Thursday, February 18, 2016

CrossFit: The Cult Culture

My background with sports is pretty typical. I was a t-ball star at 4 years old. That was the last time I would ever be a star at anything except in the eyes of my mom. I played soccer, basketball, and then volleyball as I got older. I tried tennis one summer, but it took me 2 hours to get one serve in the right spot, so I didn't pursue that dream any longer. I also gave gymnastics a shot when I was really little, but one fall off the balance beam was all it took for me to quit that hazardous sport.

When I graduated, I told myself I would keep working out, but the rec center was such a long walk from my dorm, that I stopped going there during my first week of college. Then my fitness revolution began. I found out that the rec was only .8 miles away and not the 800 miles I originally thought, so I started riding my bike there, doing some weightlifting, exercising on the elliptical, and then riding home. Riding my bike eventually turned into running, I started doing more intense weightlifting, and I quit the elliptical and turned to more difficult forms of cardio.

I met Kat Hill in February of 2015, and we became immediate friends as we were both on the Paleo diet. She was also working out to get in shape, but she did CrossFit. I had heard of CrossFit before from my former youth ministers Jon and Sallee, but I had never gone to one of the classes, mostly because I thought it would be too difficult, and I was very happy with my routine of listening to my headphones and keeping to myself at the normal people gym.

After 7 months of working out at the gym, Kat finally got me to attend a CrossFit "community WOD." I already knew it was going to be bad, considering the ridiculous name "WOD" which stands for workout of the day, but she assured me that the community WODs were scaled for the general public since they are free. So on this day in the heat of July, I walked into this CrossFit place thinking that I was a pretty fit girl and shouldn't have much to worry about if the general public could do this.  We even got to join into a team of 4 to complete the WOD, so I was like oh heck yes, we can knock this out.

100 air squats, 100 box jumps, 100 med ball slams, 60 pull-ups, 60 push-ups, and a 1600 meter run later, I was lying on the floor, red (closer to purple) faced, covered in sweat, gasping for air, and (between breaths) informing Kat that I would never attend one of these military torture centers ever again.

I couldn't walk for two days. I kept thinking back to the WOD and getting more flustered about my inability to do so many of the movements. I was completely unaware that I couldn't even do a full-depth squat until I saw these people's butts hit the ground on every rep. It was easily the hardest workout I had ever done.

So when I went back to CrossFit during the next week, I was really confused by my insane behavior.

I went to Sanctum CrossFit in Prosper, Texas where I introduced myself to Mike and Jared, two of the coaches there. They gave me a free week trial, which is all it took for me to fall in love.

The following reasons are just a few of the ones I could come up with to try and explain why I liked CrossFit so much:

1. The coaching
After months of doing things on my own and thinking that I was doing them correctly, I finally had someone giving me direction and telling me that I was actually doing everything wrong.

2. The competition
Each WOD is done by a class of people all trying to do their very best. If I slacked, I would come in last place. Even if I tried my hardest, I would still often come in last place. It drove me to push myself harder than at the gym when I had no one to compare myself to directly.

3. The quick intensity
WODs usually only last from 5-45 minutes. 30-45 minute WODs are very rare, so most days, the intense workouts are over in 20 minutes. If you take a look at the science behind it, this 20 minutes of high intensity interval training burns more fat than a 2 hour session at the gym. AND it burns fat for up to 24-48 hours after the workout.

4. The culture
Something about the cut off tank tops, tattoos, wrist wraps, ropes hanging from the ceiling, lack of air conditioning, people flying through the air on rings, and the cheering on from your teammates as you finish just keeps you coming back. During my first week, there were people that didn't know my name who were high-fiving me as they lapped me in sprints. And they were right there at the finish line waiting for me to get done, not because they had to be, but because they had too been there before and wanted to show their support.

5. The ever-changing challenge
Everyday is different, yet everyday you still hear "dang that was a rough one." In fact, I don't believe anyone has ever walked away from a WOD saying "wow that was great, we should do it again!" I never get tired of going to CrossFit because the workouts are constantly changing. In 7 months, I have only done the same workout....nope never. I've never done the same one twice.

6. Functional fitness
CrossFit movements are designed to emulate movements that might come your way in real life. In fact, not very long ago, some friends and I were locked out of the gate of an apartment complex. And while I don't condone breaking and entering, I really needed to get to my car, and our friend that actually lived at this complex wouldn't answer her phone. So instead of waiting outside in the cold, I looked up at the 8 foot fence, took a big leap, grabbed the top, and lifted myself over to the other side. I know a lot of people can probably do that without the help of CrossFit, but remember I am the same girl that lasted one day at tennis camp. For me, I would've never been able to do this without CrossFit.

I had to leave Sanctum CrossFit when I went back to school, but I joined CrossFit Aggieland here in College Station. I've accomplished things that seemed impossible when I first began. I can do a full-depth squat, climb a rope, overhead squat, snatch squat, and just last week I learned to do a handstand  for handstand push-ups after finally convincing myself that I wasn't going to fall and be paralyzed. What's hilarious is that most CrossFitters can do this in their sleep. There is a never ending amount of improvement in this world, and it's so addicting. I now know the rush it is to hit a personal record, learn to do the crazy gymnastic movements, increase mobility, and be functionally fit.

The definition of the word cult (aside from sinister religious beliefs) is a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing. So I guess I'm involved in many cults. The Paleo Diet, Texas A&M, MSC FISH, and CrossFit. But you know what they say. It only takes 2 Aggies to change a light bulb and 1 CrossFitter to survive the apocalypse.




1 comment:

  1. What a great post!! I remember your first day at Sanctum, you have come a long way, we miss you but I'm happy you have found a CF box in College Station. Hope to see you this summer break.

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