Year of Crossfit.

On Monday May 7th, 2012 I walked into Crossfit Oswego for my first ever elements class. I was terrified. I am an athlete, I love challenges, I love working out. But I was afraid for many reasons:

1. Will I fit in here?

2. Will the coaches be nice?

3. What if I am terrible?

I love trying new things, I love that butterfly feeling when you are going into something in which you have NO clue what the end result will be. I thrive off of that, but I was still scared. I didn’t even want anybody to know I was a “trainer”, for fear I would be judged for not being as strong or as fast as I should be. As I walked into this big industrial building that everyone calls “the box”, I kept an open mind and hoped for the best. The coaches were incredibly welcoming, excited and get this…NORMAL people. This put ease to my anxiety right away. The first three elements classes went over basic Olympic movements and other exercises commonly done in a crossfit workout to make sure everyone knew the proper form, technique, etc. Right away from the first workout, I was hooked. I knew this would be exactly what I needed. I was coming off of doing many endurance races so I was in shape, but I needed to get stronger, to be challenged more and in a different way.

First day of Crossfit- needed a band to help me get over the pullup bar

Not only have I been beyond challenged, gotten faster, gotten stronger…but I have found this beyond amazing community. That is what makes it addicting, the workouts are awesome yes but the people…are incredible. Inspiring to say the least. I consider my 530am crew especially to be close friends (hope they feel the same, if not then I am a little pathetic). The coaches, Ryan, Joe, KT & Andy all have very different styles and I think I can speak for everyone when I say each of them have very special talents in their ability to push and motivate others in their own way.

Everybody has to find something that works for them, an exercise or fitness routine that they love. Crossfit CAN be for everybody, but it is not for everybody. Personally, I hate when other crossfitters say things like “My warmup is your workout” or I saw a shirt recently that said “Boot-camps are cute, when you are ready for Crossfit, come see us“. Shut the hell up. Get off your high horse. I get that you are proud of what you are accomplishing but doing Crossfit does not make you better than anybody else and demeaning other people’s workouts just makes you a tool. In my opinion, those are the people that give crossfit a bad name. Whether you bike, Zumba, do yoga, Pilates, walk, run…does NOT matter. As long as you are moving, doing your body good, and enjoying it in the meantime. That is what’s about. THAT is why I love CFO, none of us have the “higher than thou” attitude. I mean half the time we look like total idiots. You know like when trying to do a double squat wall ball and it hits you right in the face. Or when doing a box jump and…you completely miss the box. Or my personal favorite…doing double under attempts and somehow slashing yourself in the face. Yup, we are a bunch of cool cats alright.

Just a couple things I have made progress on since starting Crossfit a year ago:

I actually have muscle tone in my upper body and my strength has increased significantly.
Shaved over a minute off my consistent 5k time, 10 minutes off my half marathon time and 33 minutes off my full marathon time (hoping for more)!
Can finally kind of see my abs (well except for the weeks I eat too much pizza or other naughty foods).
Can do 7 consistent strict pullups (goal is 15 by the end of the year).

So since it is the official 1 year anniversary of CFO opening we are all celebrating tonight like most crossfitters do… doing a ridiculously long (yet awesome) workout followed by eating lots of food and drinking lots of beer, duh.