From There to Here (Part 3)

I've always subscribed to the philosophy that in life you are either improving or in decline. Virtually nothing in this world is static and ultimately you must commit or quit. Anything in the middle is likely a good opportunity to lie to yourself and say you "tried".  In April it was clear that I had "tried" but made no sacrifices worthy of real improvement.

I would suppose Sisyphus is likely the first Crossfitter.  The long and the short of the Greek myth: Sisyphus ticks off Zeus and is punished by rolling a rock up a hill over and over for all eternity.  The effort was deemed a punishment because the act of pushing the rock up a hill again and again and again was supposed to be demotivating (guess Zeus never had a day of wall balls).  And I too, like Sisyphus, was demotivated because my efforts (weak though they were) showed little to no progress.

So came the time to decide if I was going to give an honest effort or give up.  Already I had conceded the bet with my friend.  He was making good progress and had been attending 3 days a week for months.  But now was the time to decide if excuses and rationalization would win out over dedication.  To this point I had attended only 21 times from Thanksgiving to the beginning of May. Numbers don't lie.  This type of effort was not going to cut it.

Commit I did.  Diet changed.  More protein, less carbs, more vitamins, and less fried food.  3-4 classes per week.  More and better sleep.  Upgraded clothes/shoes (which are kind of underrated and a good topic to expand later).  All of these areas needed to change and from May to the present they have.  I've done everything you need to do to progress.  Since May 1st I've attended 45 classes.  And the results are encouraging. I've started to adjust physically to the rigorous exercises and gained strength while reducing body fat.  I no longer spend 2-3 hours after a workout recovering and staring into space.  I can do a workout and then do something productive with the rest of my evening.

So here we are at the present day and these are my choices moving forward.  The fall will be like the summer.  I'll keep pushing that rock up the hill.  Unlike Sisyphus I will be motivated from the struggle and I will improve.

From There to Here (Part 2)

The next leg of this journey required me to set foot in an actual gym.  No more talk, time for action.  I chose one of the newest gyms in town appropriately named Hidden Gym.  My wife had been going since it opened in early spring of 2015 and was pleased with the coaching, equipment, and atmosphere.  From what I had read prior to this endeavor, atmosphere and overall friendliness is a main factor to persistence.  So off I went to see about classes and membership.  After talking to Adam, one of the coaches, I was invited to the Foundations class that met Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. On October 1st, 2015, I attended my first class.

One of the fears I had about Crossfit were the demanding Olympic style lifts.  Many of them include positions putting significant weight above the head.  This was a concern for me personally due to shoulder inflexibility from two major injuries and a surgery.  As I eased into the first class, which a large portion of the time was spent stretching and instruction on proper technique, I knew we would be able to negotiate my current limitations.  For much of the fall and early winter I attended the Foundations class 1-2 times per week and built confidence in the different types of movements that would be crucial for when we were turned loose on the actual classes.  Not that we didn't do our share of workouts. The last portion of every Foundations class was a mini workout putting our skills learned earlier to the test.  

During this time I learned just how out of shape I was and how my lifestyle/work life was negatively impacting my health.  Only attending once a week at times really did little to improve my fitness, but helped me attain what I needed to know for later.  The fall was extremely busy for me and attending twice a week was the maximum I could achieve.  While I struggled with motivation and energy, I certainly had no qualms with the quality of the instruction at Hidden Gym.  Jack, Adam, and Brendan were stellar in their attention to detail and demands of excellence in our technique.  Add in a healthy dose of verbal motivation and you have a very good environment in which to thrive.  More on these fine folks in a later post.

In early January it was time to leave the Foundations class nest and fly in real classes.  I still had qualms about moving on as I really had not improved my fitness level.  But move on I did.  Full classes were a mighty struggle.  When in the Foundations class I was surrounded by folks that were pretty near where I was in fitness and flexibility so I had a comfort zone.  When in the full class I was a stranger in a strange land.  I was older than everyone by at LEAST 10 years and needed to scale just about every movement (more on Crossfit terminology later).  I'm a competitive person and it killed me a little bit every class to finish last in weight and last in time.  I lie there gulping like a fish out of water, feeling more than a little out of place.  

The early months made me feel old.  I felt like I didn't belong in this place of fit and young people no matter how nice, friendly, and welcoming they were.  I was confronting months and months of bad choices both in my lifestyle and in my diet.  Many a day over the winter and spring of 2016 I wondered where I fit in.  I was too active for my age group (and Globo Gym as it is called by crossfitters), but clearly no match for this group around me.  Did I mention I'm competitive?  And stubborn.  Most of the time those two qualities are a hinderance to my life.  But not for this.  

Next up.  The summer of commitment.

N

From There to Here (Part 1)

To tell the story of how I got to the point of chronicling my crossfit journey, we need to go back a bit. Back to 2012.  Not December 21, 2012 (glad those Mayans were wrong!), but to late August and early September.  I had just come off the crazy experience of a week long survival course.  We spent time in south central Utah hiking, navigating, sleeping under the stars, building shelters, and generally learning how to survive with minimal gear. All the while eating very very little, hiking very very much, at about 7-8k above sea level (not optimal for a flat-lander). Going into this experience I was in solid shape around 170lbs.  I was walked 9-12 miles 4-5 days a week, eating well and feeling good. I felt prepared for this trip.  I lost over 9 lbs on the trip and came back at 160 lbs.  I also came back with giardia.  Not pleasant for the next two weeks, but wow, that place was beautiful....

*Note - If that type of thing is your gig, check out the 1 week Field Course at Boss-inc.com

From that fall through spring of 2014 the exercising was sporadic and lacked focus or determination. Then, after a move from Stillwater, Oklahoma to Saint Joseph, Missouri, I renewed my efforts and made solid progress. The method was a boxing gym and after about a year of membership and six months of solid 3+ trips a week I was down to about 175 lbs again.  Boxing is good and really does work the cardio, but it just wasn't for me.  I became bored, busy, was bowling more, and generally started to dread going.  Finally in late fall of 2014 I canceled my membership.

The picture below is about as good as my physique got. It was taken over Labor Day weekend with a couple friends of mine on an awesome four day--three city baseball trip.  Hat tip to Chris Laws and Delton Gordon! Unfortunately that trip marked my highest level for fitness for the next 18 months.

The following year really just encompassed a lot of weak effort, floundering motivation, and way too much late night food and craft beer.  For the first time, in the fall of 2015, I had hit the 200lb mark.  And it wasn't a good 200lbs.  This put me a full 75lbs above my playing weight from high school.  Dissatisfaction with how I felt, my energy level, and the ole mirror test really set the stage for "the bet".


Next up, the Crossfit journey begins.
N

A Good Bet

Rarely does anything positive come from drinking.  If you are lucky maybe you make a few funny memories and you don't lose your wallet or phone.  But in September of 2015, drunken bragging between two friends started both off on a fitness journey.  As intoxicated folks often do, friendly banter and reminiscing turned to bragging, which turned to betting.  The bet was to see who could get back in shape the fastest through Crossfit, an exercise phenomenon that my lovely wife Annie had been engaged in for over a year (with good results).

So off I went to the newly opened gym in town to join and start this journey.  Now I'm no stranger to fitness.  Basketball, baseball, cross country, and track in high school and USTA tennis after graduating from college.  Lifting weights 80s style after reading the latest Muscle & Fitness was something dad and I did for most of my formative years.  So I've been in tip top shape much of my early life.  But as I've aged, encountered injury (stories for another post) and led a sedentary work life (death by office chair) I've mostly fought the fitness battle like most folks.

I'm 42 years old and love ice cream (custard!) and craft beer.  None of those three facts lead to top physical conditioning so I knew this was an uphill battle.  The specifics of the bet had both of us join crossfit gyms and on June 1st 2016 see who had become the most fit.  That part really didn't happen but what has happened is both of us have become dedicated crossfitters.  That is also a story for another part of the blog.

In this blog I've decided to chronicle my journey back to a fit and athletic individual.  While I have already taken some solid steps, I have a long way to go and I hope the documentation helps me keep on track.  And if you happen upon this blog and are curious about this method of fitness then I hope it gives you the knowledge and encouragement to try it out.  Over the next several weeks I'll document as best I remember the challenges and progress from September 2015 to the present then use the blog as a regular documentation of my progress.  I honestly don't know exactly what my goals are other than feeling fit, strong, athletic, and comfortable in snug fitting clothes.  Anything beyond that is a bonus!  More to come soon.
N