Should I Start CrossFit? - Tim Frankie Thoughts

Here's a story about sweating out my first day jitters...should I start CrossFit or not? It's more than just signing up for a gym membership. 

Let me just start off by saying there has always been stigmas against CrossFit, and I will be honest, I was very guilty of judging beforehand. I always thought it was a bunch of dudes slapping butts, wearing knee high socks and grunting as loud as they could while calling each other bros. Then my first day happened - and I realized it was as much a lifestyle change as moving to a different country...

All of a sudden you're underground. The moment that first drop of sweat hits the floor, you're in the cult - and you love it. 

I'll say this. My buddy has been going to a CrossFit box here in NYC for two years or so now. He was a runner in college and said CrossFit filled that void of playing on a team. I also yearned for that team camaraderie feeling since high school (a long time ago). The ability to push yourself because you CAN'T let down the person next to you. So after a little bit of convincing I said hey what the hell. I am an active person, I run often and hit the gym about 3-4 times a week so I thought this would be like any other gym day. I was wrong. Dead wrong. And I deserved every second of pain I encountered. 

The moment I saw the workout, (80 pull-ups, 60 burpees, 40 thrusters, 20 wall pushups in 25 minutes) my jaw dropped. Even as a partner WOD, I said there is no possible way any two humans can do that in that time. Well, turns out, I didn’t complete the entire workout, but I was amazed by how far I got because I had a great teammate in my friend.

As tired as I was, I knew we only had 25 minutes and every second I wasted taking a break and I knew I was denying my best friend from his workout. So I pushed it to the limit, threw up twice and haven’t been that sore since freshman soccer two-a-days. But it was so worth it. I was right back at it the next day even though I was walking around like a marionette doll from how sore I was. And you know what? It put a huge smile on my face. 

It's kind of the same feeling we all first had when we started VoyEdge RX. We didn't really know what we were signing up for, what we were doing, but we knew there was a mission there. A sense of purpose - and through all the hard work, headaches (they're still ongoing sometimes) there's a huge sense of camaraderie, much like a partner WOD. You're in it for the long haul, all while struggling through the ins and outs. And it puts a smile on our face. 

Long story short, I felt like I was thrown around like a beach ball at a Nickelback concert. That WOD plain old kicked my ass. But after a couple more classes, I didn’t feel like some college frat boy who grunts when he does CrossFit. I felt accomplished. I wanted more. 

My current CrossFit box are clearly a close-knit group of athletes. A family if you will, who are all willing to push themselves for their brothers and sisters, because they want to be stronger together. And that to me, having been a recent convert, can easily understand that from a week or two of classes. Who knows if I will be a CrossFitter for life, but I do know that our next WOD is Jackie, and I promised my buddy I would race him in the rowing machine.

 I'll let you know how it turns out :) 

We'll hope to see you on some trips in the future!

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