CrossFit… crazy workout people right? You can think that if you want. People like to make fun of Crossfit fanatics. They say “The first rule of CrossFit is to always talk about CrossFit”, and laugh. But imagine being obese, having a body mass index of 50%, and having a husband who is super dedicated to fitness. Imagine watching that husband workout 2 times a day 4 to 5 days a week alternating between running and lifting. Add to that, he enjoys obstacle course racing and has started turning all of his friends into active people.
Well, this is exactly what happened to me and I slowly watched my husband lose weight and gain friends. I looked at myself, noticing I had continuously gained weight since we had our daughter, and I was not working on getting healthier. Notice I used the word healthier there. It is because it is not about being fat or skinny, it is about being healthy. I wanted to be healthier, but I lacked the motivation my husband was born with. Sure his military career probably amplified his mental toughness, but some people are just mentally tough.
We had the discussion about my weight gain setting a bad example for our kids, and how I was shortening my life span by being overweight. We talked about how I need to balance work, family, and everything else. I always put God, my family and work before myself. But I was not doing a great job at adding in working out. I would go through a pattern of eat healthy, lose weight, go back to over eating, then gain weight. The only thing I was consistent at was being inconsistent. Now I am throwing hate toward myself, just being honest.
I had gone to Zumba and dance classes at the gym, and through work, but life got in the way and I stopped working out all together. Being overweight never knocked my self confidence down, until I hit a weight I never imagined I would ever be at. I looked in the mirror and realized even if I wanted to be active and involved with my husband, how could I?
My husband came home from a Spartan race with a few of his friends and they were bruised, tired, dirty, and laughing. They had a blast and I wanted to feel like that way too. My husband recounted seeing a couple in their 70’s complete the race together holding hands. He said “I wish we could be like that couple”. And I knew what I had to do.
I went onto Groupon and searched Crossfit, because it was something we had talked about looking into for a year or so. We had some friends who went to a couple classes, and I had been intimidated by their stories. But I knew I needed to give it a try. I bought 5 classes for both my husband and I for his 41st birthday. It was the best present I could have purchased for him and it changed our lives.
Our first couple of classes were just assessing our current athletic abilities and learning Crossfit movements. After our Groupon was completed, we had added 2 more friends to our Crossfit group, and signed up for monthly membership to “the box”. I cannot even express how much I LOVE IT!!
The box was literally a room with 4 walls, chalk board paint on the walls, and a lot of equipment I had no idea how to use. It had no heat or air conditioning, and motivational sayings all over the wall. My favorite was “Sweat is magic. Cover yourself in it daily and your wishes will come true.”
Everyday there is a WOD (Work Out of the Day), and no matter what time you step foot in the box, you do that work out. Your name and workout details are written on the wall in chalk. The cool part is you can see who worked out today and how you compare to everyone. You also get to put your personal record of weight lifting on the wall. A reminder of why you are training, and goals to beat.
I went from modifying my entire workout to slowly hitting the prescribed workout goals. Hitting goals took time, effort, and a lot of foam rolling. I had muscles hurting I did not even know I was using, and I would not change it for the world. After a few months of working out Raquel was no longer on the board, I earned a nickname. And then there was “Q”.
