crossfit

As anyone who has talked to me in the past month knows: I’ve joined Crossfit. What is Crossfit? A cross-training workout facility where trainers challenge a group of people to push themselves to use muscles they didn’t know existed. We do a lot of weight training. I now know a ton of terms & lifts that I had never heard of: dead-lift, push-press, squat-thrust, and so on.

After day one, I realized how horribly out of shape I am. I entered the class with the mentality of: I can run two miles and manage through two hours of yoga; I’ll be alright.

All of my strength was living falsely in my mind. The day after the first class, I walked around like the tin man: squeaky & stiff. As I stumbled down the steps with straight legs, my friend asked what was wrong with me. “I worked out…”

I believe in taking care of the body (while recognizing that I often don’t). I dream of getting into the best shape of my life—these are my twenties! Didn’t the Greeks & Romans view the twenties as the “prime” of life? In our modern age of sitting at a desk all day, accomplishing that perfect figure is quite a challenge.

During my month (so far) at Crossfit, I have…

·      dropped a training bar because my boobs were in the way

·      fallen on my butt while jumping back from a squat

·      hung frozen on a pull-up bar because I was afraid of the support bands

·      bruised my knees doing “girl” push-ups

·      been out-run & out-lifted by a pregnant woman

·      laid on the floor because I didn’t think I could move anymore

·      grunted while lifting weights (weird!)

I have also…

·      (run a 400m, completed 21 kettle-bell swings, & 12 ring rows) x3 in 13 minutes (my first personal fitness test!)

·      learned how to do a handstand (I can’t quite balance yet; actually far from it)

·      become a master bear-walker

·      made new friends!

·      developed discipline in going to class at 6am twice a week

·      been deeply encouraged by trainers & classmates

·      learned how to lift weights properly: not the machine kind, either! (we use barbells & kettlebells (still trying to force that term into my memory: cow bells? kettle balls? cow balls? Yikes…))

Sometimes I wonder how I got to this lack of fitness. I went from being crazy skinny in high school (with no strength, of course) to –let’s just admit it—chubby in college & now. I’m excited to be learning how to have a figure defined by muscle rather than bone or fat. (I hope I can say the same in a few months when I hopefully start actually shaping up! But let’s not be vain…)

At the same time, the whole experience is extremely humbling! My smart-ass, strong-mind mentality only goes so far. Naturally, I come in at the bottom of my class quite often. I wouldn’t call it admitting defeat, but it’s certainly admitting that I’m not as strong as I thought I was. I’ve measured strength on life experience and sitting through long tattoo sessions. Now I am in a place where I have to admit my weakness in order to get stronger.

Month two: here we go.