Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Birthday to me!
Just over a year ago, on September 18th, 2010, I did my first CrossFit workout. I had no idea at the time exactly how pivotal a moment that workout was. It changed my life, literally.
I now enjoy a healthy lifestyle not because I have to, but because I *want* to. I enjoy physical activity. I enjoy a good sweat. I enjoy a good workout. On mornings when I can't workout I feel incomplete, like something is missing (except my rest days of course!) CrossFit is as much a part of my life as Lego is (I wonder how many of you just had your jaws drop reading that statement, LOL).
I am now confident in saying that I *AM* a CrossFit'ter, and I will stand on my soap box and preach the virtues of the program to anyone who will listen. It's not for everyone, I realize that, but if you can handle it *DAMN* does it work wonders. Even if it's not a program that resonates with you like it has for me, don't give up! It took years of me trying various exercise programs before I found "the one". Don't be afraid to try something new, you never know if you might like it.
To give you a small inkling of exactly how much CrossFit has affected my life, and my passion for it, check out this photo (also posted in Facebook). Some of you have already seen this, others not.
Click for a larger version
Yes, that is my tattoo. It is *AWESOME* (though the picture isn't the greatest, sorry). I love it. I got it about 3 months ago and for several reasons. Some of those reasons are very personal, which I'm keeping to myself, others not, which I'm happy to share with you. Tigger and I go way back (too long story for here). He's a bit of a shit disturber but always seems to have a positive outlook, no matter the situation. A Kettlebell is something we use quite often in CrossFit workouts and is one of my favourite pieces of equipment to use. It just felt 'right' to get a tattoo of Tigger swinging a Kettlebell. The slightly grunting / determined look the artist gave his face is also very fitting of what I look like / feel in one of my workouts.
With the last part of this blog post I decided to take a look back at who I was a year ago and compare myself then to now. I will freely admit part of this is to make myself feel good (looking back at personal success has that kind of effect) but it's also a sort of draft list of my personal fitness milestones (which I need to start formally keeping track of).
Before getting to that list, my final words. Fitness is just like everything else; if you want to get better, practice, practice, practice. I've grown over the past year because I've given myself the time to do it, at first 3 days a week and now up to 6. It's not rocket science, and doesn't really take all that much time (most of my workouts are under 20 minutes, not including warm up/cool down). Spend 15 minutes a day working on something you suck at and pretty soon you'll be an expert.
The formatting of this may be off a bit, sorry, but you get the idea.
Weight
Sep 2010: 238
Sep 2011: 196
Pull ups
Sep 2010: 0 full, 0 assisted, 5-10 beginner
Sep 2011: 5-7 full in a single set, and working on more!
Sit ups
Sep 2010: 0 full, < 20 beginner (inclined on a hill)
Sep 2011: 100+ full as part of a workout, not straight, or 50-60 as part of a Tabata workout (basically straight)
Push ups
Sep 2010: 0 full, < 20 beginner (inclined against a wall)
Sep 2011: 200+ full as part of a workout, not straight, or 40-50 as part of a Tabata workout (basically straight)
Running
Sep 2010: 200 m and I was winded
Sep 2011: 5 K in 27 m
More Running
Sep 2010: 1 mile was something only super athletes did and scared the living shit out of me
Sep 2011: I can run 1 mile in 6:27
Squats
Sep 2010: 20 - 30
Sep 2011: 300 squats *straight* in under 10 min
Overhead squat
Sep 2010: struggled using nothing but a PVC pipe
Sep 2011: 45 lbs Olympic bar
*** This one I'm really proud of as flexibility/mobility issues were preventing me from doing the movement of the Overhead squat, hence why a year ago I struggled even without any weight.
Murph (a CrossFit Hero workout)
Sep 2010: 1/4 Murph and I was on the ground panting
Sep 2011: a full rep Murph with nothing but beginner pull ups is nothing to me (that's about 54 straight minutes of CrossFit level workout) I'm working on getting to the Full Murph!
Flexibility
Sep 2010: touching my toes with straight legs was something only triple jointed people did
Sep 2011: getting close to pushing my palms on the ground (the gut having been reduced by 50% in size helps with this of course!)
Box Jumps (basically a jump straight up, landing full flat foot on top of the box)
Sep 2010: Struggled using a 20" box, had to cut workout reps in half
Sep 2011: Our homemade 24" boxes are too small
Deadlifts
Sep 2010: PVC pipe
Sep 2011: ran out of weight at 145 lbs when going for max weight; no idea where my actual upward limit on this is but it's certainly higher
Snatch (this is that classic weightlifting lift you see in the Olympics, etc... It is also in the top 5 most complex, hard to learn lifts)
Sep 2010: not even PVC pipe
Sep 2011: 10 reps @ 75 lbs
The list goes on... :)
Just over a year ago, on September 18th, 2010, I did my first CrossFit workout. I had no idea at the time exactly how pivotal a moment that workout was. It changed my life, literally.
I now enjoy a healthy lifestyle not because I have to, but because I *want* to. I enjoy physical activity. I enjoy a good sweat. I enjoy a good workout. On mornings when I can't workout I feel incomplete, like something is missing (except my rest days of course!) CrossFit is as much a part of my life as Lego is (I wonder how many of you just had your jaws drop reading that statement, LOL).
I am now confident in saying that I *AM* a CrossFit'ter, and I will stand on my soap box and preach the virtues of the program to anyone who will listen. It's not for everyone, I realize that, but if you can handle it *DAMN* does it work wonders. Even if it's not a program that resonates with you like it has for me, don't give up! It took years of me trying various exercise programs before I found "the one". Don't be afraid to try something new, you never know if you might like it.
To give you a small inkling of exactly how much CrossFit has affected my life, and my passion for it, check out this photo (also posted in Facebook). Some of you have already seen this, others not.
Click for a larger version
Yes, that is my tattoo. It is *AWESOME* (though the picture isn't the greatest, sorry). I love it. I got it about 3 months ago and for several reasons. Some of those reasons are very personal, which I'm keeping to myself, others not, which I'm happy to share with you. Tigger and I go way back (too long story for here). He's a bit of a shit disturber but always seems to have a positive outlook, no matter the situation. A Kettlebell is something we use quite often in CrossFit workouts and is one of my favourite pieces of equipment to use. It just felt 'right' to get a tattoo of Tigger swinging a Kettlebell. The slightly grunting / determined look the artist gave his face is also very fitting of what I look like / feel in one of my workouts.
With the last part of this blog post I decided to take a look back at who I was a year ago and compare myself then to now. I will freely admit part of this is to make myself feel good (looking back at personal success has that kind of effect) but it's also a sort of draft list of my personal fitness milestones (which I need to start formally keeping track of).
Before getting to that list, my final words. Fitness is just like everything else; if you want to get better, practice, practice, practice. I've grown over the past year because I've given myself the time to do it, at first 3 days a week and now up to 6. It's not rocket science, and doesn't really take all that much time (most of my workouts are under 20 minutes, not including warm up/cool down). Spend 15 minutes a day working on something you suck at and pretty soon you'll be an expert.
The formatting of this may be off a bit, sorry, but you get the idea.
Weight
Sep 2010: 238
Sep 2011: 196
Pull ups
Sep 2010: 0 full, 0 assisted, 5-10 beginner
Sep 2011: 5-7 full in a single set, and working on more!
Sit ups
Sep 2010: 0 full, < 20 beginner (inclined on a hill)
Sep 2011: 100+ full as part of a workout, not straight, or 50-60 as part of a Tabata workout (basically straight)
Push ups
Sep 2010: 0 full, < 20 beginner (inclined against a wall)
Sep 2011: 200+ full as part of a workout, not straight, or 40-50 as part of a Tabata workout (basically straight)
Running
Sep 2010: 200 m and I was winded
Sep 2011: 5 K in 27 m
More Running
Sep 2010: 1 mile was something only super athletes did and scared the living shit out of me
Sep 2011: I can run 1 mile in 6:27
Squats
Sep 2010: 20 - 30
Sep 2011: 300 squats *straight* in under 10 min
Overhead squat
Sep 2010: struggled using nothing but a PVC pipe
Sep 2011: 45 lbs Olympic bar
*** This one I'm really proud of as flexibility/mobility issues were preventing me from doing the movement of the Overhead squat, hence why a year ago I struggled even without any weight.
Murph (a CrossFit Hero workout)
Sep 2010: 1/4 Murph and I was on the ground panting
Sep 2011: a full rep Murph with nothing but beginner pull ups is nothing to me (that's about 54 straight minutes of CrossFit level workout) I'm working on getting to the Full Murph!
Flexibility
Sep 2010: touching my toes with straight legs was something only triple jointed people did
Sep 2011: getting close to pushing my palms on the ground (the gut having been reduced by 50% in size helps with this of course!)
Box Jumps (basically a jump straight up, landing full flat foot on top of the box)
Sep 2010: Struggled using a 20" box, had to cut workout reps in half
Sep 2011: Our homemade 24" boxes are too small
Deadlifts
Sep 2010: PVC pipe
Sep 2011: ran out of weight at 145 lbs when going for max weight; no idea where my actual upward limit on this is but it's certainly higher
Snatch (this is that classic weightlifting lift you see in the Olympics, etc... It is also in the top 5 most complex, hard to learn lifts)
Sep 2010: not even PVC pipe
Sep 2011: 10 reps @ 75 lbs
The list goes on... :)