After eating more junk than I care to admit (it was EVERYWHERE I went during the holiday season), not having time to exercise, and gaining around 5-10 lbs. in the months of November to December, I made a New Years resolution (like everyone and their brother...) to get healthy again!
So on January 2, 2014 I joined CrossFit.
If you are unfamiliar with CrossFit, here is an excerpt from the CrossFit website:
"CrossFit begins with a belief in fitness. The aim of CrossFit is to forge a broad, general and inclusive fitness. We have sought to build a program that will best prepare trainees for any physical contingency — not only for the unknown, but for the unknowable. After looking at all sport and physical tasks collectively, we asked what physical skills and adaptations would most universally lend themselves to performance advantage. Capacity culled from the intersection of all sports demands would quite logically lend itself well to all sport. In sum, our specialty is not specializing.
CrossFit is many things. Primarily, it’s a fitness regimen developed by Coach Greg Glassman over several decades. He was the first person in history to define fitness in a meaningful, measurable way (increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains). CrossFit itself is defined as that which optimizes fitness (constantly varied functional movements performed at relatively high intensity). CrossFit is also the community that spontaneously arises when people do these workouts together. In fact, the communal aspect of CrossFit is a key component of why it’s so effective."
The things I really like about CrossFit - and that drew me to it - are:
- It supports the Paleo Diet, and many people do it in conjunction with eating a Paleo diet.
> I am hoping it will help inspire me to keep eating Paleo, since it can be hard to do and encouragement is always welcome! - It is exercise done in a communal, group setting.
> This is both motivating and challenging - people notice when you are not there, and you are all in this fitness program (pain!) together. They also write your times on the board so my competitive side kicks in and makes me want to beat other peoples' times. - It involves "constantly varied functional movements performed at relatively high intensity" so you get an interesting workout in quickly that is practical for everyday life.
> One of the things I hate most about working out is how boring it can be. So having a different workout everyday that challenges different parts of your body is fantastic! Also, I am the type of person who hates spending time doing things that aren't practical. So when I go to CrossFit and workout muscles that I know I may use in "real life" at any time is extremely motivating for me. - Trainers are there to help motivate, challenge, and make sure you are doing the activities in a safe way.
> It is always helpful to have a guide/mentor to show you how to do things. And to keep pushing you to do better.
I signed up for the twice a week program, since I have hockey once a week and really seem to need a rest day between every workout. It has been going really well so far -- I am sore after every workout and can tell that my body is getting stronger everyday.
The most noticeable difference? My butt.
I never really had one before. But after doing 100 or so lunges on Monday, my pants fit completely different because I actually have something that sticks out now. So strange that one workout can make that big of a difference, but I am here to tell you that every workout changes my body a little bit.
