Crossfit in 2016

- February 19, 2016

Once upon a time I had a blog. And I loved that blog. I wrote about my adventures in racing - triathlon, paddling, trail running, and random obstacle course events. I wrote about things like mascara and hair and shoes. I wrote about skinny jeans and calories and magazines and oh, I wrote a LOT about Crossfit.

I fell in love with Crossfit way back before Jessica Biel and Jason Statham started rocking WODs. I stumbled across it back in 2008 when I went looking for a video tutorial on a particular weightlifting movement and the one I found referenced Crossfit. I was curious and googled locations around the bay area. If you can imagine it, the only ones that came up back then were SF Crossfit and Mad Dawg - aka Peninsula Crossfit. I went with Mad Dawg simply because the owner, Saul Jimenez, called me back and invited me in. And thus began my love affair with Crossfit, with my Crossfit gym, with my wonderful and amazing coach and the community he created. It helps that I looped one of my favorite people, Yariv, into joining it with me. I remember our first warm up ever was a medicine ball toss with a 14 lb ball and while I can't say we were trying to knock each other down we were definitely throwing it harder and harder and grinning as the other person stumbled a little to maintain their balance.

Jason is a buff, not tall dude

I did Crossfit, I talked about Crossfit, I went to the games and competed as part of a Crossfit team. It all seemed so new and challenging, but low-key and familial, and despite how much I talked about it, no one I knew ever joined in the cause.

2009 Crossfit Games

And then I had knee surgery. And then I changed jobs. And then I changed homes. And I fell off the Crossfit map - just as it was sweeping the globe. And when I started to venture back in, I stumbled around in a daze at the costs, the crowds, the unfamiliar new gyms and faces and coaches, the coverage on ESPN, the sponsorship by Reebok - the Crossfitty-ness of Crossfit was everywhere. I tried one, I tried another. I bought a Groupon. I switched to boxing classes at The Park Gym and watched with some lust at the small Crossfit classes going on at the same time. And then I finally tossed my hat into the ring and committed to one near my home. And then it closed. And I was given a deal to move my membership to another gym in the area so I joined that.

Pullups, I will own you!

Which is where I find myself today - almost a year into my committed relationship with TJ's. I started as the quiet one in the back - watching a roomful of people who knew each other through their kids, communities and years of working out together. I didn't understand the programming - I still don't actually. But it reintroduced me to squats and weights and pullups and pushups and all the basic skills I'd come to love so long ago. I had to work my confidence back to doing box jumps and handstands against the wall and snatches. In all honesty, I thought I had the snatches until a coach said wait, wait, wait - lets start with the basics first. So back to the PVC pipe I went. Which was a good thing.

Me after my first 24" box jumps

Given the rise in popularity of Crossfit, there is also the rise in naysayers. People gotta hate. So I don't talk about it like I used to - describing all the crazy WODs (workout of the day) and names of WODs and how hard it was to do 150 wallballs and that something so hard had such a sweet name (Mary), and what my first kipping pullup felt like or how the pushups we've been doing all our lives are all wrong. Besides, every other person is already doing Crossfit now so we've all got our stories.

Waiting in line for my heat to start at my gym's local event - TJ's Rodeo

Anyway, as my one year anniversary approaches, I'm still relatively mellow in class - it's a 6am start after all so it's best to roll in and just start stretching. But I've graduated from defaulting to what the majority of the class does to jumping in with some of the boys who do a bit more challenging workouts (read: snatches). And I'm seeing progress come from that confidence. And more guidance from coaches who see that I truly care about improving. Because there are hundreds of small goals you can set for yourself in Crossfit - whether it's speed, weight, a single pull-up, a hundred double-unders. Things that depend only on you; your commitment and practice. And once I got past the idea that I was "just getting back into the swing of things" now I have real goals. I want to jump higher and lift more and do a hundred double-unders unbroken. And a goddamn strict pullup - THAT is the holy grail of what I'd like to do.

I love the Crossfit. There's no getting around it. I love it personally, I love what it's done to fitness training everywhere. I love that friends tell me their programs are doing "Crossfit stuff" now and they namedrop wallball and kettlebell and burpees. Burpees! I pay a shit ton of money to have someone write on the board that I need to do 4 rounds of 50 burpees. It makes no sense. Why can't I quit you, Crossfit? Because you're fun, you allow me to have goals that make me stronger, better, faster. Because those goals aren't tied to a career or a relationship or a home or any other factors. They're a throwback to childhood when our goals were simple: learn to walk, learn to run, learn to swim, throw, catch, or ride a bike. With each one of those accomplishments, we were buoyed by smiles, hugs, high fives and pride. We were proud. We gained confidence. We walked taller. That's how Crossfit makes me feel.