I started doing CrossFit a little over two years ago when I decided to take a fundamentals class at a gym nearby. I had heard of CrossFit a year earlier, but I didn’t take the plunge until the summer before my sophomore year at William and Mary. I don’t remember exactly how I found them, but I watched the documentaries on the 2014 and 2015 CrossFit Games that were available on Netflix and was blown away. The men and women were all so athletic, and they were all part of a worldwide, yet close knit, group. I wanted to be like them.
Of course, the regular CrossFit classes that every day people attend are very different from the events at the CrossFit Games, and any good coach will emphasize scaling workouts to fit each athlete’s current capabilities. Once I completed my fundamentals classes, where I learned good form for the majority of the most used movements in CrossFit workouts, I joined the regular classes and was immediately hooked. Now, CrossFit might not be for everyone, and there are plenty of people out there who think it’s dangerous. But any physical activity can be potentially dangerous, if you don’t do it correctly, and there are so many other ways to be physically active if CrossFit just isn’t your jam. For me, CrossFit is something I look forward to every day, and here’s why.
Constantly Varied
Each day that I go to the gym, the workout is different. The typical CrossFit class is one hour long and includes warmup, sometimes a strength component, and then the workout, which can range from just a few minutes to sometimes half an hour. Occasionally, the strength component of the class will be repeated from week to week. For example, my gym in Williamsburg, CrossFit 1607, has done something like four to five weeks of bench press on Mondays, back squats on Wednesdays, and power snatches on Fridays. Each of those days will also have a metcon (metabolic conditioning), following the strength component, and that’s where the variation in the workout from day to day comes in. There are plenty of workouts that can include the same movements like power cleans or wall balls, but those movements are usually in a different order, done with a different weight, and/or with a different number of reps. This constant variation prevents me from getting bored and makes me want to come back every day.
Community
Just like any other fitness program like F45 or Pure Barre, CrossFit creates a community. I usually see the same people whenever I go to a class, and I workout/suffer alongside them. I’ve been able to find a community at each CrossFit gym, or box as some people call them (I don’t), that I’ve joined. I started at CrossFit Addict in Richmond, Virginia, and I still love going there whenever I’m at home. I love the environment and the coaches at CrossFit 1607, the gym that I go to when I’m at school. I even joined a gym in Exeter, England, called CrossFit Exe, while I was studying abroad, where I got to meet locals and a few other students attending the University of Exeter. It’s not always easy for me to be outgoing and meet new people, so I appreciate being able to get to know people and build a community wherever I am through CrossFit.
Confidence
I’ve never been a petite person. Around eighth grade I hit 5’8” and then grew another inch during high school. In high school, I was a goalie for the field hockey team and swam, but I started putting on quite a bit of weight because I stopped growing and wasn’t swimming nearly as much as I had in middle school. I wish that I had found CrossFit back then. After starting CrossFit, I’m stronger, a faster swimmer, and fitter overall. But, beyond being able to lift heavy weights, CrossFit has honestly made me more confident and comfortable in my own body. I still have a ways to go to feel totally happy in my own skin, but because of CrossFit I believe that I’m closer than I’ve ever been.
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