Why I crossfit

Growing up I was never really in the best physical shape. I wasnt into sports while I was in high school. During college, I started watching what I ate and realized that my body was changing as I was getting older. The food I used to love to eat I could no longer eat without getting serious heart burn. While In college I guess you could say my type of workout was going to the student rec center and doing a bunch of typical workouts that I felt never really worked. Two years ago, I had a conversation with my buddy Dan about working out and traveling and how its hard to be a pilot and keep in good physical shape. He mentioned to me about checking out a Crossfit gym. I thought to myself, I never even heard those words before. What the hell is "crossfit" Just like anything we want to find out, I went straight to google and you typed in the word crossfit. I new after watching a couple of crossfit videos I knew it was something that I was interested in. Since I live in wonderful Florida, I was lucky enough to find a crossfit affiliate gym right in West Palm Beach. I remember sending the initial email requiring info. Todd and Dana, the wonderful owners of BGI FItness in West Palm Beach told me to come in and check it out. I couldnt pass up the opportunity so the next day I brought my sorry ass into the crossfit gym and watched a workout. I was caught off guard about the gym. It was in a warehouse. Not the typical "gym" set up"The first workout I ever watched was a workout called Fight Gone Bad. Heres a little info from www.crossfit.com that will give you an idea of what FGB really is all about.

"..in this workout you spend one minute at each of five stations, resulting in a a five-minute round after which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. This event calls for three rounds. The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of ‘rotate,’ the athletes must move to the next station immediately. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower, where each calorie is one point."

The stations are:

1. Wall-ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
2. Sumo deadlift high-pull (Reps)
3. Box jump (Reps)
4. Push-press (Reps)
5. Row (Calories)

After watching my first crossfit workout, I new I was instantly going to be hooked. The next day, I came in and signed up for a membership and did my first workout. I dont recall what my first workout was, but I remember halfway through the workout I thought I was going to vomit and die. This was when I knew I was out of shape and things had to change in my life. I'm going to be honest, it took me awhile to get used to the type of torture that people put themselves through. I didnt think I had the ablity to do some of the workouts they set up for each day. The wonderful thing about crossfit is, you can scale each workout to youre own liking. Thats the easiest way to break yourself into this type of work. little by little you will find yourself loving the workouts.

There are many things that this type of workout has taught me about my own personal life. Crossfit is now a type of lifestyle for me. I recently went through a really bad breakup in my personal life and this is when I turned straight to the crossfit style workouts even harder than I have before. I have learned that the human body can experience more pain than I thought it could. I've learned that the pain is only temporary and soon dissipates. I've learned that during a workout, you must keep going, keep driving to finish the workout. You feel like you really want to pass out on the ground and stop but it teaches you that it will soon all be over. Most of the workouts are based around 15-30 mins of hard work. Pushups, lifting, running, rowing, situps. Jump ropes . Sometimes a workout that looks easy, turns out to be a killer. My worst workout by far was a 400 meter tire drag, 400m sandbag run, 400 meter run. Rest 2 minutes. 200 meter tire drag, 200 meter sandbag run, 200 meter run then you are done. Its hell..but the results are well worth it. Before finding crossfit I was unable to do handstand pushups, Now I can.


Since I do travel a fair amout, It makes it even more harder to keep up with the type of workouts. I know my body feels like hell if I dont work out for a couple of days then do a work out. I feel like I want to puke. I have had the ability with this new job to be able to go to different crossfit gyms through out the country and be able to stay in decent shape. The common thing I have found from Box to box is that everyone is accepting, its a part of community, and a major life style to some people.

I may not compete in crossfit games due to my type of schedule I have but I can tell you that every time I do a workout, I push myself harder and harder. The people who I have met know who they are and I want to thank you for shaping me into being a healthy individual. You guys do an amazing job and sometimes you guys go unnoticed for all the hard work you do. Thank you.

It may not be for some, it takes a special type of person to do the workouts but I challenge you to be that special type of person. Go to google right now and type in crossfit. Its just the beginning...


Follow the link..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7SutpL23_A