First, let me give you a little background on my fitness experience. In grade school, I was a theatre/yearbook geek and I never played team sports outside of P.E (which I sometimes dreaded). I never thought I would be opening a gym (although I’m secretly excited about designing a regular charity ninja-warrior style obstacle course).
Aside from the occasional hip-hop dance class, fitness wasn’t a regular part of my life until I was 25, when I randomly decided to compete in a bodybuilding competition within 6 months as a New Year’s resolution (because I tend to overwhelm myself).
I hired a personal trainer and for the first time in my life, I felt motivated at the gym because I had a goal, I was actually training for something (vs. wandering into a conventional gym from time to time wondering what I should do that day).
I also learned about nutrition and as I saw results, I started to crave and appreciate fitness. I ended up winning the bodybuilding competition, but it came at a cost to my mental health. The final month of depleted prep before the show, I was crazy fatigued and just plain crazy. My “stage” body wasn’t sustainable. I can only speak from my personal experience and for that particular fitness goal, it was about what I looked like and not how I felt or how my performance increased.
After the competition, I struggled with binge eating and regular fitness became obsolete in my life for several years….until I met Adam! We were acquainted quite randomly but that’s another story :).
Pic of us from last year’s Game of Thrones H-Ween costume because epic and it’s coming ’round again!
Before meeting him, I didn’t know anything about CrossFit and when he told me that he did Olympic weightlifting, I thought that meant that he went to the Olympics!
My first CrossFit class, I was pretty nervous. I was worried that I would be the least fit person there and also felt intimidated. And that’s after Adam had already been training me for awhile one on one (the benefits of dating a personal trainer! He says I’m his whiniest client).
Also, I struggled with my ego because I didn’t want to try something that I wasn’t naturally good at. I would be lying if I said that I’ve completely overcome this! Sometimes when lifting a barbell, it’s not just the weight on the bar – it’s the weight/pressure that we put on ourselves or from our day that we are also lifting. It might be because I don’t have a sports background (seasoned athletes I’m sure can relate to this) but my experience in CrossFit has taught me so much about myself and the unnecessary pressures that I tend to self-inflict. This newfound self-awareness has helped me to up my mental game, self-love and not to take anything too seriously!
Top 3 reasons why I love Crossfit
1. That being said, I realized the more obvious benefits of CrossFit immediately, the first traits I fell for was that only a small portion of the 1-hour class was the bulk of the workout (10-15 min of high intensity) and I could get the same results as a full hour of intensity like in a conventional boot camp class. Coming from a background of 60 min runs on a treadmill or stair climber, this was music to my ears.
2. Secondly, unlike the boring circuit training workouts I meandered through at conventional gyms, CrossFit was fun, it was interesting and it was different every day. I felt like I was working on skills, learning new gymnastics movements and lifting techniques and suddenly the goal wasn’t about what I looked like at all – it was about my performance and I chased those challenges.
I got into amazing shape but this was just a bonus.
This was the most important breakthrough that I experienced in relation to my fitness, and I didn’t realize it until one day a friend of mine asked what my fitness goals were. I said “right now I’m just trying to get a muscle-up and improve my cardio endurance”. Then she said, “wait, you mean you don’t have a goal weight or want to get a six pack?”.
I smiled in surprise knowing that simply because of my mindset shift, just like that I was an athlete now. I could trust my body to respond in the aesthetically pleasing ways that is biologically guaranteed and focus instead on having fun and being committed. I love the competitive nature and the fact that there is always a new goal to chase after and celebrate.
3. Aside from my newfound healthy relationship-with-self and health benefits, I love the community. I’ve made lifelong friends at the gym who share similar goals and outlooks as me and having gym buddies makes showing up everyday that much easier. In a class, people encourage and cheer for each other, everybody gets a high five, we all suffer together, compete against each other (or just with ourselves) and just have a lot of fun. We are all there for the same or similar reasons and certainly have very similar struggles! Having a community to share fitness with changes the game. Friends, accountability, community, support, coaches, programming, all these things kept me coming back.
I don’t think CrossFit is the end all to be all when it comes to fitness and I know it’s not for everybody. But I do think CrossFit can be an incredible and enjoyable fitness journey, or a valuable supplement to an already solid fitness routine. When it comes to fitness, I think you should do whatever you enjoy and whatever you’ll actually do day after day. If it’s CrossFit, that’s awesome!
The above is a video of when I got my first PR (Personal Record) snatch (this is the unfortunate yet hilarious name for the lift above). It’s been 9 months and I’ve only added 2 pounds to this and I’m practicing the necessary expansion of my patience.
Also, I can’t believe Adam finally convinced me to wear booty shorts when working out (I told him I can only worry about one snatch at a time) but to be honest, I got used to it and there’s something powerful about embracing my cellulite and finally appreciating my thick legs for how capable and strong they are. Definitely maybe a side effect from my leftover Daenerys Targaryen hair.
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[…] If this is your first time at LoLo, check out our post on Getting Started at CrossFit LoLo which also outlines the classes we offer (for all skill levels and beyond). If this is your first time trying CrossFit you might be wondering “What the heck is CrossFit?!” or you can get my take on it at “Top 3 Reasons Why I Love CrossFit, from a Whiny Netflix Lover”. […]