Friday, February 17, 2012

Crossfit... Time to get real...

For any of you that are my facebook friends, you know that I belong to a crossfit gym. Or maybe you assumed I have recently become a fitness model, because let's be honest: I'm gorgeous when I work out...



The genuine gusto with which Thomas laughs when he sees these pictures concerns me. 

But anyway, Crossfit is the bomb. You may already know that, or you may have already decided that crossfit is an annoying cult. I am here to fully endorse crossfit as THE BEST WORKOUT EVER. I can't believe all the hours I've wasted in my life running or trucking along on the pre-cor, when all I needed to do to improve my fitness was pick up a free weight every once in a while. 

Lifting stuff burns a lot of calories. That's why everyone hates moving. What would you rather do: walk for 30 minutes or help someone move furniture for 10 minutes? And which do you think is more aerobically effective? Crossfit is not all about weights. We do a lot of running, pushups, situps, jumping, etc.. A typical workout will include a warmup, buy-in, strength practice, a WOD, and a cash-out. Explaining what all that means is pretty boring, so you can click on the link below to get an idea of what each of those components may mean. 

Things I can do now that I couldn't do before I joined Crossfit Silverback...
1. Double-unders. This is where you jumprope twice in one jump. Yeah, I could do it when I was a kid, but that doesn't count.
2. Climb a rope. Maybe I can only climb about 18 inches so far, but hey, it's progress.
3. Do a real pushup. 
4. Bend over to pick something up without feeling like I'm 100 years old.
5. Jump up onto a 28 inch box. I plan on eventually being able to jump onto counters and perform this trick at parties. 
6. Pullups. I am still not able to do one completely unassisted, but I am using less and less resistance to get my chin over the bar. 

All of these strides have made me feel incredible. I feel like a real human that is doing stuff my body was genetically designed to do. Like my bones and muscles are finally becoming a fuctional meat sack that can DO THINGS. 

"But Lauren, I don't want to bulk up. And if you're lifting weights hardcore, don't you get bulky?" Unless you're taking steroids, the answer is no. There are a lot of badass women at my gym who are far fitter and stronger than me, and guess what: they're also a hell of a lot skinnier than I am, too. Not one part of my body has become bigger since crossfitting. Your body simply does not have the proper hormones to build that kind of muscle. IT WILL NOT HAPPEN. Unless you want it to via serious supplementation and protein intake. 

Most crossfit gyms will give you a free week of classes to see if you like the workouts and the people in the classes. I would challenge every one to just give it a shot. There is a reason people get so nuts about crossfit, because there is no more effective/efficient way to spend time trying to improve your body.

And to close, here are some slightly (barely) more attractive pictures of me getting my workout on...



Love,
Lauren


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