I am a Crossfit Woman

A few months ago, I started seeing and hearing about Crossfit. I didn't know what it was, other than some workout program, and by the name, I assumed it was some Christian-based gym program...which made me immediately skeptical.

Oh how wrong I was.

I decided to check into this whole CF thing when I saw photos of friends on one of those social networking sites. It wasn't their buffness or thinness that attracted my attention. It was his baby daughter strapped to his back while he did pull-ups; and the crazy exercises like 20" box jumps (exactly what it sounds like people. Jumping onto a box that is 20" high...over and over); and the gym dogs (actual canines) who hung around the gym; and the pictures of little kids using kettlebells and doing squats and box jumps right along with their parents (how many gyms do you know that let children under 16 in?); and the fact that every Crossfit gym is basically just a skeleton warehouse with free weight equipment in it (no machines other than the rower).

Then the hubs actually did one of the workouts...and he wouldn't shut up about it. Not that I really wanted him to because I love seeing him get fired up about stuff. Then he started going to their website and watching videos and looking at pictures, and because I couldn't resist watching videos of people doing things I'd never heard of (a muscle up), I watched over his shoulder. And then I noticed something.

Maybe you noticed it, too.

Fern, the woman in the video...isn't your typical gym woman. I'd spent my life in gyms (and malls, and restaurants, and schools, and sitting in my own bedroom) trying to figure out how to "look" like the typical gym woman: too thin, make-up, improper technique, hours of cardio, etc. All it got me was 14 years of anorexia sub-type purging.

I started watching more of these videos on the Crossfit website of women doing these amazing things...and each one of them had a different body-type. And then the hubs found this article.

I was hooked. I have been a Crossfit woman for just under 3 weeks, but for the first time in over 2 decades, I'm not worried about my weight. For the first time ever, I walk into the gym and my self-esteem doesn't plummet because of all the "other" women there, but rather grows based on what I am about to accomplish. For the first time ever, I am focusing not on looking like someone, but on doing something. And for the first time ever, I actually FEEL my body getting more than just strong...it's functionable.

Now don't get me wrong...I can't do a muscle up (they recommend not even trying a muscle up until you can do 15 pull-ups and 15 dips). But one day, I will. And I'll post the video of it with some cool captions and killer mood music.

My first goal? One unassisted pull-up.

See you on youtube.