I started CrossFit a little over 5 years ago in the summer of 2013 and there are really 2 CrossFit journeys I would like to share. The first is my physical journey, because that is the journey we all come to CrossFit for. I have enjoyed being physically active for most of my life. In high school I played all the normal sports you would expect and then in college and graduate school I got into rock climbing and kayaking. After graduate school and especially when I moved to Atlanta in 1999 I got more and more into running. As it turns out I was actually a pretty good runner and ended up being a regionally competitive athlete. However, there was a price to pay for that on many levels. I was developing tendonitis from the long runs and would strain my back if I tried to lift anything heavier than a dictionary. I decided what I needed was some cross training. After trying some of the big gyms my wife and I found CFEC. When I first walked into CFEC in 2013 I was 6 feet tall and weighed 155 pounds when I was soaking wet and I was woefully weak. I vividly remember struggling to squat 135lbs and having to back down to 95lbs to maintain any sort of good form. I was starting to really look like a caricature of a runner (2 skinny legs carrying around some lungs). Like almost all guys that start CrossFit, the men’s Rx weights looked impossible, so I set my sights on trying to achieve the women’s Rx’s. Even then every day I was hoping for “running” and “bodyweight” WODs. My first month was one of constant soreness. Flash forward to today. I weigh a much healthier 175 pounds and can do the men’s Rx most workouts. I no longer run competitively (I leave that to my son now), but I haven’t lost my cardiovascular fitness. I wanted to share this journey because I see beginners struggling to get through workouts and I want them to know that’s where we all start.
And that leads me to my second journey. The journey of community. I never would have made it through those first few months if it wasn’t for the CFEC community. I think that community is a common theme for most people at CFEC, but at the time I didn’t realize what I was missing. I was always part of a team in high school. Even when I was rock climbing and kayaking I was doing it as a member of a club. We had the shared struggle of getting up a cliff or down a river. With running there is a shared struggle in a race, but most of my time running was spent running alone. If I was lucky I would get in a group run once a week. When I stepped into CFEC I found a community that I hadn’t had in a long time. One where I could share my daily struggle, not only against the workout, but against life too. I have watched friends get married, have babies, switch careers, send their kids to college and even retire. In turn I have shared my struggles and victories as well. And through it all everyone cheers each other on.
One of the main themes of CrossFit is that it’s a not just a workout, but a life style that helps you become the best version of yourself. What they don’t tell you is that they are not just talking about getting in shape.