Buckle up…a lot of nostalgia…but also a lot beauty and pride.
On July 8, 2008 I started CrossFit. Someone told me I should do a workout named “Angie.” And so I did. Get through 100 pull ups, 100 push ups, 100 sit ups and 100 squats as quickly as possible. You had to finish the pull ups before starting the push ups before starting the situps before starting the squats. It took me 40 minutes and 48 seconds to finish. I would NEVER give that as a first workout for anyone. Looking back, I don’t know how I ever did another workout again. It was dumb.
But I was hooked (which, maybe, explains a lot about me).
The next year or two I followed crossfit.com. They would post a new workout each day. Sometimes I could do them. The majority of the time I had to scale them because I couldn’t do the movement listed or the suggested weight was well above my pay grade. I watched videos of Chris Spealler, Nicole Carroll, Greg Amundson wearing their tennis shoes, working out in dusty fields or garage gyms that could maybe fit 4 people in it if you stood the right way. No wrist wraps, knees sleeves, elbow sleeves, wrist braces, weight belts, grips, olympic shoes, metcon shoes, warm up shoes, walking into the gym just for a second shoes. It was people trying to become more “fit” by changing up the day’s workout, over all sorts of time domains (4 minutes, 20 minutes, 12 minutes, 30 minutes) using all kinds of movements to try to accomplish some kind of “fitness” (whatever that meant). And they would re-test certain workouts in 3-6 months to see if they did get…”more fit” (a faster time or lift heavier weight).
There was a competitive piece to this whole methodology that I loved – competition with myself. My first 3 years I didn’t have a membership to a CrossFit gym. In fact, I think there was only one in the area of where I lived which I couldn’t afford. But it was the beauty of it for me – I could workout anywhere and do it by myself. And so I bought 2 things – a kettlebell and rings. That was all I had for the first year. I would walk across the street of where I lived to the Bellingham high school track and throw my rings over the football field goal posts and run around the track, do pull ups under the bleachers, dips on the rings, do the 8000 movements that you can do with a kettlebell. I tracked everything. I got faster and stronger. For me, the data said I was getting more “fit.” I like numbers and spreadsheets and beating times…
Eventually, I bought a gym membership to what was Core Fitness in Franklin (now Planet Fitness) and started doing my CrossFit based workouts there by myself…in the corner mostly. Fortunately YouTube (or social media) wasn’t a huge thing at the time because you better believe I was “that guy” in the gym. The one sprinting on a treadmill then running to the other side of the gym to throw a medicine ball up in their air (not against a wall…just up in the air) and then swinging a kettlebell (that I snuck into the gym). People would stop and look at me. Sometimes they would ask, “What are you doing?” Again, “that guy”: “I can’t (pant) right now (pant pant). I’m in the middle of an AMRAP!”
An AMRAP? Not only is this guy acting like a fool but he also is making up words. I think you meant you were in the middle of a….I guess you could call it…workout?
Turns out it’s pretty hard to sneak a 53 pound kettlebell into a gym. Eventually the owner pulled me aside and said, “Look, I know you come here everyday. Honestly, I have no idea what you are doing half the time. I mean, keep doing you. BUT, you really can’t bring outside equipment into the gym. It’s a pretty big liability issue.” (As a gym owner now, it all makes a lot of sense. At the time I was outraged at the inconsiderate response to me getting more fitter-er doing AMRAPs and EMOMs and WODS that are constantly varied functional movement performed at high intensity across broad time and modal domains. He doesn’t even know….)
On the back of a Stop and Shop receipt I saw a CrossFit Franklin coupon (I used to go to Stop and Shop to buy one item knowing that a “buy one entree get one at 50% off” Acapulcos coupon would be on it). $29 for the first month. I knew I couldn’t afford a membership to a CrossFit gym. But I could scrounge up $29. And so I stepped foot in the gym. I haven’t stepped out of one since.
I met OG. I was 20-ish years younger than him…and he would beat me in every single workout. I would come in almost everyday and tell him, “OG! Today’s the day! You better watch out ’cause I’m coming for you.” And he would watch out for me…in the rearview mirror. We built a pretty awesome friendship over the next couple of years or so that I was there.
I met ML. We had kids at similar ages. She was also pretty fluent in sarcasm. I speak a healthy dose myself. We would banter but also share life’s challenges. A friendship grew and blossomed.
I met Lisa. She was a coach there and an unreal athlete. Whatever she did (I mean, whatever) she dominated. I just wanted to be like Lisa. She coached me and taught me and challenged me. Now, I never hit Lisa status as an athlete….not even in same ballpark (or more accurately, same sport) than her. But she is a huge reason that I went into coaching.
I met Whitney. You want a loyal and caring person in your life? Hang out with her to learn what that looks like. BUT don’t get caught dead in a dodgeball game with her. She will take your head right off.
I met Beth and Brian and Lee and Susan and Rx Jayne and Scott and Amy and Dave and Keith and Beth and MC (four of those people have their own CrossFit gyms now)….and so many people.
And then CrossFit Never Doubt began. I joined Lisa the first day it opened, ironically enough, next to the Acapulcos in Milford. We have had hundreds and hundreds of people walk through those doors in the last 7 1/2 years – from competitions that we have held to members to people wondering what we do. People. So many people. From so many different backgrounds that have been united at the start with a common goal – to be more “fitter-er” (which means something different to everyone). Turns out a unified goal forms a community. And a community – when cultivated and inclusive and open – breeds friendship, acceptance and love.
The CrossFit community has brought me to where I am today in many aspects- physically and communally. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say, in may ways, it changed my life. It certainly changed my career path. Where it lands me in the future (with a CrossFit name or not) – man do I need more time to think through (and ask for that permission to do so). But I keep coming back to the people. The people that I have met. The people that I know now. The people that I have yet to meet.
The Community.
What I have seen over the last couple of weeks is that through the community OUR voices can be heard when we shout “Black Lives Matter” and the seemingly, overwhelmingly large boat can start to move in a different direction. OUR comfort can be felt when WE look someone in the eyes and give empathy instead of hate. OUR love can be known when WE listen and learn and apologize instead of firing off tweets.
Working out by myself at the track was seemingly really good. And it was. I accomplished a lot. But surrounding myself with a community with a mission of love and empathy…..that is powerful and can lead to systematic change.
I commit to love and empathy…and learning to authentically apologize when I miss the mark.