More Than a Workout

CrossFit. You hear about it aaalll the time now. It is practically everywhere. You hear about how people put themselves through these torturous workouts, sometimes even throw up, and wind up getting sucked into the cult that is CrossFit.

What you see on TV is extreme. Those athletes represent less than 1% of the total CrossFit population. The people that typically do CrossFit are anywhere from 5 yrs old to 65 years old and sometimes older. People just looking to be healthier, stronger, and live longer or to help maintain in other areas of their lives.

I first started CrossFit in December of 2011. It was off and on. I was so sore the first few times I was in I didn't stick with it. In May of 2012 I made a decision to stick with it. I wanted to be healthier and stronger. I always loved lifting as a kid and CrossFit gave that back to me. It also satisfied my competitive side which is something I had been missing since 2006 when I quit my college softball team.

Is that all CrossFit is? Just a workout? Just some fad?

No.

CrossFit, as crazy as I am going to sound right now, is a way of life. It's a sport that is not just about you doing a God awful amount of pull ups and box jumps. It's a community. It's a positive social structure. When you spend $100+ a month for a membership, it is not just for anytime access. You get a personal trainer, a nutritionist, people who don't need to know you more than 5 minutes to consider you family and be there for you whenever you need it.

Do CrossFitters think that the sport is the be all and end all of life? Hell no. A good CrossFit coach supports doing things outside of the sport. To learn new things. A lot of boxes (gyms) set up paintball sessions, potlucks, hikes,  fun runs and yoga! A good box teaches you how to eat for performance and health. A good box makes you feel like you are a part of something bigger than yourself.

When you are doing a workout that lasts about 20 minutes, everyone else is done in 18 and you are still working your ass off, the rest of those people are rallied around you to finish. To kick the WOD's (workout of the day) ass! You don't get that kind of support in a Thrive, 24 Hr Fitness, or LA Fitness.

All of this brings me to the CrossFit Games Northwest Regionals.

I got swept up in the emotion so much I had chills running down my spine. First of all, the athletic fitness levels were astounding. I knew what I was expecting but to see it in person is still insane. Each athletes' perseverance, their heart, their love for what they were doing poured out of them as much as the sweat did.

Every athlete there was determined to compete in the CrossFit Games this summer. You had to be top 3 in the region to go so it was a fight till the end. The athletes that had no chance at making it to the Games, you think they ever gave it less than 110%? Not at all. In fact they pushed harder. Incredible.

Secondly, the sense of family in that entire arena was phenomenal. For example, in every heat, male, female, or team, there would always be one person or team left to complete the event. Every single time there was just one person standing, all other athletes who finished would circle that one person and rally them to finish before the time cap. The crowd also rose to their feet and cheered two times louder for them then anyone ever did for the athlete that killed the heat! What other sport can you think of where everyone, regardless of who they were there for, cheered for someone else win or lose?!

Family. That's what CrossFit is to me. Everyone will help everyone. It doesn't matter how long you have actually known a person or if you even know them at all. Guidance and friendship is something you will find within the first 5 seconds of walking into any CrossFit gym. I have been into several gyms across the country and every time I felt like I was a part of their box.

Lastly, the CrossFit Games Northwest Regionals inspired me to try and compete one day. May take me a year or several but I want it. That whole weekend I felt like I was 10 years old, sitting in the stands at the University of Washington Softball Stadium. Dreaming of the day I would dawn the purple and gold. I eventually accomplished that dream. Now last time, I gave it up once I had it. I'm older and wiser now, if I truly pursue this dream, I will never give it up.

You know how people are always told something like, "You better do this now. This is a chance of a lifetime. You will never have this opportunity again." Those people were wrong. I have found time and again that life will give you more chances. You just have to open your eyes and never let anything stifle that flame inside you. Everyone has one. A passion. It's different with every person but its there. If you mess up one opportunity, it will resurface as something else down the road. Mine is CrossFit. I shattered my dreams as a dumb kid in college. I have my reasons and I even became depressed because of it. Then I woke up. Carried on. Searched for things that could satiate my hunger for competition and athleticism. I found it. I even found myself sitting in that stadium focused on the athletes in front of me like I did at the UW 17 years ago.

Things come and go. We all ruin something for ourselves and never realize it till later on down the road. Don't regret those moments. At the time, it was the right decision for you and you had no idea the effect it would have down the line. So instead of being upset and living in the past, wipe your face, stand up and get out there and find something else. Trust me, life has a funny way of giving us a 2nd chance. If you have learned from your mistakes you won't miss it.