Done!
Work Out, Eat Better, Love Yourself.
The start of the year beckons New Year resolutions; to work out more, eat better, lose weight or love yourself. These resolutions are great for direction, yet most are physical based; unlikely to last. A friend and I got together and our resolution in 2010 was to feel comfortable in a bikini. Six months later, I was comfortable in a bikini and she was not!! I later found out, the difference between the resolutions was physical and mental changes. My change was mentally, just to love the body you are in and on the contrary hers was physical, she wanted to lose weight to love herself. At the beginning of 2013 I embarked on a journey with a life time resolution, and that is exactly what it was.
My journey:
My journey into Crossfit started in January 2013. Crossfit was only a word last year, but over the past 10 months it’s become so much more than that and it has changed my life. This is a story of my journey, the things I have encountered and accomplished through Crossfit, such as body image, strength achievements and challenges both physically and mentally. I have a great appreciation for the newly opened Crossfit Uplift in Lithgow, NSW, as they have helped me with challenges and goals. I gained a wide range of knowledge of technique in training, which in time has helped change my viewpoint on fitness and myself dramatically.
Crossfit is a sport of fitness. It is a combination of cardio, weightlifting and gymnastics. The work out of the day (WOD) can be a combination of all three, set out by a Crossfit qualified trainer. The WODs are daily varied to allow the athlete to excel in all areas. The athlete, for maxim results, can train 5-6 days a week, with high calorie and nutritional food to sustain the body throughout the day. Crossfit’s main website is crossfit.comand provides all the information an athlete needs to know is there. This is a really easy video to provide an overview about what Crossfit is all about. Definitely worth a watch!
I am 180cm, which is pretty tall for a girl. At the start of 2013 I weighed 76kgs, did no exercise, and I enjoyed the luxury of fast foods. Yes, luxury. I had the idea that I was “living life”, and I thought myself, my body and my mind were just fine. This changed when I started training at Crossfit Uplift.
I used to work at Club Revive which was a gym that later evolved to include Crossfit Uplift. Have a look here!The new owners are Chris and Linda Kable. I worked there on reception, working out a couple times a week which got me some results. Coming back to Crossfit Uplift 3 years later after having gained 13kgs, I could feel how much I had gone backwards. I was accustomed to squatting with a 30kg barbell on my back; and then I couldn’t even do a normal air squat on my first visit back.
I learnt a large amount there. I went from doing push-ups on my knees with basically no weight on my upper body, to doing 10 push-ups on my toes, I can now do a 60kg back squat and toes to bar.
Overall, my fitness has improved. I can now run more than 50 metres without getting out of breath, I can bounce up the stairs with a load of energy and chase my nephews and nieces around. It was hard, but I stayed, and it was worth it!
Along the road I have encountered some mind battling challenges. One of the biggest trails I faced was “I can’t do this”. Apparently in a Crossfit box the word “can’t” is the worst swear word ever created. Crossfit is a competition with yourself, to do better and be better. Once you’ve overcome that mental barrier, you can achieve anything!
Body image is hard with current media pressures to look like a model. I have constantly struggled with body image issues, and I’ve always wanted to look like someone else. Chris Kable, had a talk to me one afternoon, he said “Crossfit isn’t about how you look”. He continued to explain that although the women who compete in the games have great body, it’s a byproduct. The focus is on eating nutritious high calorie foods to fuel you during the work out and for the rest of the day. This was a shock to me. All this time I was trying to make my body change after half a year in Crossfit. My body was changing, however, at this point I started concentrating on accomplishments.
My food consumption was never good, and I was specifically happy when I met a woman during this time that helped me with food. Her name is Bianca Slade, and she runs a food blogging website called Whole Food Simply. You can find it here! Her recipes on site are easy and helped fuel my body with natural ingredients, which ultimately has improved my performance.
Strength Vs Speed. I have found people have different body shapes, strengths and weaknesses. For instance, I may be a faster runner because I have long legs. However a short person may be faster at push-ups, because there is less distance to travel to get the nose to the ground. In WODs there is a recommended weight or level. I was always confused as to whether I should do the WOD as fast as I can or to focus on building my strength. This link helped me understand the both. It’s called “Crossfit: How Much Should I Lift?”. You can build strength, then work on speed after you are strong enough, or find a ‘happy medium’ where the weight is heavy and at the same time allowing the athlete to complete the work out as fast at the others. This other helpful link talks about how doing the recommended weight or “Rx” is not important. Read it here..
Intense work outs without proper technique or care after WODs can cause injury. When I moved to Bathurst, NSW, I had to change to Crossfit Bx. I was at this box (the term for each location) for only a month, however I learnt about looking after your body. Trigger points was another massively helpful tip that I learnt. This video perfectly describes what a trigger point it and how to help relieve your body.
The day after doing rounds of squat cleans, which involves heavy shoulder action. I came into the box for another WOD and my traps (trapezoids!) were really sore. One of the owners, Warren, taught me to use trigger points to release the muscle soreness. This worked! I rolled a ball in a vertical then horizontal action, on my right shoulder blade trigger point shown in the video. Then after a few minutes I lifted my arm and there was more movement and the soreness was gone! It is these small tips that have made a massive difference in my fitness journey.
Over a short period of 10 months I have found my own strengths and weaknesses. This has enabled me to work on my weaknesses and power through my strengths. Although, it has been a struggle with comparison to other people, finding your own strength is very comforting. My main strength, thanks to my height of 180cm, is running, rowing and rope climbing. I can race ahead in rowing during a WOD to gain an advantage which will allow me to focus on such things as weight lifting. My weaknesses are easy to point out and hard to accept. I have found long distance running or fast paced work outs are my Achilles heel because of my cardio. I also do not have much upper body strength, THANK GOD FOR KIPPING!! Have a look!
Looking at my own weaknesses makes me want to work on them. It is very easy to ignore them; however, my ‘not so good’ cardio will not allow me to have endurance in weightlifting, as it takes a lot of cardio to lift heavy fast!
Crossfit has allowed me to challenge myself and create a better me. I challenged myself with a friend recently and accomplished Tough Mudder 2013. Tough Mudder is a military style obstacle course. It is 20 kilometers long with 20+ obstacles along the way. This video shows it clearly.
Tough Mudder was tough, and I finished it! It is something I would never have done, I completed all the obstacles, bar one (calve muscle cramp). It gave me something to look forward to, whether I was scared or not! During the course my weakness showed up, cardio, with the long runs between each obstacle. My strengths were in the obstacles, they were easy with my other fitness qualities, which kept me energetic! I am challenging myself further. I am doing my first Crossfit team competition in February 2014!
The competition is held at Crossfit Aphesis
I have a great group and we are able to train together and push one another. It is such a great community!!
During my journey I have encountered many challenges, mentally and physically. It has given me strength in other areas of life! I created this story to show anyone on the same path. These little tips and words given to me along the way have changed my whole viewpoint on life. I really hope other people can benefit from all the information and goals I have shared through this story. The links and videos I have found useful, and I am happy to share!
I wish for everyone to start a health and fitness journey to increase their own standard of living and happiness.
