CrossFit- To Love or Not To Love

I used to be an athlete. I was active. I played sports in college. In my 20’s I ran, kickboxed, and made a daily trip to the gym. 

When I was pregnant with my first kid, I use to tell people, “I’m not worried about losing the weight. I know how to exercise.”

And I’m an overly educated public health professional. Therefore, I know how to eat well and take care of myself. 

Yet, I wasn’t. 

I stayed away from obviously bad foods, but didn’t pay close enough attention to what I ate throughout the day. I exercised four to five days a week, but 80% of that exercising did not involve breaking a sweat. I loved pilates, but could I really count it as a workout if I didn’t need to change out of my jeans?

But I was healthy enough. I was thin-ish, although not as thin as I had been. I could still go out for a jog on occasion. I could do a Saturday bootcamp and feel like I had checked the exercise box for that week. 

Last March I had my blood tested for the first time in way too long, and the results were not great. My cholesterol was way too high- too high to be explained away by a family history. Suddenly, the need to diet and exercise became very real to me, and I needed to take control to stay healthy. Obviously, my exercise regime wasn’t cutting it, and if I looked closely at what I was eating, it wasn’t quite as healthy as I had thought. I had to make some real changes. 

So last March I started CrossFit. Let me say up front—I hate it (sometimes). I hate going. I hate feeling like a complete failure. I hate looking around and acknowledging that I’m the oldest, fattest, slowest, weakest person there. (Even when I’m not, I feel like it) I hate it so much, it is not uncommon for me to cry the entire drive home. And I’m not a crier. 

Yet…my LDL dropped 40 points in 6 months. I’ve lost fat. I’ve gained muscle. I have more energy. I’m stronger. My posture is better. I’m healthier. I’m a better athlete. My clothes fit better. I can lift my kids (actually, I lift them to practice front and back squats.) I can move furniture. I can run with my family. I eat better because it makes me feel better. 

In theory, CrossFit is supposed to be about you and you alone. I scale just about every workout to be something I can actually accomplish. That being said, it is virtually impossible to not compare yourself to everyone else in the class. When a workout takes you 5 minutes longer than everyone else, those extra 5 minutes are not much fun. But I do my best to put on my big girl attitude and deal with it. And I remember that everyone else is scaling the workout to meet their individual needs. And we are all finishing it one way or another. And we are all getting healthier and stronger.

Do I have injuries? Yup. But they get better. 

Am I sore every morning? Yup. But I’ve learned to look forward to the soreness. It lets me know I’m pushing my body and making changes. And the really, really bad soreness is mostly gone, although occasionally I have days when I can barely walk or lift my arms.

Are there some things I can’t do? Yup. Handstand pushups with a shoulder injury just aren’t going to happen. But I figure out something else to do instead.

Are there some things that make me feel old and slow? Yup. But it is hard for me to stick to the ‘being old’ excuse when the 60 something year old guy in my class is stronger and faster than the 20 somethings. 

Are the weights that I lift up (and put down) less than just about everyone else in the class? Yup, but they are more than just about everyone else in any other gym/exercise class environment. 

So I hate it. But I also love the changes it has brought about for me. So I’ll keep going. I may even drag you with me.