Not much to go on this month. No performing or rehearals. I'm just doing my "normal life," waiting for Georgia to start up.
So I figured I'd write a little bit about my passion for CrossFit. How I found it, what it is, and why I enjoy it so much.
In high school and college, I was always the scrawny kid. Seriously, find my mother and ask to see any old photos. It's not a pretty sight. When I first moved to Charlotte in 2000 I started running and hitting the gym. I would do a traditional resistance workout and maybe a 5k a day. I did it for about a year steady. Then on and off for a couple years. The nothing for several years. Then in the winter of 2006 I started back up.
However in all my workouts, I never really noticed a difference. Marginal strength and speed gains. I considered getting a personal trainer to help tell me what to do each day, and help push me, thinking that was maybe what would help. Unfortunately, one-on-one personal training isexpensive. I just couldn't swing that kind of money.
About this time is when the movie, 300 came out. And I thought—like everyone who has seen that movie—damn those guys are cut. They weren't just your typical "body builder" pumped, but they looked brutally athletic. So I did some online searches to find out what workout routines they used to help get into shape for the movie.
Turns out that they worked out for several months at a place called Gym Jones. From what I was able to gather, Gym Jones was originally a CrossFit gym. That dropped it's CrossFit affiliation, continued to do CrossFit style workouts, but with thier own branding and less of an "open" feel to it. (I'll explain that "open" concept later). So there's some bad blood between Gym Jones and the rest of the CrossFit community. I don't know how much is still there, and I definitely don't want to bring up any bad feelings. Just trying to explain how I got to CrossFit.
I visited CrossFit's main webpage (Simply called "HQ" by CrossFitters). Where they list all affiliates, everywhere. As luck would have it a CrossFit gym was opening in Charlotte!! So I called the owner, Andy Hendel (ex-pro NFL, just had to throw that in here), and got the scoop. He was starting by training people out of his garage, and workouts would be three days a week. And it would cost just over a hundred a month.
Sold! So I kept doing some reading, and looked forward to my first workout. I had gathered that the workouts were tough, and that they take many people by surprise. So I figured it was going to kick my ass. Oh how right I was.
I showed up, and there were three middle-aged gentlemen there also, getting ready for the workout. None of them looking terribly in shape. I thought hey, just do as well as them, how hard can that be? Ha!
The workout we did that day would be difficult to describe (It was called Fight Gone Bad, Tabata style if you want to look it up). And I did the exercises with less weight than the other guys. And they still kicked my ass!
I was convinced. If I was having this hard of a time doing these workouts, then these style workouts are what I need to be doing. Which is actually one of our philosophies at CrossFit. It's not the things that you're good at that hold your fitness back, it's the things you're bad at. What is it you hate to do? Run? Pull-ups? Lunges? Then those are exactly what you should be working on!
Now here I am, I just celebrated my two year anniversary. I've been CrossFitting on average five days a week, and I'll be doing it for the next two years and more! So that's my story of how I found it. Now I'll try to explain a little better about what CrossFit is.
CrossFit is a general fitness program. We will not create elite power lifters, or ultra marathon runners. But we will create athletes that can do both extreamly well! We believe there are ten areas of "general fitness:" Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy. That to be truly "fit" you need to achieve all of these.
Constantly varied, if not random, functional movement across broad time and modal domains performed at relatively high intensity. What does that mean? First, "functional." The movements come from nature. They are movements that were with us since we first started walking upright. Deadlifts, presses, running, pull-ups, jumping. No "isolatioin" exercises. No muscle in your body was evolved to operate by itself. Your body is meant to work as one large cohesive unit. So no curls or flies.
The rest of that sentence basically means, keep changing it up. In every way you can think of. A typical workout may be 3 rounds of run 400 meters, 21 kettlebell swings, 12 pull-ups. The next day might be deadlift 5 rounds 3 reps each round for max effort (weight) not for time. The next day? 100 burpee pull-ups. You keep your body guessing. Some workouts are literally a 3 to 5 minute sprint that leaves you gasping for air, unable to move. Others are hour long ordeals that you have to keep pushing yourself through. Some are low weight high rep, some the reverse. Some workouts have only one component (100 burpee pull-ups) some have many components.
Wait, you say, there's no way I can do 12 pull-ups, let alone the rest of that workout! Everything is scalable. If one of our client's can't start with that, we'd give them something like 200 Meter run, 21 kettlebell swings with a lighter weight, and 12 jumping pull-ups. Can't do 100 burpee pull-ups? Start with 50 or 25!
We go through the exercises making sure everyone knows how to do them safely. Then we get a group together of 5 to 10 people and start the clock, everyone pushing themselves against themselves and the person next to them. And everyone's time and work load gets put up on "the board." A dry erase white board in the front of the gym. After a week you'll find someone up on the board that you'll be able to compare yourself to. It'll be a challenge every day to be "their" time.
I also love the sense of community. At the traditional "big box" gyms, I never met anyone, I didn't make any friends. I know by name over 50% of the people who come to my gym. I have visited the house of at least five. Large groups have gone out to dinner and drinks on more than one occasion. When you don't show up, people notice. They ask how you've been, what's been up.
If you're interested, hit up HQ's website. Read the "Getting Started" page, and then the affiliates page to find a local gym. Head on in and talk to the owner. Most will give you a free workout or two to see if you like it.
I love this stuff, and once I get on the road, you better believe I'm taking a kettlebell, medicine ball, and bumper plates with me.
So if from time to time I brag about a new personal record on here (385 lb deadlift this month!), don't be too hard on me. I believe in this program, I'm proud of it, and myself.
