Guys! Guess what?? I’m more than halfway through my Crossfit Elements classes at CFSS!! I can’t believe it! The last two weeks have really flown by. Do you know the best (and possibly the scariest) part of being halfway through Elements? Now we are allowed to attend real WODs outside of Elements… as many as we want… UNLIMITED for the next two weeks! Doesn’t that sound like an amazing deal?! In reality, for me that just means I’ll be adding in a third class every week. We’re already working pretty hard during our Elements classes on Monday and Wednesday nights; this girl needs time to recover. So, last week I let my body recover on Thursday and Friday and then attended my very first regular WOD on Saturday morning. It.was.tough! It was a 20 minute AMRAP of deadlifts, burpees, and box jumps. Thankfully it was a partner WOD, so I had some time to rest in between rounds. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for deadlifts, so clearly those were my favorite part. But, it was incredibly hard for me to bust out those burpees and box jumps, which slowed me down a lot. As a result, my partner and I didn’t get as many rounds in as all the other groups, but I was proud of myself for making it through and finishing. Yay, me!
Now that I’m more than halfway through my Elements classes, I also want to share two of my favorite things about Crossfit so far.

Coaching.

The coaching that I’ve received from Josh has been amazing since day one. When Josh teaches us an exercise, he never asks if anyone has done it before. He always teaches us all the same, movement by movement, as if we are all beginners. That might seem irritating to some people who have a bit of experience with certain CrossFit moves, but I really appreciate that approach. Just because you have done something before doesn’t mean you were doing it right. Every time Josh has taught us a new exercise, I have learned something, even with things I have done a million times in the gym. First, he has us perform different stretches and movements to prepare our body for the actions it needs to perform to efficiently execute the exercise. He really takes the time to break every movement down and show us what our body should be doing during each phase of the movement. He also takes the time to explain WHY we are standing, moving, pulling, or pushing one way as opposed to another. In a nutshell, the purpose is always safety and efficiency, but having someone explain to me exactly why I should be doing this rather than doing that helps make me more aware of my form throughout different exercises. The coaching has definitely been invaluable. Although CrossFit is expensive in comparison to most conventional gyms, I definitely believe it is worth every penny.

Diversity.

As you guys know, I was so scared to join CrossFit because I’m a big girl. I felt like I needed to lose weight and get fit BEFORE I signed up. Now, I realize I can use Crossfit to help me lose weight and get fit; I don’t need to meet a prerequisite weight or fitness level to succeed. CrossFit is full of people of different races, ages, weights, body types, fitness backgrounds, and athletic abilities. There are people who want to lose weight and there are people who want to gain weight. There are people who only did cardio and never lifted weights, as well as people who have only lifted weights and never did cardio. CrossFit isn’t easy for anyone. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. But to help make CrossFit doable to pretty much anyone, there are all kinds of modifications that can be made. My box offers WODs in two levels, L1 and L2. Both WODs for the particular day are similar, but L1 is ideal for beginners and L2 is more advance. You can choose to do which ever level works best for you. One day you might want to tackle the L2 WOD; on another day, the L1 WOD might be enough of a challenge for you. In addition to the levels, most of the individual exercises have some type of modification. For example, box jumps were part of the WOD I did Saturday morning. Because I hadn’t done a box jump in a while, coach had me jump onto a 20 inch box off of a 45 lb plate. Starting from the plate took about 4 inches off of how high I needed to jump; easy modification!

If you have been putting off joining CrossFit because you’re like me and thought you needed to be super athletic and strong first, think again. There are amazing CrossFit coaches to teach you everything you need to know and all kinds of modifications you can do until you master things like pull-ups and handstand pushups (eek!). CrossFit will always be challenging, but anyone can do it… even a 6-yr-old. ☺

Are you someone who has put off trying CrossFit for some reason? What’s holding you back? 

If you’re a newbie CrossFitter, what’s been your favorite aspect so far? 

–

JUST JOINING US? CHECK OUT KARYLE’S INTRODUCTION, MEET KARLYE: OUR NEW FIT MOM BLOGGER AND TO SEE HER PREVIOUS POSTS, SEARCH “FIT MOMS” IN THE CATEGORY DROPBOX.