Guest Blog Post -- Justin

This week's post comes to you from Justin. Thanks, Justin! You so fancy. 

Previously, the most exciting day of my life occurred on June 4^th, 2011.  That was when my wife, Lindsay, was silly enough to marry me. That day was soon to be replaced by October 20^th, when we heard our child’s heartbeat for the first time. Once again, my life was changed forever. Within the past year and half, my wife and I moved across the country, switched jobs, built a house, and got married. And now, we will be forged into parenthood in 4 short months. Life moves pretty fast!

In the middle of all that, we found CrossFit, thanks to Bobby and Jaime. Nutrition, health, and exercise soon expanded from a hobby to a fueled passion. Our entire ideology of fitness and training was flipped upside down, and we haven’t stopped working on improving since day one. Like others, I truly believe CrossFit has made me a better person, inside and out. The outside is a no brainer. Since I started, I have become leaner, stronger, and increasingly more mobile. Outer appearance and improvement is easy to see and since everything is tracked in CrossFit, easy to prove. These improvements are a shining benefit of CrossFit. I strongly believe CrossFit is the most time efficient, healthy, logical, and FUN way to achieve these results.

What is interesting to me are the internal improvements that result from CrossFit and, ultimately, what they stand for. It takes a special breed to be good at CrossFit out of the gate. Even our own superhuman Bobby said he had struggles when he first started. Different movements, new ideas of “intensity,” and lack of typical gym equipment certainly makes the initial experiences with CrossFit somewhat awkward. Combining that initial awkwardness with the Fran like feeling a WOD elicits and preconceived opinions of your own level of fitness is a recipe for a big slice of humble pie. In short, it’s uncomfortable. This is where the fork in the road lies and people have a decision to make. Do I risk failure, being uncomfortable, and not worrying about what others think? Or do I stay somewhere else that is comfortable, predictable, and only moderately beneficial?  I don’t think there is anything wrong with either option. The comfort zone is comfortable! There is little risk of failure, and it allows you to feel good about your workout by doing something that you excel in or are used to. I get it. Nobody likes to fail. But this comfort bubble that is created also restricts your growth as an athlete and person.

The people that decide to stick with CrossFit have immediately joined a family that has decided to expand their comfort bubble. Different people with different backgrounds, age, and experience get together and attempt to reach their goals through good old fashioned hard work. This family that has been established is just as motivated in helping each other as they are with improving themselves. This is evident in the constant support athletes provide others within the gym, whether it be cheering them on as they finish a workout or putting in some overtime and working on technique. It’s really an amazing thing to witness and be a part of. 

All boiled down, the values of CrossFit are amazing lessons that I will strive diligently to provide to my little one. 

Effort and Hard Work – Fast times and big weights are impressive, no doubt. But behind PRs and max lifts is the effort it takes to get there. I am much more concerned that people try their best and lay it all on the line day in and day out. Extremely uncomfortable, yes. Extremely beneficial, yes. If you give minimal effort in your workout you will get minimal results. The same is true outside of the gym. 

Integrity – There are no shortcuts in CrossFit. If you find one, you are doing it wrong. Standards are in place for a couple reasons. One, to get the full physical benefit of the movement itself. And two, to be able to compare apples to apples and compare your current self to your past self and others. By and large, CrossFit attracts those who would rather do an extra rep than risk themselves or others questioning later whether their workout was legitimate.  

Fitness and Health - The CrossFit community is first and foremost focused on making people fitter and healthier, things that I believe are greatly undervalued in our society today. CrossFit will undoubtedly be a part of our baby's life from day one, and we can only hope the importance of fitness and health will become ingrained at a very early age.

In short, I am thankful we will have an entire community of amazing people at CrossFit 515 setting the right example for our little guy or girl!

-Justin

122 days to go!