Thanks for stopping by. Anyway, I plan on sharing my perspective on a lot of things here. Especially things related to growth and transformation. Hopefully something you can relate to. I am going to devote this first post to Crossfit, a fitness routine that is an important part of my life.
What's my story for signing up? Some of it for the "obvious" reasons of getting into shape, and some of it for deeper personal reasons.
Well, first some background. I had moved down to Annapolis for my career at the end of 2007. I've had mixed feelings about living here in Maryland. On the one hand, I've met some awesome people here, but on the other, I still felt a lot like an outsider here. Anyway, I went into January 2010 emotionally hurting. A relationship had ended. As I mentioned, I was living in a town where I didn't really feel at home in. I knew I wasn't getting any younger either. For the first time in my life, I was starting to feel old. And it was cold out! I needed a change.
I want to say upfront that whenever we are in a rut, I'm not sure if it matters so much what we do, but instead that we are doing something constructive. I wouldn't call Crossfit a religious experience for me, because it's not. All the muscle-ups in the world won't build you a stairway to heaven. It won't bring back a past love. But growing in a meaningful way and accomplishing something hard can set off a chain reaction. I'm also the kind of person who feels most alive when I am working towards a goal that I am excited about, and there is just something about being able to lift a certain amount of weight or do something a lot of people find hard, such as a muscle-up, that appeals to me.
I had first heard of Crossfit through someone I know who was doing it and who loved it. It sounded interesting, and for all of 2009 really, I had toyed with the idea of giving it a try "when the time was right for me". Well, "the time was right for me" finally in that cold early January 2010. I called Ryan at Crossfit BWI January 6th, and walked into Crossfit BWI January 8th, 2010 at 11 am. Forty-five minutes later, I was filling out the forms signing myself up, still seeing stars from the workout Ryan just put me through.
My first few months were brutal. I was coming in dead last in all the workouts, and often I was one of the oldest people in the room. This was actually therapeutic in a way that was kind of hard to explain, except that I was facing a lot of my insecurities head-on. Every time I did a 225lb deadlift (that was a lot for me back then) I felt as if I was getting some sort of victory. I know I've using some metaphors with life and I don't want to get carried away here. But when you see improvement in one important area of your life (physical vitality), it's hard for it not to translate to other areas.
I went from hardly being able to overhead squat the 45-lb bar (I had no idea how unstable an overhead squat would feel until I tried it for the first time) to being able to overhead squat my bodyweight and then some (175lbs, ass-to-grass, the only way to squat in my humble opinion) twice. I got my first muscle-up this year, and now a couple times a week I do several of them before class. I'm starting to string them together. Well, kipping that is. I'm gonna get them strict before 2011 ends. I might be in my late 30's, but it's hard to feel as if you're older when you end the year stronger and in better shape than you started.
But importantly, Crossfit has given me a sense of community that I haven't felt in a long time. There's a great group of people at CFA, and it's a honor to get to work out with them. They are amazing people, and I love the feeling of going to the box and learning from someone how to do a certain movement better, and having them ask me for a pointer how to do a muscle-up. I feel like I'm back on a sports team going through practice, and it's an awesome sensation.
I've also become a lot more proactive. I'm more in touch with the part of myself that never gives up. Again not to overdo the metaphors with life, but if you can get your body to do things you never would imagine possible, what else can you do? It is well-known that working out increases your sense of confidence and well-being.
And Crossfit has given me some new goals. I want to become an instructor at some point. I love the feeling of being able to help other people improve themselves and to reach their goals.
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