CrossFit

Last summer I met a lady at a going away party who was a CrossFit instructor.  She said that since it wasn't offered on base that she was interested in getting the program started here.  I told her I would love to try it out and left it at that.  Through the grapevine late last year, I'd heard that introductory classes were being offered.  Excited, I contacted the instructor and signed up for a class called Elements.

I had no idea what you do in Elements or in CrossFit for that matter.  I just knew I was up for another challenge since I'd been exercising regularly since last June.  I found out that you have to take Elements if you are not familiar with Olympic lifts.  Oh my....I had never really lifted anything more than a weighted bar, done a bench press once and tried a dead lift last spring.  While I was nervous and unsure of what I was doing, I ended up learning so many new things in this class.  I tried things like: back squats, front squats, cleans, the snatch, sumo dead lift high pull and many others.  We were shown proper form and how to lift safely.  One day after Elements we did something called a WOD.  The WOD had a name, was timed, and we did some crazy exercises (box jumps, rowing, lifts, plank, wall walks and wall balls), some of which I'd never done before.  When I was finished, I was beat, happy to have completed Elements and ready to try CrossFit classes.

CrossFit classes are held in a group setting and led by our amazing and strong coach.  There are multiple classes per day and the popularity has literally grown overnight here (I feel very lucky to have taken Elements when I did).  A typical class begins with a warmup (cardio, mobility exercises, lunges, push ups, sit ups, etc), strength exercise such as a certain type of lift or working on particular skill (hand stand push ups, ring dips, etc), and then the WOD or workout of the day which is timed. 

Here is an example of the WOD named "Angie" that we did this past Wednesday:

100 pull ups
100 push ups
100 sit ups
100 squats

This WOD was brutal and I finished last....but at least I finished.  CrossFit has shown me that I am stronger than I think I am and that I can push through even the hardest of workouts.  I love that no one can leave class until the last person is finished doing the WOD and that my coach and other classmates have done exercises alongside me to help me push through until the end.  This has been the most supportive group I have ever been a part of and I look forward to the CF journey of added weights, doing my first strict pull up without a band, and seeing how much stronger I will become this year.

We do a ton of Burpees in CrossFit.