Why do you CrossFit? Why do I CrossFit?

CrossFit California City is home to ZERO firebreathers.  Our membership is roughly at 8 adults and a half dozen kids.  We have one young military guy who is our top performer, but he’ll be first to tell you he’s not a firebreather either.  By firebreather I mean top 5% of all CrossFitters.  I think 5% is a fair number.  I might even move it to 3% as the number of CrossFitters is rising worldwide.  The best of the best.  The games competitors.  The HQ trainers.

CrossFit Cal City is home to regular people, like you and me.  We all aspire to be firebreathers, but really just as a lofty goal to guide our training.  I am almost 39 years old, have been CrossFitting for a little over a year, have a handful of nagging injuries that always creep up, and hold a full time job.  I won’t soon make it the firebreather level.  But I’m OK with that.  For those 20 minutes during the WOD, I am a firebreather.  I’m pushing very hard.  Harder than last time.  Faster than last time.  Better form than last time.  When I’m done, and the clock stops, …. I’m back to “not a firebreather”.  And I’m OK with that too.  But that’s not “‘why” I CrossFit.  Why do I CrossFit?

My real “why” has only a few facets, and I’ll bet it is right in line with most CrossFitter’s “whys”.  First, and probably foremost, I CrossFit for health.  That sounds obvious, but it’s really deeper than that for me.  I know that CrossFit is the vehicle that has changed my overall health more than anything I’ve ever done in my life.  CrossFit literally “whipped” me into shape, and quick.  I was pushing 240 lbs and 35% bodyfat when I started CrossFitting.  I was certainly on the road to a lifetime of health problems.  For the first time in my life, my blood pressure was measured “high” at a doctor’s visit.  The last time I had my blood lipids checked, which was 3 years before I started, my total cholesterol was over 220.  I know it was worse than that when I started CrossFitting.  I was a very “common” 39 year-old American male.  I’m happily down to 205 lbs, about 17% BF (and still working!), my blood pressure is cylon-perfect, and my lipids are equally as stellar.  My total cholesterol is now 170.  The nutrition aspect of the CrossFit lifestyle has been a huge part of this success.  If I laid out what I eat in a day now, and compare it to what I would eat in a day 2 years ago, the contrast would be startling.  So I CrossFit first and foremost for that reason.  I want to continue to be as healthy as I can, for as long as I can, and never be “common” again.

Second, I CrossFit because I want to be an example to others.  I CrossFit for my daughter, for my wife, for the rest of my family, for my friends and co-workers, and for complete strangers.  The classic cliché of fits, “If I can do it, anybody can do it.”   Sadly, I’m “uncommon” now for my age.  I want to be an example to folks who are “common”.  “Common” was no way to live, and there’s no reason why you can’t change your life.  Just do what I did.  It’s really that simple.  Change what and how much you eat, and get your bodies moving heavy things quickly, and often.

Third, CrossFit is way fun.  I mean, really, really FUN.   I love the community.  I love the workouts.  I love the competition.  It’s all just good, clean, fun.  Sure, laying face down in a puddle of your own sweat praying that puddle doesn’t turn into one of your own vomit might not sound like fun, but it is.  I don’t mean roller-coaster fun, or family-day-at-the-movies fun.  It’s the kind of fun you have in competitive sports.  The thrill of victory.  It’s fun knowing you gave it your all, even if your all wasn’t a mind-blowing Fran time.  Remember when you were a kid, how long you could play outside in the mud and in the snow?  Running up hills, down hills, through the woods, throwing snowballs, throwing footballs in the snow?  Remember that?  It was hard work!  But we don’t remember it as work, because it was fun.  I get that feeling when I CrossFit.  I enjoy working out with family and friends.  I don’t know how long I would’ve stuck with it if my wife wasn’t CrossFitting with me.  How long can you have a snowball fight by yourself?

Fourth, I love to talk.  I love to teach, and I love to talk.  Just ask me.  CrossFit has given me an avenue to influence those that need help through my coaching.  By no means do I have all the answers, but I’ll fudge it until I get the real answer.   I don’t have a bunch of letters after my name.  I don’t have a degree in exercise physiology or biochemistry.  I have a cheesy personal trainer certificate and a CrossFit Level 1.  However, I am also a husband, a parent, a veteran, a black belt, a son, a brother and a friend.  CrossFit training lends itself well to the personable trainer, and I try to be that.  One thing that I love about my garage affiliate is that I’m home when I train.  When you come to CFCC, you’re coming into my home.  You’ll meet my retired Dad who lives with me, you’ll get licked by my dog and you’ll see what I bought at Costco this week.  But teaching CrossFit in my garage is the same as teaching in a big box.  If you’ve met other trainers, and gone to the bigger boxes, you know other trainers are this way too.  They love to teach, and welcome you into their class like you were family.

Lastly, and certainly not the most important, I CrossFit because it’s cool.  There, I said it.  CrossFit is cool.  When I was practicing martial arts, there was that sense that I was doing something that was out of the ordinary, cutting edge, even cool.  Of course I learned quickly that doing it because it’s cool is no reason to do anything, but on top of all the right reasons, there is the coolness.  Folks I talk to about CrossFit think I’m crazy at first, but then begin to understand my “whys” and then they think it’s sort of cool.  When they think it’s cool, I begin to think it’s cool again.  I am Jack’s toy lightsaber.

Why do I CrossFit?  I CrossFit so you’ll CrossFit!  Why do you CrossFit?  If you don’t know, you really should think about it.  Maybe you don’t CrossFit but you treat your workout regimen the way we treat ours, with passion and warfare.  Why?  I suspect most who read this will have very similar reasons about why they CrossFit.  Share your reasons in the comments.

Bob

NEW: Read “Part 2″

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