“BREATHE” from Paul Schneider on Vimeo.
About a year ago, I toyed with the idea of CrossFit. I purchased a kettle bell and attempted a few work outs, with the help of my lovely boyfriend, pushing me along. With sore arms and quads, it fizzled quickly and I stuck to running, swimming & biking. I just didn’t have much interest, even though I knew it would make me so much stronger. Shawn is a pretty big gym rat and has been non stop talking about joining a CrossFit gym. He’s taken it upon himself to research it, and practice a lot of the work outs at his gym. He would show me videos, WOD’s and endless blogs about this intense form of exercising. I would roll my eyes and say ” That’s so not for me, why would I ever want to press weight over my head?”. The gyms looked dirty. But I looked at the bodies of some of these girls who were doing 5 rounds of burpees, thrusters, dead lifts, kettle bell swings, double unders and kipping pull ups, and holy hat, 6 packs were the norm. If you don’t know what any of those things are, it’s probably a good thing, since over the last month I have had to learn them and completely destroy my muscles with these movements.
But I’m hooked.
I love LOVE yoga. Over the years, I’ve practiced in a handful of gyms and all different types of yoga. BUT. I fell strangely in love with Bikram and do not miss any of the sweat I’ve left behind. I was going a few days a week along with running which I felt was ok. I was ok with that. I felt it was enough. But I wasn’t challenged. I wasn’t strong. I wasn’t losing the fat I wanted. I could run for miles, but I couldn’t do a push up. I could hold tree pose and successfully survive 90 minutes of yoga in 105 degrees, but I couldn’t do a pull up if you paid me. I still had love handles. Saddle bags. Also since we moved into our new home over a year ago, I have gained 10 lbs. I maintained that weight for a year, and although with marathon training and training for a speed triathlon, I never lost any weight. I don’t believe in crappy crash diets or points and take pride in eating as clean as I can, local and sustainable food, and with whole foods literally down the road, we were able to achieve that. I feel that people who constantly yo yo diet never really lose any REAL weight. It always comes back. Or the ones who lose 10 lbs in 2 weeks with shitty processed low-fat foods or frozen dinners. Don’t get me wrong, I counted calories and watched my portions but I still ate good fats and some bad, and even with my vegan baking, I still enjoyed really good cheeses, desserts, breads and pastas. Oh, and my daily wine drinking. That was number one that I had to cut down. Wine, I miss you.
One morning, I joined a CrossFit gym. It was a spur of the moment, now or never kind of thing. I saw the changes in Shawn’s body. I did some reading and thinking. And with the new year, I decided I was going to become committed to this. I spent 8 years doing gymnastics. 8 years of competitions, ripped hands and calluses, leg lifts, routines, wrapping swollen joints, hot summer days in an unconditioned gym, practicing 4 days a week, 3 hours a day, YEAR ROUND. It was hardcore. I wanted to be hardcore again.
So here we go. Next month I will be going Paleo. Godspeed. I will need it.
