A CrossFit Family

I mentioned a few weeks back that our family had joined a CrossFit gym and I promised to tell you more about it.   Today, I'm finally getting around to telling you all about it.

In May, I'd finally had enough of lackluster results with our old gym.  Between boredom and plain dissatisfaction, we'd virtually stopped going to the gym.  Why go?  We weren't getting good results (heck, we weren't really getting any results) and, as a result, we kinda sorta stopped going.  Still, I wasn't at all happy with our fitness levels.  As homeschoolers, I am responsible for our PE as well as our academic curriculum.  I'd been seeing a lot about CrossFit on the Primal and Paleo lifestyle blogs, but, as the nearest CrossFit gym was too far away from my house to make joining up practical, I just filed the information away.

Finally, in April, a CrossFit gym opened near enough to our house to make it worthwhile to investigate.  I headed to the website and saw this video...(video obviously not printable)...

Did you notice that there are old people, young people, fat people, and fit people doing CrossFit?  I fit into some of those categories quite well.  The next hurdle?  Convincing the kids that we could all be CrossFitters.  Much to my surprise, after viewing this video, Buttercup (or Queen Bean, as she has named herself) was all for it and Valiant was willing, if not enthusiastic.

We headed down to the gym to check it out and signed up that day.  It has been five months since we joined the CrossFit world and we've been transformed.  Truly.  My kids all lost that pudgy, we-love-video-games look (they still love video games, it just doesn't show as much!) and my clothes all fit so much better...especially my jeans (woot!).  My chiropractor actually asked me what I've been doing because I've developed so much lean muscle in such a short time.  We've become stronger, more agile, have more endurance, and have more overall energy.  We sleep better.  Buttercup says everyone is more confident and seems to enjoy life more.  The best part?  It didn't take five months to see these results. 

Our first month, Valiant is jumping with the sandbag while I get mine ready.

Within the first month, I could see my children carried themselves differently and friends commented on it, as well.  We're being molded and shaped to be stronger, fitter versions of ourselves.  It is like have a personal trainer each and every day.   Our form is constantly assessed and corrected, weights are adjusted to keep it challenging.  We never get away with phoning it in because our CrossFit trainer is always watching.  Sore muscles are the norm...bruises are pretty common and, yet, we enthusiastically come back for more.   The best part?  It really does start to feel like a tribe...the other CrossFitters do encourage you...they notice the baby steps of improvement you're making and they're not shy about propping you up.  "Don't quit...you've got this!" are some of the most common phrases you'll hear in a CrossFit gym.  As Valiant pointed out after coming with the best time for the workout of the day, "Mom, they started cheering me on.  How could I quit then?"  Yes, we're still some of the slowest, but we really do get honorable mention for doing our very best (and we're not as slow as we were five months ago!).  I love that.

Our second month...I'm playing with the log.

A month after Valiant, Buttercup and I made the commitment to become CrossFitters, Charming took me up on my offer to pay for his membership and he's experiencing all the same things. 

His first month, Charming is getting it above his head.

We've all learned a whole new vocabulary (although I'm still struggling to keep things straight!). 

Last week, Buttercup finally got up the rope!

We're mostly "scaled", but we can occasionally do the "WOD" (workout of the day) to "Rx". We play with kettle bells, sandbags, and tires.  We box jump, we clean and jerk,  we dip and drive, and we push press.  We do Turkish get-ups, burpees and man makers.  We're in awe of muscle ups and 400+ lb deadlifts.  We aspire to perfect push-ups and pull-ups.  We yearn to do hand-stand push-ups and walking hand-stands.   Some of us can even rope climb!  We are a Crossfit family now and we love it.