I separated from the Navy in 2004 after serving 16 years. (That’s another story entirely). While on active duty, I had done every workout known. I ran laps on the flight deck while the ship was underway. I did calisthenics, bicycling, circuit training, aerobics classes, etc. The primary goal was never to be healthy, but to pass the physical fitness test and the bodyweight requirement. But of course, all the years of wearing steel-toed boots, running on steel and just bad form with gym machines had taken a toll on my body. Knee pain, back pain, shoulder pain…I have it all. Plus, I realized after I left the navy that I was bored with the gym. Spinning classes, machine circuits, treadmills, I was just done. I couldn’t think of anything that would motivate me to go back.
I turned 39 this year. I was the heaviest I had been in years, and that includes two pregnancies. I literally stumbled into our local CrossFit affiliate. Our local affiliate is run out of a Sport & Health Club. I joined the gym looking for a way to get motivated. I asked to talk to one of their personal trainers. I thought that maybe if I had someone pushing me, I might make better progress than I on my own. The trainer I was paired with just happened to be the CrossFit coach. He ran me through some basic exercises to gauge my strength and the rest just fell into place. I’ve never been happier.
I will be turning 40 in 6 months. I am stronger now than ever. I lost weight and significantly reduced my body fat. I have a better understanding of what true fitness is, and I am ever so grateful. There are many things I still can’t do. My pull-ups are assisted and I have to scale the weight down for anything overhead. But my coach works with me and runs me through the paces. We’ve now cleaned up my diet and I’ve gone paleo.
Bottom line…CrossFit has changed my life. I don’t understand people who continue to work for hours in the gym and don’t see half the results I received by doing CrossFit.
I once heard someone say the definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.
Thats a great quote here it is from the man himself.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein, (attributed)
US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955) http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/26032.html
i was introduced to CF 2 months ago at my gym…saw this small group working out in the back room where i wanted to do my squats…they were monopolizing my rack with pullups. they were doing Sumo dead lift pulls too and it looked freaking hard….dropping weights etc. I had been working out there for 1 1/2 years and pretty much doing the same thing. I have never had a weight problem but always wanted to stay ahead of the curve of fitness if possible.
I started attempting to do all the WODs as RX’d but soon realized that my body could not handle that….i rely on the scaling which i find here. I didn’t think i would, but i have tightened up my diet a bit too….drastically or reducing simple and refined carbs for the most part…except for alcohol of course…lol. i have not had body fat checked since starting but must have dropped a bit..maybe down to around 12 now? when else in my life would i have tried a HSPU?
Crossfit update. After completing my 5th 10K Mudrun in April I wondering how I could improve my performance? Long story short I stumbled on CrossFit. I followed Brand X scaling for a few months “thanks by the way everyone” Recently joined the local affiliate to get the box experience and had a program set up for me using CrossFit and CrossFit Endurance WOD’s. I finished this years Mudrun a whopping 20 minutes faster than in April and I was not sore like in the past. CrossFit has me eating better, lifting heavy, running faster, and feeling great. :-)
Crossfit update. After completing my 5th 10K Mudrun in April I wondering how I could improve my performance? Long story short I stumbled on CrossFit. I followed Brand X scaling for a few months “thanks by the way everyone” Recently joined the local affiliate to get the box experience and had a program set up for me using CrossFit and CrossFit Endurance WOD’s. I finished this years Mudrun a whopping 20 minutes faster than in April and I was not sore like in the past. CrossFit has me eating better, lifting heavy, running faster, and feeling great.
I started cross fit in August of this year. I can already see many positive improvements in my strength and endurance levels.
When I first arrived in Kandahar I could only do 3 pull-up and weighed 178 lbs, Now I can do 21 pull-ups and weight 168lbs.
I have been deployed to Afghanistan for the last five months and Cross Fit has helped me to keep my sanity.
Cross Fit has given me the tools to do my job better and be fit to serve my country.
This program has made me a better example to my airmen and perform my job in a very hostile environment.
I can not begin to thank you all enough for the support I have received.
Thank you !
I just wanted to post a quick testimonial about the power of this training. 18-24 inches of snow for 25m from the garage to the street is an excellent opportunity to prove how CrossFit makes it easier in real life. The boys and I traded the shovel off in 6 stroke relays until the whole driveway was finished, about an hour. Lots of squats, half thrusters, midline stabilization. you name it. Snow shoveling really does work all the muscles! Everyone was sweating and today’s WOD, while different from yesterday’s, was no less satisfying.
Thanks to all the folks at Brand X for taking the time out of their normal schedules to work with us on the forum and scale the WODs. I really appreciate their hard work!
My story is a little different than many I’ve read through on here.
I’m 25 years old, been very active and fit for the majority of my life. I grew up running track (400m) and playing football (RB) and won provincial championships in both. Track on several occasions. When I finished up University a little less than two years ago the change to no longer being a competitive athlete was something I really struggled with.
It didn’t help that I had stress fractures in my feet in 2005 and 2007. I could run at tempo, but I couldn’t do any sprint training.
Anyway about a year ago an ex-gf of mine told me about CrossFit. I was hesitant but I tried a few workouts and really liked them. I sort of picked and chose the WOD’s that I would do. I was a long way away from my peak sprinting days when I could load 4 plates a side on the squat bar. I didn’t feel comfortable loading that kind of weight on my back or deadlifting it up from the floor.
Then in Sept of 2009 I figured it out. “Why are you going to follow a program, but pick and choose the workouts? Thats not how it’s designed, nor is it how you’re going to get the results.”
I got back into it after going a little lighter this summer and my first CrossFit total I could not deadlift or squat more than 325#
It was humbling, but it was my starting point.
Fast forward to now, I am hitting PR’s every time I do a WOD. I recently deadlifted 385#, hang cleaned 240#, and yesterday split jerked 225#. My times are coming down, am I’m getting to the point where people just stop and watch me work out sometimes (I can see em in the mirrors! haha)
I can do things I’ve never done before. Last spring when a WOD came up there was a picture of a guy doing the human flag and my jaw hit the floor. I can DO THAT now.
Never run over 10k in my life (not that I couldn’t….I just never did) and I’m going to test myself with a half marathon and then the full thing this year. CrossFit has made ALL the difference. Not only do I have my fitness back, I’m at a level I’ve never been and its only 4-5 months in. I just tested my resting HR (I work in a gym) and came in at 41. Back in high school I’d sit around mid 40’s. I am spreading the CrossFit word to everyone I can and using my story as a testimonial.
Thanks to everyone!
Just a short note on how completely SOLD I am on CrossFit.
My wife is involved with a local supplement store’s weight loss challenge. We started doing the CF WOD’s at our local gym at the beginning of the year. When we started, she could barely do 15 situps. After yesterdays CF Games WOD, she did 7 rounds, with 12 situps each round! We also attended a “boot camp” workout at another local fitness center that was coordinated by the supplement store as a part of the challenge. If it weren’t for the fact that the CF WOD’s are 10-20 minutes of constant exercise, the “boot camp” would truly have sucked! As the biggest girl there(4’11” 183#) the trainer pulled her aside after everything was done and told her how amazed she was that my wife not only kept up, but pushed harder and faster than some of the other people there! After that, I am 100% SOLD!!!!!!!
Thanks again CF and Thanks to you BrandXers, for the scalings!
Count me as another to have consumed the CF Kool-Aid. I’m 6.5 weeks in and cannot say enough about the CF program and even more so for BrandX.
I come from an athletic background having played many sports in my youth. Over the past 15 years I’ve developed a passion for running and have supplemented that with some strength training.
Four years ago I decided to purchase a road bike and that was a catalyst for an increased interest in endurance sports. So much so that I decided to compete in a couple of sprint triathlons, of which I finished fairly well. But cycling has become my go to sport. There’s just something extremely Zen about getting out onto the country roads of Bucks County, PA early on a Saturday morning and it’s nothing but me and the hum of the tires on the asphalt.
Two years ago, looking to increase my performance on the bike I began poking around the training section of a cycling forum of which I’m a member of. One of the patterns I began to notice was an overwhelming endorsement of the CrossFit program. So I did some research and loved the principles of the program and I decided to give it a try. After my first WOD I was completely wrecked for a week and wondered why anyone would want to subject themselves to such torture. CF was not for me.
Fast forward to May of this year, becoming bored with the circuit program I had been doing for months on end I decided to have a second look at CF and absorbed as much info on the program as possible thanks to the main site and BrandX. I knew that if I wanted to continue my running and cycling throughout my lifetime I needed to augment my training with some serious strength and endurance conditioning.
Once again that first WOD punished me, but my level of fitness at the time was such that recovery was quicker. I WOD’d the very next day and have not looked back since. Since that time I have felt much better and strong out on my runs, but my improvement on the bike has really surprised me. I’ve always like the challenge of riding hills but some of my rides are outright suffer-fests. But now, hills that would completely tax me are getting crushed.
Sorry for the wall of text, but I just want to thank all of the good folks at CF proper and BrandX involved in this obsession. I know there’s a lot of praise being thrown around here, but hey, the shit just works and I’m an f’ing believer. I’m now considering joining my local box (CrossFit KOP). Great environment and even better people.
Oh yeah, and I’ve got my wife and 4 yo daughter involved as well. They’re not WODding every day but when they do it’s been fun for them. Which I guess is a compliment in and of itself.
I heard Coach Glassman say every Affiliate has the 300 pound guy who has lost 100 pounds and I take that as encouragement. I want to be that guy!
I started this year at 315. I reduced calories and lost only 5 pounds in a few months and was getting discouraged.
Then I found CrossFit. I started reading the main site and subscribed to the journal. As I was researching CrossFit I decided to give the Zone a try. Folllowing the Zone alone, no exercise, I was able to lose 14 pounds. This is a fantastic nutritional program.
I started following Todd Widman’s CrossFit Startup guide (see CrossFot Journal, $25 for access to the journal, but well worth it). Using his test for being able to start scaled WODs, Tabata squats with a score of 12, I decided I wasn’t ready to start yet. I had become very deconditioned. So I started following his recommendations for beginning workouts (3 round of 10 squats and 2 min. treadmill runs is an example) and practiced my squats.
All this squatting really paid off, Two months later in July I began scaled WODs.
I’m currently 261, but more importantly my body composition has changed dramatically. My strength, balance, agility, speed, flexibility, coordination, power, stamina, endurance, and accuracy have increased noticeably. Sounds like a sales pitch, but I can actually feel these differences doing my everyday activities.
I ran 5K for the first time doing only the scaled WODs from BrandX as preparation. That’s the farthest I’ve ever run.
And I’m 42 by the way, but kicking my 33 year old brother-in-law’s butt in my garage doing CrossFit.
I hope I never stop CrossFitting; it’s the best thing I’ve ever started
Finished my first half-ironman yesterday at the age of 50 & after one year of CF. There is continuing debate about using Crossfit for triathlon training. I want to be fit guy (hence Crossfit) who happens to do a triathlon once in awhile. For those purposes, I’d say it does work. I’ve done a couple of shorter races with traditional training (long slow runs/swims/bike rides), but on a longer & more challenging course, I found I had plenty of endurance, and I was stronger too. I was able to take on hills after 50 miles of biking (despite leg cramps) and had enough core strength to maintain good running form through a 13 mile run, even though my running has been limited the last few months by minor injuries.
My wife mentioned how much fresher I seemed than my after previous, shorter races. The guys at work were amazed I could still walk this morning. To be honest, I’ve been more beat up from some of the CF workouts.
Finished my first half-ironman yesterday at the age of 50 & after one year of CF. There is continuing debate about using Crossfit for triathlon training. I want to be fit guy (hence Crossfit) who happens to do a triathlon once in awhile. For those purposes, I’d say it does work. I’ve done a couple of shorter races with traditional training (long slow runs/swims/bike rides), but on a longer & more challenging course, I found I had plenty of endurance, and I was stronger too. I was able to take on hills after 50 miles of biking (despite leg cramps) and had enough core strength to maintain good running form through a 13 mile run, even though my running has been limited the last few months by minor injuries.
My wife mentioned how much fresher I seemed than my after previous, shorter races. The guys at work were amazed I could still walk this morning. To be honest, I’ve been more beat up from some of the CF workouts.
That’s terrific.
And it’s a nice resource to point people who want to do triathlons at. What you’ve said is probably the best statement of where CrossFit will get you to in that respect. Not as good as a specialist triathlete, but generally fit and able to do triathlons once in a while. I like that.
