. . . in the distant, early morning . . .

More on CrossFit

Today was my first time doing CrossFit.  I’m completely in love.  Yes, folks.  This is me - the lazy person, saying I loved CrossFit.

Here’s what the gym’s Workout of the Day (WOD) was:

I did all of that.  Ok, so my chin didn’t go above the bar on the pull-ups.  But I was doing pull-ups!!!! I did all of the reps, didn’t miss a single instance, and all within the the 1 minute timer.  I had to modify the bosu pushups so I was on my knees rather than with my toes on the ground, but that, too, will improve with time.

I added weight on the last of the dead lifts and the last of the push presses.  Yes, folks.  I made it harder.  I was able to accomplish that!!

On Saturday there is a 4 hour class introducing both CrossFit and The Paleo Diet.  It’s free for members, and though I have a free 7 day pass, I’m thinking it’s time to sign up and take that course posthaste.

I easily see this becoming my workout of choice.

So, I was scared on a number of levels.  1 - videos on YouTube are intimidating.  The experienced athletes that do this are powerhouses (and usually don’t look it).  But CrossFit is built to be infinitely scalable so they can easily modify the exercises based on fitness level and if you have injuries - and I do; my neck for one, and currently my knee is being weird for no reason.

I’m doing CrossFit via Pacific Personal Training and the group there is out of this world amazing.  Chuck spoke with me on the phone for a good hour; Rosemary sat with me for an hour at the facility and answered my questions; and the trainer I had tonight, Jonas, is extremely nice, very encouraging, very patient, and just all around awesome.

The second thing I was scared of was the social aspect; CrossFit is done in groups, it’s a social workout.  I’m not a social person.  Yes, I love hanging out with my EllisLab peeps; yes I love hanging out with my friends - but working out with strangers?  Not me.

The people taking part in CrossFit weren’t strangers after about 15 seconds.  They were all nice, talked throughout the workout (in between groans!) and encouraging, friendly, and helpful.  The workout absolutely sped past because of this.

I did wear a heart rate monitor, which was a little scary.  Average 138 but max 183!!!!  I never push myself that hard when I workout on my own; and I’m not honestly sure I could.  But it came as part of CrossFit - the workout itself was the effort that pushed that heart rate up, and I burned 450 calories for it.  It felt amazing.

Most of all - I came out the class not feeling bored and tired as I do sometimes after an aerobic workout.  I came out of there feeling energized - more energy than I had going in!  I didn’t want to go to sleep, like I normally do.  If you can’t tell, I’m still bouncing off the walls over here, all from working out (and 2 eggs after to “feed my muscles”).  I’m already looking forward to my next visit.  I made social connections, I worked my arse off, and I absolutely kicked ass.  Pushups?  I DID THEM. When they said pull-ups were part of my first WOD I wanted to run out of there - but you know what?  I DID PULL-UPS. 

The accomplishment I feel is beyond words.  I tracked what I did and it can only get better, I’ll see that progress over time.

And yes, I’ll be going back.  I never thought I’d feel passion about working out; I figured it was just something I had to make myself do.  But I feel passion for this after only one workout.  I’m sure at some times it may be a struggle, but right now it’s hard to imagine.  It was really just an awesome, social, push and push and push some more workout.

Perfect.

-Lisa, on March 9, 2011 at 9:57 pm

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