Crossfit
Posted: Friday, November 22, 2013 by Michael Elkins in
Many things come to mind when you see the word "crossfit". Some people conjure up images of ripped people throwing weight high up in the air. Some people assume that anyone who does crossfit will die. Other people think anyone that does it must be an insane person that is a glutton for punishment, or they perhaps have no clue as to what it is.
Let me start by defining crossfit. Actually, let me just give you a link to see someone else explain it better so I don't waste either of our time. Click Here! OK, now that you know what it is let me explain to you how it has changed me.
When people find out I do cross fit, not something I like to run around telling people because I get a million different looks, I would roughly say 90% of people tell me that I am going to get seriously hurt or die because of cross fit. People either love it or they hate it. Ironically the people who usually encourage me are people who are fit and the ones that do not don't give to much weight to fitness. One day as someone was telling me that I was going to die or get badly injured I had had enough. I piped up, "Actually, you know what is going to kill me.....continuing to do what I was doing which is sitting on the couch eating chips. That has a higher chance of killing me than doing crossfit." Before I did crossfit I had tried a myriad of fitness tactics. Eating less food, which never, ever worked for me. Just running. While this can be a great tool to gain better fitness I hated the crap our of just running. The thought of lacing up my shoes and heading out for a nice stroll made me want to puke. Lifting weights. This is just something I have always not had much fun doing. All my buddies in high school and college would always try to get me to go throw weight around with them and I never had the desire to do so. Needless to say I would do these things for maybe a month and quit every time. I would feel like an insane failure and go even deeper off the end. It got to the point where it was pretty embarrassing anytime I would try something because people knew I would quit. It got to the point where my own family doubted if I would stick with something. Needless to say it was something I wasn't proud that I was teaching my kids
Enter crossfit. I had a friend from high school who is a crossfit instructor and I saw a post on his facbeook of some people he was training. For some reason it intrigued me. I sent him a message to get details and he graciously answered all my questions and encouraged me to join him. So I did. The first day I did want to die. As I laid in a pool of sweat, after I went outside to throw up the meager breakfast I ate, I actually though, "I wish my soul would just leave my body right now." Oh, and that was a 2 minute and 40 second workout. I couldn't walk for a good five days. Not only could I not really walk, I could barely sit down and if I could get in a chair there was no way I could get out of it. So I did the only logical thing....I went back. Then I went back the next day and the next. Now I must confess I have only been doing this for about 2 months now, which is about double the time I have done any other exercise program. When I started I weighed in 1 lb shy of 250 lbs, at 249 lbs. In the short time I have done it I have lost roughly 15 lbs now. But it is not even the weight loss I am most excited about. My body feels and looks totally different than it ever has. I have more energy, my attitude is a million times better. I treat my wife and children better than I ever have. ABout half way through I introduced "Paleo" eating. It is basically just eating like a caveman. Eat as much meat, fruits, and veggies as possible. No sugar, no processed foods, and no grains. This also helped a ton.
I say all this to simply say crossfit is not killing me, it is actually saving my life. I really want to thank Brock and his wife Autumn for giving me this back. Yes, there could be some freak thing where a person dies doing it. However, people die everyday in auto accidents, running marathons, playing football, or walking down the street.
Benefits:
- Increased overall health
- Weight Loss
- More energy
- Better attitude
- More self confidence
- Fun
- Competitive ( I am very competitive and this allows me to tap into that)
- Community (One of my favorite things. Everyone encourages you no matter where you are at on the fitness spectrum.)
- Knowing I may not die as early and leave my family in a rough spot because I didn't take care of myself
Cons:
- Sore (most of the time)
- Hard
- Kicks the crap out me
- Repeat the above 3
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