How Do I Love CrossFit? Let Me Count the Ways...

Have you ever felt the need to collapse after a simple seven minute workout?

Have you ever exercised so hard that when you collapsed on the floor you left a sweat stain the exact shape of your entire body?

Have you ever done so many pullups that the skin ripped off the palm of your hand?

If you answered yes to these questions, then you might be familiar with the insane world of CrossFit. CrossFit is one of those things in the world that you have to experience to really understand it, because it changes the way you think about the world and your physical capabilities. CrossFit is not a casual part time hobby. Either you do CrossFit or you don’t. Yes, it does sound a little bit like a cult, and yes, there are some people who act like they are in the CrossFit cult. But the cultists are the minority.

Like most significant things in my life, I can’t remember when exactly I first heard about it. I joined my first Crossfit gym around November of 2008. I trained there until March of 2009, then stopped because of my Ironman training. I built a CrossFit gym at home and trained in it from 2009 – 2010. Then around October of 2010 I joined another gym again, mostly so I’d have other people around to challenge me and push me.

And having other people around has made all the difference.

In a nutshell, CrossFit as a training regime is about developing 10 separate fitness domains: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy. In essence it is about the opposite of specialization; it prides itself on developing “total” fitness.

The way I define CrossFit for my coworkers is simpler: you do really crazy workouts, really fast, with heavy weights until you puke.

Generally, there are 2 types of workouts: there can be a set of exercises that you complete as fast as possible for time, or there is a set time period, and you complete as many exercises as possible within that time period. In either instance, you are doing something intense while you race against the clock.

Which brings me to another of one of the unique challenges that is often overlooked about CrossFit – not only are you doing crazy intense things, but while you are being physically taxed, you still need to keep your head focused to do a lot of counting. And who knew that basic counting could be so hard? Well it turns out that when you’re trying to use all your mental capacity to keep from puking, that counting thing can get pretty hard.

Here’s a few sample workouts CrossFit workouts:

Annie: As fast as possible, do 100 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 squats.

Helen: Do 3 rounds of this set - Run ¼ mile, 21 kettlebell swings, and 12 pull-ups.

Murph: 1 mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, 1 mile run.

There are a ton of diverse and intense workouts, but they all challenge your body in very unique ways. If you google CrossFit you can check out some of the videos – they are worth watching. If you need inspiration today for your workout, go watch one of the videos.  Go. Now.

What’s most ironic is that while Crossfit is an insanely intense physical challenge, it is the mental challenge that is most beneficial for me. The reason I keep coming back is because Crossfit is training me how to give a complete 100% effort. Not 80% or 85% or 95%, but a complete 100% effort.

As hard as it is to admit, I have rarely in my life ever given 100% effort, because I learned early on in my life that it is safer to hold back. It is safer to keep something in reserve and not be vulnerable. This is a profound life pattern that has shown up many times in my life.

In the world of endurance training, running, and triathlons, it is considered "smart" racing, if you can do a negative split - that means that the second half of your workout is at a faster pace than your first half. A negative split means that you raced "smart" because you didn't overdo it the first half, you didn't wear yourself out too much. You paced yourself appropriately to have enough energy to slightly speed up the second half of the race.

I could always do a negative split in triathlons and marathons, because I always planned my race to run safe. I always had a little extra something left in reserve, just in case.

CrossFit requires the exact opposite of that. CrossFit does NOT reward a negative split - CrossFit requires that you give 100% in every segment, so that by the end of your workout, you are just trying to stay standing. CrossFit workouts require that you give 100% during the first few minutes, and then you just try to hang on to be able to finish the workout. If you come close to puking, then you slow down just enough to avoid puking. That's the measure of a good workout - how close you came to puking.

Although this doesn't necessarily sound fun, it is incredibly important training for life. Because how many of us, in our lives, have trained ourselves to give 100% every minute of the day? How many of us have physically and mentally trained our bodies and minds to push ourselves to the absolute limit of what we can tolerate before collapsing?

After some of my best workouts:

- My legs have been shaking so much I could not walk up the stairs in my house.
- My arms have been so worn out I could now lift them to wash my hair in the shower.
- My hands have been so sore I could not grip the phone for a phone call.

These are signs that I trained to my limit - that I pushed beyond the normal, ordinary physical limits. And how often does that happen in our typical, corporate, ho-hum grown-up lives? 


Plus, I have to admit that doing such crazy workouts changes my perception of what's normal.  Doing 25 pushups just isn't a challenge anymore.  Doing 250 pushups is  a challenge.  Running 1/4 mile sprints isn't a challenge anymore.  Running 1/4 mile sprints while alternating them with heavy deadlifts and pull-ups is a challenge.  Whenever you think something is hard, you just need to go do something much harder and then the first thing won't seem so hard anymore.  In other words, if something seems hard maybe you just need to change the units of measurement of your scale.  Normal is just a relative concept and you can change your perceptions of normal every day.    

The best part of my workout is when I walk out the door of the gym after the workout, knowing it is only 7:00 am, and I have already accomplished something amazing for the day.

CrossFit is a method for training my physical body. But the impact and the benefit for my life go far beyond the physical. At this point in my life, I don't want to play things safe and I don't want to leave anything in reserve. If I want to live my life full out, then I need to embrace the lessons of CrossFit.

Sometimes when we want to change our mental habits, we need to start by changing our physical habits.