Today I have a wonderful guest post from one of my best friends Steph. {Check out her blog it has nothing to do with fitness but its cute with wedding fun!} She just started CrossFit and I thought what better way for someone that is on the edge with should I or shouldn’t I try this “extreme” exercise to hear from a beginner! Someone that used to be in your position.{other than me! (: } Enjoy.
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I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a strong willed, dedicated and hardworking individual. I find myself easily motivated on almost all topics… except for when it comes to working out. I get easily frustrated if I don’t understand what is going on and am even more discouraged when I don’t see results almost immediately. To put it lightly, I’ve tried a wide variety of workout regimens from Aerobics to Zumba and didn’t quite love anything enough to stick with it for longer than a few months.
When Danielle started sharing with me her adventures at Crossfit Uncompromised I was intrigued enough to check out the website and was immediately shocked by the price. Granted, I am accustomed to my $10/month Planet Fitness bill so on my smaller paycheck I would obviously question something any more expensive. So I forgot about a Crossfit adventure and continued my elliptical training while watching TV at the gym.
Lucky for me, in December CFU offered a Living Social deal for an unlimited month of classes for less than $50. I was sold on this more than 50% savings deal. I strategically waited until a time in January where I would have an open month of time based around the beginner class times to get the most out of my deal. It’s been a week and I can honestly say this is the best work out experience I’ve had.
The staff at CFU immediately made me feel welcomed and comfortable on my first day, which is something that is very important to me. Nothing is more awkward and discouraging than being completely lost and no one caring. While I take my classes with other beginners, they are still more in sync with the skills than I am, since basically every day is something completely new. Instead of a trainer who yells and intimidates, Tricia and Scott encourage and even take the time to make sure you are doing the exercise correctly to get the most out of your time, and theirs That’s definitely the learning style that works for me. And these are SOLID workouts. Last week I admittedly wanted to cut off my arms and legs because they were literally so sore, a good sore. I’ve also learned that a lot of my prior apprehensions have been strictly mind over matter. On my very first day I was doing handstand holds against the wall and push presses, where I guess I set my first PR of 50 pounds.
Yesterday I braved the freezing rain and snow to head to class where I was the only one tackling beginner Bear Complexes. I was surprised and so appreciative of Scott who spent a ridiculously long amount of time instructing me on a concept that was completely foreign to me up until 1pm.
The only downfall I find in this opportunity is the distance from my home (and pretty much every other part of Lancaster that I frequent.) This concept expressed perfectly by my personal trainer friend Matt. He shares how you’re more willing and motivated to get to the gym for workouts if the gym is located in a prime spot near your home. While I’ve been able to cut down my commute to about 20 minutes, it’s still a lot further than the three minute hop-skip-jump to Planet Fitness. Weighing the pros and cons though? Crossfit is certainly a work out that I couldn’t give myself (not even close) in just going to the gym alone. And it’s a workout that focuses on strength and health, not ‘skinny.’
The bottom line? It’s safe to say I’m rebudgeting to see how Crossfit can fit into life after my Living Social deal expires, while trying to learn all the appropriate crossfit-slang.
Special thanks to Danielle for encouraging me to check out the box and what these classes have to offer. I hope in sharing my first time experiences, you too will want to check out this great workout opportunity.
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What a great post! Thank you Steph so much!
Questions: Have you been on the edge on trying CrossFit? Do you think you will give it a try?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Geez I wish that I could find a crossfit deal for 50 dollars! That’s probably the only way I could afford to try it.
PS love that you two flip flopped blogs for the day
haha, we didn’t even really plan that it just kinda happened!
I do wanna try
maybe just once
but I wanna.
I love CrossFit and will attend classes on base when I can. We can’t afford a membership to the box near me and there’s no child care which is a conundrum for this mom. I do WODs at my gym or home though M-F and use crossfitmamas.com as a guide!
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