Part of our human experience ought to involve us wanting to be and striving to be better versions of ourselves, right? We try to educate ourselves, find our strengths, conquer our weaknesses, learn to compromise, learn not to judge, become compassionate, and try to grow alongside the other people in our lives. Or we should. I could go on and on....but you get the point. We try to answer those questions, "Who am I? and Who do I want to become?" Easy answer for some, not so much for others. I fall into the latter category. Without delving into the regrettable details of my unfortunate life experience, I will say that for my entire life, I have been unable to answer either of those questions. Only in the last year, did I truly realize who I am, and what I am capable of. I am now finished with living life in the murky darkness of feeling like some pathetic shadow creature. And now, I am in the process of discovering who, and what I want to become.
So, is Crossfit the center of my existence? No. This whole Crossfit thing is just a part of the bigger picture here, and everything that I feel is an achievement, each thing I am able to do and be proud of, contributes to that newfound identity that I am finally trying to build. Granted, I am by no means doing great things- I am not setting any records, or making amazing progress with anything. But I am learning new skills that I hope one day to master, and I am stepping far outside my comfort zone in many ways. And I am really proud of that fact.
I have never really thought of myself as a someone who would turn into a blogger, but one day I just got really sick of keeping all of my thoughts to myself. I guess it was after the umpteenth time my husband and I got into a fight because I mentioned something that I did in a Crossfit WOD. He tries to be really supportive of what I want to do, and helps me in so many ways, and I am really grateful for that. But he has made it clear that he doesn't want to hear about any of it. I was really excited the other day, because I finally Rx'd the weight in a WOD, and I made the mistake of telling him about it. Oops. He is admittedly trying to be better about this, but I have decided to make it easy for both of us and not bring it up anymore. Who the hell else am I supposed to talk to? One of my close friends, who is most definitely a workout junkie, has also made it clear that she generally doesn't want to hear about it either. Forget about the fact that we should be able to share what is going on in our lives, and what we are excited about with the people who are close to us. (Bitterness....Hello!) And don't think for a minute that I am bragging to them or going on incessantly about things. Quite the contrary. But does it matter? Nope. Subject is off limits with everyone. Got it. So here I am.....
I joined IronTribe Fitness in November of 2011, and went through a month of Crossfit 101, beginning on November 28th. Good thing it took place right after Thanksgiving, because I am pretty sure I came close to eating a whole pecan pie at some point.
So if you know anything about Crossfit, you know that it is a somewhat controversial exercise program. High intensity, constantly varied, functional training. Your workouts are short, but super intense.
Newbies have to go through the Crossfit 101 class for a few different reasons. Firstly, the body has to get somewhat acclimated to this new method of exercising, not to mention, the average adult probably does not incorporate things like overhead squats, ring dips, or handstand pushups into their weekly routines! There is a lot to learn. The workouts are usually done for time, seeing who can complete the work the fastest, or who can do the most rounds of a sequence in a given time frame.
Now, the night of my first 101 class, I really had no idea what to expect. My husband made a dinner of shrimp dumplings and rice before I went, and man was eating that a mistake! It was great, but on my last 200 meter run of our baseline WOD (workout of the day) I really thought I might throw up. Note to self: consume only a small amount of food in liquid form before going to this class again...
101 was great, though. I wasn't in terrible shape to begin with, but I dropped four pounds, so that was cool. The thing I like most about Crossfit is that I have some new goals that I am trying to reach, and better fitness and appearance are the by-products. For me, I would rather be in the mindset of, "I am going to practice these handstand progressions until I can do it", rather than "I am going to do three sets of 10 shoulder presses with these dumbells." Anyway, this is enough of an introduction for now. Next up: The Transformation Challenge!
