I guess all of this has something to do with the lens with which we view ourselves. For me, my whole life, with the exception of when I wanted to weigh 200 lbs for my senior year of high school football (my goal is to weigh 190 now, what I weighed in high school) I've always looked in the mirror and thought I needed to loose a few pounds. But, beyond that I always saw something more in the mirror. You see, I have never really viewed myself as a shop keeper, or an employee, or a student or any of the other occupations I've maintained over the years. In my head, I've never stopped believing "I'm an athlete."
The term athlete has somehow morphed into an occupational description and we tend to think of athletes only as people who play high school, college, or professional sports. In reality there are great athletes all around us and each of us in as much as we have mental abilities are gifted at birth with some level of athletic competence. We just have to flesh it out a bit. Realizing this, it dawned on me that at thirty-three years old there will never be a time better than right now to be in the best shape of my life.
And then I stood there, staring at the Crossfit waco website reading about the onramp class and asking myself, "Is this really worth the hundred dollar price of admission?" I had heard a lot about Crossfit from friends and customers, things like, "they make you throw up" and "they yell at you a lot down there" or "it's so intense, you have to be in pretty good shape before you ever begin Crossfit."
So arriving at the onramp class I didn't really know what to expect. After checking in at the front desk ten or so of us were led outside to begin learning how to do what would be the essentials of Crossfit workouts. Over three days we learned basic movements like air squats, burpees, and other moves that took me back to grade school P.E. Then we learned some basic Olympic weightlifting moves, many movements I hadn't done since high school. In college a friend told me "I don't think I'll ever do squats again." I agreed with him at the time. But the Crossfit group environment has a way of leading you to do things you might not imagine you'd ever do.
That night, we concluded with a simple workout: 10 push presses, 10 air squats, and 10 kettle bell swings, As Many Reps As Possible (amrap) in seven minutes. No one, including the middle aged woman who said she hadn't worked out in years threw up and no one was verbally assaulted. I left exhausted, covered in sweat and smiling.
This is part 2 of a series.
