love with the strength, balance and grace necessary for climbing well.

6. What are you passionate about? I'm passionate about physical activity of all sorts, scientific research, Mediterranean cuisine and backpacking.

7. What brought you into Pallas? A finger injury that prevented me from rock climbing for a year forced me to look for alternative workout routines. At about the same time I started following Tim Paulson on Instagram and realized I can do most of the CrossFit movements even with the injury. That was enough to get me going.

8. What keeps you coming? The people and community at the gym. They're the best! Also the sense of challenge that I get from almost every workout.

9. What’s your favorite movement or skill? I'm one of those weird people who like burpees.

10. What movement or skill are you currently trying to perfect? I've been trying to perfect my free handstand hold, focusing on opening my shoulders more to get a straight line.

11. If you could write a workout, what would it look like? 5 rounds for time, 400m run, 8 power snatches, 12 bar facing burpees.

12. What’s a goal you’ve crossed off the board? Ring muscle ups! I can string 3-4 together now.

13. What’s a goal you’re working on? Increasing the quality of my sleep. Sleep is super important and I have a habit of waking up after a few hours and not being able to fall back to sleep easily.

14. Where’s your favorite place to eat in Ithaca? Hawi Ethiopian Cuisine.

15. What’s your favorite food? Hummus. I even made some for the Pallas 7th anniversary.

16. Favorite season? Fall, because the leaves change but it's still warm enough to backpack.

`7. Liquor, wine, cider, beer, all/none? I like a good beer or cocktail but these days I very rarely drink.

`8. What would you say to someone who is hesitant to come into Pallas? It's fun, try it! Scale every workout down, go for quality movement and enjoy the ride....