I’m coming up on finishing Year 1 of CrossFit and have a lot of thoughts.
I find that scribing my feelings and thoughts is most effective in processing things in my life, and I’m sharing this for those who might find this helpful.
A bit of background before diving into it:
I grew up in a highly competitive sports family. I played too many sports to mention, but my real passion was Judo / BJJ. There was nothing like putting yourself out there against someone who wanted to hurt you. It taught me a lot about myself. In retrospect, it was an amazing sport to train while growing up. Competing in state, national, and international fights took discipline in so many areas. One had to be mentally tough, lean, powerful, flexible, strong, agile, and have great kinesthetic awareness to make your body do what you are asking of it.
Post high school, I turned my attention to my studies and figuring out what I wanted to do in life. As many young men do in the gym, I turned to more bodybuilding style training and was fairly consistent. I didn’t immediately realize it, but with the hypertrophy focus, I was losing speed, agility, flexibility, power……etc. The whole “If you don’t use it, you lose it scenario.”
Fast forward to marriage, grad school, figuring out this whole ‘doctoring’ thing, then starting a business in the middle of a pandemic….I found myself sitting on a bench beside a squat rack at 630am.
I started my business by subleasing a room in an amazing bodybuilding gym – The Factory Gym. It was awesome. It only made sense to train there. With many pro’s and wannabe’s, the atmosphere was intoxicating. Naturally, I continued more of the bodybuilding style. So much fun!I was sitting on the bench in between sets of back squat while sipping coffee. I had the realization that I was consistent, and seeing results, but I couldn’t recall the last time I ran…or jumped…or did anything remotely athletic. I was on track to being the guy who tore his achilles jumping off a curb! If I was to need to defend my family, or save a stranger in some heroic fashion, or shoot! play a pick up game of kickball…I would be sorely surprised at my inadequacy.
I realized there needed to be a change to reach my ideal ‘form’. Physically, I needed to be:
-A very dangerous man under control
-An example to my friends, family, patients
-As well rounded as I could be to never be a liability and to have freedom to serve others
There were 2 options in my mind: Return to BJJ or start CrossFit.
- BJJ was highly attractive because it checked all the boxes, and had a high transfer of skill set to the real world. I was familiar with it, and missed it. It’s so much fun to go toe to toe with someone.
- CrossFit was attractive because it was something I always wanted to try. You get to play with weights in many different ways, it integrates strength, mobility, function, power gymnastics….general life preparedness. Also, I historically have treated a ton of CrossFit athletes in my physical therapy practice and wanted to lean into that a bit more.
In the end, I decided to pursue CrossFit due to preferred class times and the challenge of learning something new.
And here I am 1 year later….in love with it.
Here are some reflections over the past year:
- Pound for pound, I am more well rounded than I have ever been in my life. Not as strong, but my foundation has leveled up in so many areas. I’m honestly over chasing size or aesthetics. Sure, I’d love to be trimmer in certain areas and maybe have a few more lines to feed my ego, but I’m more about longevity and adaptability now. I want to be ready for whatever comes my way for the rest of my life. CrossFit is the best way to accomplish that in my mind.
- I experienced the over-training effect for several months. I jumped into too many training sessions during the week and went all out for every single one. I wasn’t recovering well, always tired, several little injuries popping up, sleep was crap, I got sick waaay more than I typically did. Not fun. I had to humble myself and back off a bit. This led me to begin to focus on things like sleep quality, protein, and LISS for recovery vs relying on my massage gun or normatechs.
- Change takes time. I’ve always had tight hips, ankles, and wrists. It was never a functional limiter, but these workouts highlighted my shortcomings. I’ve been focusing over the last year on improving mobility / stability in these areas. It is a night and day difference from a year ago, but I’m definitely still on the journey. This is helping me relate to my patients better.
- I can serve my CrossFit patients much better now. Over my career, CrossFitters have typically been a large percentage of my clientele. They are drawn to me and I have always enjoyed working with them. Now that I am in the deep end of CrossFit, I am understanding them better and am able to treat them more effectively.
- The coaching staff at Derby City CrossFit is simply amazing and top notch. I cannot say enough good things about them. They are highly knowledgeable, adaptable, great teachers and ass kickers. They are a great resource, and I have been molded, encouraged, and motivated by them.
What’s next?
With year one almost down, and I’m emphatically committed to year 2. By the end of year 2, my goal is to be averaging 5 workouts per week and doing ‘splife’ a majority of the time. I want to be much better at gymnastics and continue closing functional gaps in my body. I am planning on getting my CF-1 as well as continuing a physical therapy certification tract focusing on fitness athletes – with a CrossFit emphasis. Treating these people is what I specialize in and I’m hungry to learn as much as I can.
It’s been a wild year, full of many challenges and changes. I pray I can continue to embrace the crazy while keeping an intense focus on what is most important to me.
