By Jamie Strickland
Five years ago, or really at any point in my past, if you would have told me that I would be an active member of a CrossFit gym — throwing heavy weights around, running when nothing is chasing me, deadlifting more than my own bodyweight, working towards being able to climb a rope — I would have laughed and said you were hallucinating.
There’s no way I could have imagined myself with even a fraction of the strength and athleticism I have today. Mind you, I’m not particularly good at any of those things, but I’m showing up and doing them on a near-daily basis.
Before stepping foot into that gym, I never stuck with any fitness routine or exercise for very long.
Lucky for me, you don’t have to be “fit” at all to start CrossFit, and there is a scaled option that works for anyone. The coaches are masters at pairing people with movements they can do and that make them stronger.
It turns out, one of the hardest parts about CrossFit was walking in the door for the first time: overcoming those ingrained beliefs about what you can and cannot do, and slowly learning you can do more than you realized.
The second hardest thing was probably figuring out all the acronyms for workouts (WOD, AMRAP, EMOM, etc.) and how to do CrossFit math, like 25 + 25 = 85. (If you know, you know.)
There are definitely some misconceptions about CrossFit – you’re picturing ripped athletes doing butterfly pullups and cranking out rapid heavy reps, aren’t you? That’s the competitive level, but the vast majority of participants are not doing this to compete.
They are just everyday people who want to get stronger to enjoy life. Functional fitness for things like not having to wait for my husband to get home to carry in that big bag of dog food and being able to hike that trail all the way to the waterfall and back.
CrossFit classes bring new challenges each day, but that’s what keeps it fun, and what makes you stronger. The workouts can be long and tedious, or short but exhausting. Sometimes I have to cuss myself out in my head to keep moving. Other times it’s almost like entering a meditative state, where all you can think about is continuing to move. With the music blaring and resonating in your ears, your body falls into a rhythm and even though it hurts, you just keep moving.
Having a hyperactive brain that is almost never silent, there is peace in this for me. I’m not thinking about what I have to do tomorrow or what I forgot to do earlier. I’m just thinking about picking up that barbell one more time. And one more time. And one more time.
Sometimes the best mental clarity comes on the cusp of physical exhaustion.
There’s something about doing something really hard day after day that builds mental strength both in and out of the gym that has been the most happy side effect of this sport. It begins to subconsciously, then consciously, change your mind about the things you believe about yourself.
“I could never do that” becomes “Maybe I can.”
“No point in trying” becomes “Lets see what happens.”
“This is too hard” becomes “Yeah, but I’m doing it.”
Doing those tough workouts alongside other people at the gym make for great friendships, too. You commiserate about how terrible those burpees were and congratulate each other for hitting new milestones. You talk about how sore you are from yesterday’s workout and gripe about not knowing why you put yourself through this. Then you get up, wipe your sweat off your head and say “See you tomorrow.”
After developing this love/hate relationship with CrossFit, I now know the reason I never was able to enjoy exercise. I always saw it as a punishment for being overweight. I had to workout to fit into those pants. To lose the baby weight. To make up for eating that fried food or that whole candy bar.
Somewhere along the way, my mindset began to shift. A little at a time, I stopped dreading it and started to look forward to it.I started caring a lot less about the number on the scale and a lot more about the number on the barbell. I started being proud of myself for getting stronger, not ashamed of myself for having belly rolls. I no longer think “Oh God, I have to do this…” I think “Thank God that I’m capable of doing this.”
