Adventures in CrossFitting

My coaches, Bill and Jennie, were out of town on their honeymoon in Costa Rica (so jealous…) for about ten days and so I decided to stop back into the Fort their first day back to chat and see how their trip went. To be honest though, I was just as excited to go to the Fort as I was to see Bill and Jennie. It had been two weeks since I had been there, and I missed the place more than I ever expected, which is a lot to say considering how I used to hate to go to the gym.

Yes, I said it. I used to hate to go to the gym. I actually almost actively avoided going to the gym unless I was shamed into it by my basketball or volleyball coaches in college, and when I was done playing collegiate sports, I was never too keen on going back for a number of reasons. First, I disliked lifting weights; it never appealed to me. I didn't want to get bulky and I found it horribly boring. Second, I disliked the indifferent/snooty/overly perky (pick your adjective) employees that didn't really seem to care about what you did or your progress. Third, I disliked the guys (and sometimes girls) who stood in front of the mirrors to check themselves out; and finally, to add to my gym misery, the treadmills were usually full and there was always something bad on TV. All I ever wanted to do when I went to the gym was zone out with my iPod, run however many miles I was running that day, do some ab work, and then leave. In fact, I disliked the gym so much that the only time I went consistently after I stopped playing sports was during the wintertime, when going for a run in 30-below Minnesota weather seemed just a little extreme. Other than that, I stuck to my regular running schedule and mixed in yoga, Pilates and the occasional aerobics video. At least if I got sick of the instructor on the video, I could press the mute button. CrossFit changed all this though – for the better.

I now love going to the gym (and miss it a lot), primarily because the Fort is everything Globo Gym is not. There is an energy about CrossFit that is infectious. There is a competitiveness and camaraderie that accompanies this type of programming compels you to work harder and to share in not only your own successes but also of those around you. I no longer want to drown out the people beside me with music. There is also no artificial one-on-one relationship with a trainer. It's a coach, who makes it his or her priority that you get the most out of every workout and who actually cares about your progress rather than just counting your reps. In addition, my former hatred towards weight lifting has changed completely, and I've discovered that I love lifting heavy s&%# off the ground or pressing it over my head. Pull ups are still not my friend, but that's another story and I'm working on that…

I could go on but I think that you get the overall idea, and I think that Jennie summed it up perfectly when she said: "[The Fort] is a magic place where people get sexier every time you see them, friendships are made, and successes are celebrated." Seriously? Who wouldn't want that? It sounds like Disney Land - only better.