I started CrossFit at Harbor City Crossfit (HC2) in Florida in early February. Prior to this, I hadn't done anything regularly since wrestling season finished my senior year of high school. I'd occasionally fancy myself a medium distance runner and run 3-5 miles/day, but would quickly bore of this and start finding excuses not to go for the daily run. Other times, I'd go to the gym and wander around aimlessly, typically doing lifts that I was stronger at to avoid embarrassment, which only perpetuated my weaknesses.
I was getting fairly frustrated with how soft I was getting when a friend showed me CFHQ site and said he was going to start up on it. The WOD for that day was Cindy (which I still list as my favorite WOD). I stated that I thought I could probably get 6-7 rounds done, but didn't see how it would be that great of a workout - COMPLETELY missing the intensity factor of CrossFit. So here I am, with 18+ rounds of Cindy, ever so hungry for more.
I think the greatest changes CrossFit has pushed on me was the intense training mindset. Within a little over a month I went from seeing a WOD and figuring out how I'd have to modify it to simply thinking "well, time to get some sleep... tomorrow's going to kick my ass". I've done a Murph for fun, and I can't believe that that's normal. As far as physical changes, I haven't had a fluctuation of weight one way or the other, but can see and feel everything start to lean out. HC2's motto really says it best: "Look better naked".
Goals -
Linda, RX next time it's posted. This is the only workout to introduce me to our favorite clown, and that was on a way scaled back version of it. I remember seeing people set up to do it rx, and thinking that it was crazy and impossible.
I WILL get a muscleup
I WILL figure those damned double unders out
I WILL get Fran down to the 7 minute range.
As a side note: anybody considering CrossFit but thinks they first need to get "in shape", stop being ridiculous. I made this mistake, and I assure you that traditional conditioning will not help anywhere near as much as just getting in and having Leigh Ann ease you into the program. By delaying, you're only setting yourself further back.
---Tim, age 25
I started CrossFit and the Zone diet back in July of 2007. I don't even know where to start as far as progress goes because it's hard to remember life pre CrossFit!
Before I found CrossFit I did the typical 20-30 minutes of cardio paired with dumbbell curls, etc. to "tone" my arms. This left me bored and frustrated and I would find any excuse I could to skip my workout. Now that I am a CrossFit addict I find any excuse I can to get to the gym because there are so many skills I want to work on and so many workouts I want to try! This is the only program I have found that doesn't get old.
My accomplishments:
It took me almost 8 months but I finally got my first pull-up in March of 2008. Now I can do 6 unbroken!
I can finally do "man" push-ups
I can dead lift over 1.5 times my bodyweight
I've gone down 7% bodyfat and 4 pants sizes but I don't even care about looks anymore. I just want to get stronger and cut time on the benchmark WOD's... but pants shopping has never been so fun!
My goals for the year:
Complete Fran as Rx'd - I'm really close but not quite there!
Dead lift 2x my bodyweight
100 unbroken double unders - I'm at 95 right now... so close!
Run a 24 minute 5k - I'm down to 25.05 right now... pretty good for someone who could barely run a mile a year ago!
My favorite part of CrossFit is the community. I have met so many amazing people through this program and am so happy that my family is all hooked on CrossFit too. CrossFit draws a special kind of person... one who is honest, hard working and goal oriented. If you work out with fellow CrossFitters you can't help but be inspired and pushed to the next level everytime you hear 3-2-1 GO.
---Kristi, age 28
I started CrossFit 1 year ago. I was the typical "I thought I was fit before I tried CrossFit" person. I was doing triathlon training when my sister introduced me to CrossFit while I was vacationing in California. After my first CrossFit workout I knew this was something I needed, because I was completely neglecting several important aspects of fitness! I found that CrossFit was a perfect fit for my busy life and quickly became an addict! I knew right away that I wanted to affiliate and become a trainer in Ames and share this program with everyone I know. I am still amazed at how much progress I've made in a years time. I went from doing 1 pullup to 22 consecutive, got a muscle up after 9 months, can now deadlift 2x's my bodyweight, can push jerk my bodyweight overhead, have dropped 4 minutes off my 5K time and am continuously PRing on all of the WODS. I have lost 7 pounds and feel a lot leaner (I am seeing my abs for the first time in my life!). Most importantly I feel like I am productive with my workout each day and am getting better at every aspect of fitness. There is still a never ending list of things I want to accomplish performance and skill-wise and that's what I love about this... there is really no end to what I can achieve with this program and it keeps me coming back for more!
My goals for the next year are to run a sub-21 minute 5K, increase my CrossFit Total to 550, do "Nasty Girls" as prescribed and hit a sub-4:00 "Fran".
---Leigh Ann, age 34
I just wanted to take a couple minutes, I have been doing crossfit since july. I weighed myself last night for the first time in a month and I am down to 203, when I started I weighed 220 so that is a pretty good weight loss. And it has mostly been fat since I have not lost a step on my deadlift and have increased my maxes in cleans and all overhead lifts. The only thing I have lost some on is max squatting but I expected that. As a seasoned powerlifter, you understand that is a lift that is hard to maintain when you lose body mass, even if you aren't losing much muscle.
Like most of us, I was once plodding away and wondering why I wasn't getting leaner. I was always strong but was carrying excess that not only wasn't nice to look at, but keeping me from getting things like disability insurance and premium rates on health and life. I was not fat, but just because I was heavy for my height (5'7") I was lumped in with all the other fatties. It sucked. I found what my workouts lacked was intensity. And if you watch others, you will notice they all lack that as well. Just plodding along because someone told them if they just walk fast 20 minutes 3 days a week, they will be "fit". Listen, AMA and ACSM guidelines for exercise are the bare minimum one needs to hold off chronic disease and death. They are scared to tell people the truth because then they think no one would exercise at all. I want a little more than that and I assume all of you do as well, that is why we push it.
In closing, don't be too hard on the resolutioners in your big box globo gym, you were one once. Instead, help guide them and be an example, people will start to wonder. Remember, give a man a fish, he eats for a day, but teach him to fish, and he will eat forever.
--Travis
Why I Crossfit…
I started running 3 years ago, thinking if I exercise more, I can eat more sweets. I also wanted to know if it was possible for me to run a 5K. I accomplished both – I was eating more sweets without gaining weight and I could run a 5k! Running 3 days a week made a huge difference in my life – I was both happier and healthier, but constantly fighting boredom and also nagging aches and pains from doing the same movement over and over. I knew I needed to find a better option.
As many other Crossfitters, I heard about Crossfit Ames through a friend. My first workout was scary and uncomfortable – new movements, new people, new location, etc. I was ready to wave goodbye…but I really liked the idea of doing something different every day. A couple months later I worked up the courage to try it out again. Hook, line, and sinker! I knew I had found something cool.
Six months later I still Crossfit because:
1. It’s fun. Every day brings a new challenge. I have been forced to confront and conquer my fears.
2. It provides a place to be competitive – with myself.
3. The community is supportive. I love the comradery between Ames Crossfitters – we gravel together in workouts that suck, but cheer in victory as we all accomplish more than we ever thought possible.
4. It’s changed my attitude on eating. I no longer workout to eat, but rather eat better to workout better.
5. I continue to be a happier (and healthier) person - which to me is the best part.
--Amy
I CrossFit because I want my workouts to be productive and I want variety. I have been around and in the athletic/health field a long time and been though many workout regimens. CrossFit has been the most effective in seeing results...hands down.
--Marie, aka "Muscle Mama"
This is why I love crossfit:
You are always setting new goals for yourself.
Every workout is a challenge.
The variety of workouts keeps you excited to come back.
The team-like atmosphere is so welcoming.
You become so much healthier all around!
--Kelly
Today was a big day for me. This was the day when I felt the results of my two months training with Crossfit. I came in the program being able to do no Kipping pull ups and quitting after two rounds of a five round WOD. Today I managed 11 Kipping pull ups in twenty seconds and, though I'm sure I came in dead last, was even able to stick with the varsity squad. I can see and feel the payoff of this rigorous program, and I know my improvements will come in handy during my fast-approaching wrestling season. I only wish I started sooner. --Marcus
I don't remember my time from today...it was WAY behind everyone else. 33ish, maybe??? but I wanted to comment on the spirit that exists not only within the JV squad, but throughout Crossfit in general. Today was the perfect example of why I keep coming back to the barn in spite of the pain and the slow WOD times and the tore-up hands. I struggled through this workout and towards the end, Mike and Josh jumped back into the game to finish with me. They had already completed their 5 rounds, but saw me struggling, put their own exhaustion aside and motivated me to keep pushing by being by my side. All the while, Annee, Darin, Brandon and Leigh Ann were cheering me to the finish. I don't get sentimental often, but today really meant something to me. THANK YOU to everyone that keeps cheering, encouraging and struggling through each WOD, every day. I'm so proud to be a part of this group. --Laura
In the spirit of recent comments, I thought I would write down a few words about my milestones and fitness perspectives:
I'm not going to beat around the bush, at 16 years old I was overweight, out of shape and couldn't go up 3 flights of stairs, let alone 3 rounds of Michael without resting. I weighed 280 pounds and I felt trapped at that weigh, trapped in my body.
My family didn’t help much either, no offense to them whatsoever. I had a mother that tried every fad diet known to man and when one stopped working moved onto the next. I had a sister that could do 33 dead hang pull ups, thank you gymnastics. It’s so hard to cope with weight issues when you have a sister that has an eight pack. The turning point for me came in High School, when both my brother and sister went through a series of eating disorders. At his skinniest my brother had lost 100 pounds, weighing 165, a mere bean pole to his former self. My sister dropped into the 80s. Weight became a central focus of my thoughts, there really wasn’t any other way around it for me.
I began losing weight by waking up early in the mornings before school and biking and elliptically for hours...I was way to self conscious to workout in front of people After school I would lift and bike some more. Exhaustion doesn’t begin to describe what I felt, I didn’t take rest days, I didn’t cheat on my diet and I weighed myself everyday. That statement is so unhealthy I don’t know where to begin. In a little more thant four months I lost 100 pounds, to put that in perspective I lost about 6 pounds a week on average. Now for everyone that reads this, I was young and very dumb and I thought that this was the way to true fitness, to a healthy body weight and to a better self....I was wrong. I could go for hours running or swimming but ask me to squat my body weight and I was in trouble.
It has taken me a long time to learn that fitness isn't a direct result of the hours you put in or the calories you burn. Fitness is the quality of work you put into each day, the intensity you preform at, and the way in which you eat. Body image results are secondary and will come if you follow those 3 axioms. I looked today at Michael, a workout I couldn't even do a few years ago and I saw everyone giving it there all, I saw the quality in which they were performing and even though it is not as fast as some of the fire breathers at crossfit ames, I saw fitness.
--NICK
Today was a HUGE PR for me on "Cindy." The last time i completed this WOD was on 7-27-09. At that time I completed 9 rounds + 5 pullups with a blue band and pushups on my knees. That was after about 8 weeks away from Crossfit and a week on RAGBRAI (not exactly Zone friendly).
Since RAGBRAI, I have been working out 3-5 times/week consistently and eating according to the Zone principles (not strict Zone) and...
Today I completed 9 rounds + 5 pullups + 1 pushup RX!!!!! No band, no knees!!! More proof that "this shit works" (in Mindy's words:)
--Laura
I'm on week 18 of Crossfit and Zone and keep seeing consistent changes in my weight, build, and strength! I've lost nearly 20 pounds, 5 1/2 inches off my waist, 2 1/2 inches off my hips, and I'm back into my size 6 pants, after at least 2 or 3 years! I hate to sound like one of those weight-loss ads, but this stuff really works if you're dedicated and committed to it.
I've gone from jumping pullups to doing pullups in the blue band and am so excited to get a "real" pullup one of these days. My squats have improved a TON...I used to really hate them, but now I'm glad to see them in workouts. Even though my times and scores haven't shot up tremendously like some people (Nicole!!), I still see improvement in everything I do. Can't wait to see what the next 18 weeks bring!
What I enjoy about CrossFit is the variety of workouts that work different muscles all the time, the friendly competition between CrossFitters as well as with yourself, and attempting things that I have never done before, such as back squats and dead lifts!
Thanks, Leigh Ann, for bringing CrossFit to Ames!
---Sara, age 33