I tried…Cross Fit
…Again!
So, Cross Fit is something that fascinates me, I suppose I viewed it as an elite fitness club with terms, titles, and numbers that I just don’t understand. But, like all good things, I WANTED to understand,
Several years ago, I took a Cross Fit taster, you can read about that *here* and I don’t think I understood the concept of giving it my all. A few weeks back, I returned, I am far from my peak fitness, suffering massively with lack of sleep and fighting off some sort of lurgy, basically, that’s all my excuses out of the way.
If I’m honest, I’d been putting off going because of time, sleep, fitness, money, the cat. You know, If you need an excuse? I’m your lady…
I woke up 5.30am (Hello old friend…) and staggered around aimlessly before leaving the house and getting lost trying to find the unit, which is a whole 3 miles away from our home. I spotted Lorraine on the route, who had also missed the turning (always best to do things as a team) and we made our way inside the box. After some introductions, we were talked through the ‘WOD’ – Workout Of The Day (Where’s the T?).
We were then sent out for a run around the block, which mainly consisted of me trying to wake up and avoid being run over. Then I met ‘Fran’ and I understand she’s pretty well known within the Cross Fit, collective – Who/what/where is ‘Fran‘ and why did I fear her?
FRAN is a CrossFit Benchmark WOD (for a time) consisting of: 21 Thrusters. 21 Pull-Ups. 15 Thrusters.
Fran was beautiful, my attempt at completing Fran was executed with absolutely zero style, grace or perfect precision and also resulted in me trying to avoid moving my upper body for the rest of the day. Obviously, I went back a couple of days later and that was when the meaning of ‘True Joy‘ kicked in. The instructor told us that we had 44minutes to complete 100m run’s alternated with Kettlebell swings (for us newbies) and it was for 50 rounds. Well, my friends, I underestimated that, didn’t I? I launched off bursting with enthusiasm only to burn out and put serious consideration into having a sit-down.
I’m not a quitter, I’m also very accepting of my weakness and to make a change, you actually have to get out and make a change. Talk is cheap, I’m also very good at talking a good game.
For my final session, I went at lunchtime, an atrocious lack of sleep meant that I took a pre-workout and excitedly announced to the group that my face was tingling. I guess that this was my way of giving people an advance warning, encase I exploded or something similar. We started with a run around the block and then worked on front squats and pull-ups, before moving into a WOD which was rounds of Skipping and Thrusters. I came last, I got constantly tangled up in my skipping rope, I was pouring with sweat and not once did I feel uncomfortable or out of place.
I suppose that was when I really saw what Cross Fit was about, people were talkative, helpful and none judgemental, all key elements that changed how I felt about my current fitness situation. Will I return? Yes! I need to get a few events out of the way, then I’ll return, commit and give it my all.
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How do you feel about CrossFit? Is it for you or a complete no go?
Katie
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