Are you struggling to lose those few pounds that you found since you’ve gotten out of school? You try to stay active, but just don’t have the same motivation?
Maybe you even go to the gym regularly, but the results just aren’t there.
That’s exactly where I was...working out multiple times each week, but something was missing. Then my friend Ricky showed me a workout that got him more shredded than when he was in high school, and it changed my life….in 11 minutes!
Do you remember what practice was like when you played sports? Maybe in high school, or even in a youth league, at the end of practice was always the (at the time) dreaded conditioning. Even though you never looked forward to the conditioning part of practice, you knew it was necessary. And, working side by side with your teammates, together, towards a common goal made it tolerable.
After graduating, sports pretty much stopped. There are a few pick up games, and the occasional city league, but it’s not even close to the same. You don’t really practice, and you don’t have a coach. Without the coach, out goes the conditioning part (that you know you need).
You pack on some pounds, which….of course.....is just part of being an adult (is what I told myself).
What also comes is a little hesitation to take your shirt off at the beach or pool party. But it’s OK, the added weight is mostly muscle (is also what I told myself).
I was hitting the gym trying to stay in shape with mixed results. Trying to lose the weight on my own, or at least keep it mostly in check. For a few years it worked OK. I would follow some program from a magazine or that I found online. Sometimes you try to re-enact things from high school that you would do at practice...
…but you just can’t get the same results and push that comes from training with the team.
I was lacking accountability to a program, team, and coach. On days I was in a funk, I would change the workout, or cut it short...only to feel guilty later. I missed the energy, confidence, and feeling spry.
I missed feeling like an athlete.
One Saturday while working out with a fireman buddy of mine, I notice that he’s definitely lost a few pounds. He looks lean, in the best shape I’ve seen him over the past few years. He’s been following a program that he found online. We go to the gym to do that days workout together, and before we started I thought it was a joke. It looked like it would take less than 20 minutes….so we warmed up and then got into it….
Eleven minutes later I was totally smoked.
My lungs were burning almost as much as the muscles in my legs. It was the feeling from high school practice that I hadn’t felt in over a decade! I was definitely tired, but felt the rush of a good workout that you struggle to get on your own. It was obvious, this is what I had been missing.
The workout was great, but doing it with Ricky made the difference. That comradery and drive that only comes from sweating and struggling together.
Looking online, I found a local gym that was an official CrossFit affiliate and had a bunch of great reviews. They offered a free trial with a coach, so I figured there’s nothing really to lose, except these extra pounds.
Holy. Smokes. This is the answer.
It put together all the missing pieces. There is a coach who runs you through the warm-ups, skill work, and workout. You don’t have to figure out what you’re going to do that day, the workout is already set and ran by the coach! Your job is to show up and work hard alongside people with similar goals and mindset...just like practice in high school.
He knew it was my first day, so he modified the workout for me. A few other people in class couldn’t do everything in the workout either, so they each got their own modifications. There were about 12 of us, all doing the same workout, but modified to our own abilities.
It’s been 10 years since I first started CrossFit, and those first eleven minutes changed everything about how I view ‘going to the gym.’
I lost those extra pounds, and have actually made friends at the gym.
Even though I’m an entire decade older, I feel young and healthy. I don’t think twice about popping the top at the beach, and don’t roll my eyes when my daughter asks me to race her.
I feel like myself, like an athlete.
New people from different backgrounds with different goals start all the time. Some people are there to to lose 30, 50, even 100 pounds, while others want to lose a few pounds and get strong. You get supported and encouraged by the people there because everyone remembers what it is like to first start. It fills that void of being on a team...being coached through challenging workouts and making friends in the process.