20 Lessons From One Year of CrossFit

As of the conclusion of May, I’ve been doing CrossFit for a little over a year now. When I first started CrossFit I had no idea how radically it would transform me physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. So I’m linking up with Running with Spoons to share some thoughts from one year of CrossFit.

1. CrossFit has transformed my body and I love it. Hello defined shoulders and back. I’ve gone from having a flat booty to nice booty. My traps feel like they are going to burst out of my sports bra straps. I really, really love how CrossFit is changing my body and those are just a few changes I’ve noticed.

2. You will have bad days. I’ve had days where my body completely forgot how to do a squat clean. So I had to scale back on my normal weight and really get down the movement. I have days where I can’t hit close to my normal max. It happens.

3. I forget about everything else going on in my life whenever I walk into the box. The good or bad about my day goes out the window. My mind goes into focusing on the workout. Calculating weights. And pushing myself through every rep. Giving myself mental cues on movements. It’s like an escape.

4. Overhead Squats make me cry. Literally cry. Thank you Open Workout 15.2. Overhead squats I still hate you.

5. You should do the Open or a CrossFit competition. Participating in the Open gave me a reason to train and and allowed me to experience CrossFit from a competitive perspective. 

6. I love post-workout protein shakes. I swear Progenex protein powder has helped me get some gainz and my muscles recover better after a workout.  

7.Gaining weight is okay. I’ve probably gained 15lbs since I started CrossFit. My shirts don’t fit the same like my shoulders and back feel Hulk-like and like they want to bust out of my shirt. My jeans fit a little tighter. The good thing is that it’s all muscle, but it did take a change of mind to accept it at first. 

8. Someday you will get kipping pull-ups I promise. It takes time and practice and strength. One day it’ll all click. Remind yourself that when it comes to other lifts and movements as well like snatch, double-unders, and clean + jerk. It takes 1000s of repetitions of a movement for your body to really get it. 

9. Never feel like you suck if you have to scale your weight. You know you’re body and where the line is. But that doesn’t mean not to push yourself. If you want to improve you have to push your weight at times. 

10. If you ever have to change CrossFit boxes remember that every box is different. It’s real easy to get caught up in how the new box is so different from your old one. You get used to it with time.

11. You don’t have to eat Paleo to do CrossFit though it does help. Full 100% Paleo is not for me, but I like to try to eat like that most of the time. The way I feed my body is still a work in progress. 

12. Your CrossFit box and the people in it become like a home and support system. When you work out beside people 3-5 times a week you get to know them and their life. You start to care about them and whatever is going on with them. But mostly you joke around and make light of a tough workout with these people. 

13. Having an injury sucks. The lovely stress fracture in my foot resulted in lots of time rowing and that got a little old and super frustrating. I had to learn how to be patient and to know when to back off to keep from worsening my injury. 

14. Mobility is incredibly important. You can always do more mobilizing.

15. It’s okay to video yourself. For me I’m a visual learner and it is super helpful to have a visual idea of what I’m doing or not doing. (How do you think I got all these pictures anyways?)

16. You will get a little beat up. Your hands might rip from pull-ups. My hips and thighs bruise from snatches and hang cleans. That deadlift bar likes to knick my shins. My list goes on and on. 

17. You never stop getting sore. If you ever stop getting sore you’re probably slacking off. 

18. CrossFit is empowering. It has shown me that I can lift heavy weights. That I can do pull-ups. That I can get under a heavy barbell. That I am strong. 

19. CrossFit has transformed my self-image. My view of what being “strong” and “fit” is has changed. I now appreciate my body more for what it can do than what it does or doesn’t look like. “Skinny” isn’t my idea of being sexy now. I like my muscles and I like knowing they’re getting bigger. These changes in my mind-set have really been transformative and were what I needed.

20.  You cannot look like Lauren Fisher or Brooke Ence within a year. That takes years of hard work, dedication, training, nutrition, etc. Maybe by year 4 or 5 I’ll look like them. But really if you think you can get a body like theirs within a year, well then you’re deceiving yourself. 

I absolutely love CrossFit and what it has done for my overall health-physical, mental, and emotional. I could go on and on with little lessons and tips I’ve learned over the year. I have made tons of progress over a year and look forward to seeing what I’ll be able to do this next year. (Maybe muscle-ups, handstand walks, and overhead squats). CrossFit is the workout that works for me and is the way that I like to keep healthy and fit. So here’s to the start of year 2 of CrossFit!

Have you ever done CrossFit?

Have you found the fitness approach that works for you?

 

Interested in reading more about my CrossFit experience? Here are some of my past CrossFit posts:

Murph Recap ’15

15.3 CrossFit Open

Why 15.2 Made Me Cry

15.1 CrossFit Recap

Why I’m Competing in the CrossFit Open

What 3 Months of CrossFit Has Taught Me

And it Begins: CrossFit