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Growing up, I was fairly fit. I didn’t feel so at the time; but I worked with and rode horses constantly in the summer, and skated for hours every day in the winter. I can’t do either for very long now due to my weight and fitness levels.
I’ve never been one for “exercise for exercise sake”. I’m not good at forcing myself through something that I find boring and strenuous at the same time; physical labor is not something that I enjoy at all.
So when I started working out in January, it was a real challenge. I enjoyed swimming, and read while I ran on the treadmill or rode my recumbent. If I ran outside it was with the dogs and with music blasting in my ears.
But… I was bored. I wasn’t going to stop; I had a mission and a goal and I was going to meet that goal. But I was definitely bored.
So when I was in Dallas with my team and they were talking about the strength routines they did, it all seemed a little crazy to me. 1000 reps in one day? Boring boring. Olympic lifts? Death by pull ups? What’s the point?! No thanks, I want to be a girl, not a boy.
On our last evening there, Wes got to talking about CrossFit. The table talked about it a bit and I looked up a place on my iPhone and found one not 5 minutes away. All of my co-workers are fit and strong, and none of them look like body builders. This sounds like a goal similar to my own.
I got home on a Friday and loved on my dogs for the weekend while catching up on sleep. I also watched videos on YouTube of these girls that had tone but not bulk; they were doing pull-ups, olympic lifts, incredible things.
On Wednesday I had a one hour appointment with Rosemary, taking place during a CrossFit workout, to answer my questions and see if CF was the right course for me. I went to CrossFit that evening, as well as Thursday, that Friday I signed a 3 month contract to go unlimited times each week.
That was March 9, 2011.
Since that day, I have done CrossFit 5 times a week (I missed 1 weekday). I’ve clearly gotten stronger as I’ve moved from 15 and 20lb bars to 40 and 65lb bars. I did a real pull-up, with the help of a weight-bearing band. I know terms like AMRAMP, WOD, SDHP, etc.
This week marks 2 weeks in CrossFit. It’s usually around this time that I give up on new exercise programs, choose to move on, or just not “bother”.
For the first time ever, after the 2 week mark, I find myself looking forward to my classes. I look forward to pushing myself, seeing how much I can do, what I can lift, how hard I’ll work. I know that the workout is never (almost except once) the same, but all of them are challenging. I know that in this quest I’ll be surrounded by folks ranging from my levels up through elite athletes and I know that all of them are encouraging, cheering each other on.
When I went to LA Fitness last week to go to the pool, I was surprised by the hostility in people’s eyes. They wanted to be in the gym, do their thing, and leave. There was no camaraderie, no shared goal, no cheering. Even those that were friendly really just wanted to get in, workout, get out and be done with it.
It was almost the complete opposite of going to my CrossFit classes.
I also noticed that there were a lot of fit, thin girls at LA Fitness. Not a single one of them had any tone or definition in their body. They looked thin and ... flabby?
The guys looked like bodybuilders.
I think it was going back to LA Fitness that made me realize that CrossFit is the right system for me. My goals aren’t just to lose weight, but to gain fitness. I want that to be reflected in tone and definition (again, not bulk). I want to have muscles and strength at the end of this; not just in my heart, but in my arms, legs, abs, etc. I want to be able to lift heavy things, like I said in my previous post.
I want to feel strong.
My new activity is giving me that strength and I can see, with every workout, how I’m moving toward my goal. In 2 weeks I’ll try pull-ups again and I bet I can do even more, albeit with the bands. I’ll be able to do real push-ups. Maybe I can even push press 45lbs instead of 40. I can do deads and SDHP with 65lbs now, maybe I can do 70 or 75 in a few weeks. During all of that, because cross-fit is fast, I’ll be gaining endurance and strengthening my heart.
It’s taken years for me to find an activity that I looked forward to doing that was both exercise and fun. I’ve finally found that activity along with a great group of people that I really enjoy participating with.
And in a year, maybe I’ll be able to do kips and butterflies without a band. Now that’s something to aim for. Never mind weight and body fat percentage; if I can do unassisted kips and butterflies, it’ll be a certainty that I have those other measures under control as well.
It’s a good, solid goal.
Now to get ready for my 6:30pm CrossFit class!
-Lisa, on March 25, 2011 at 9:30 pm