Gia

The first time I heard the word CrossFit was probably about 3 years ago. I wasn’t really sure what it was and to be honest it looked a little ridiculous. I couldn’t understand how someone could consider a 5 minute work out an actual work out and I didn’t see how anyone could benefit from such short sessions of fast, crazy maneuvers in their own garage.
My boyfriend introduced me to CrossFit. It basically happened one of the first times I went to go hang out at his house. He said “I’m gonna work out real quick, I’ll be done in a few minutes”. I was like hmmm, ok a few minutes, maybe I’ll just make myself comfortable and watch some TV until he’s done. Well sure enough 15 minutes later or so I popped back out into the garage to see if I could bring him some water and I see him on the floor, on his back drenched in sweat. I asked if he was taking a break in-between sets and he said, “Nope…all done”.

Before CrossFit I did the “traditional” work out that took place at a “traditional” gym for an estimated time of an hour or two. I knew that each day of the week was reserved for a different muscle group, such as Monday was chest and tri’s, Tuesday was back and bi’s, etc… I did cardio everyday for about 15 to 30 minutes and abs on every other day. I can’t remember ever leaving my gym looking as accomplished as he looked that day on the floor of his garage. He tried talking me into working out with him but because I’m stubborn I didn’t want to try anything new. I was afraid to bulk up and look manly because of all of the weight lifting involved. My gym membership ended up running out and I just stuck with playing co-ed softball. I had always been in good shape and very athletic so I thought that as long as I stayed somewhat active I would be fine. Well, after a while of no real exercise and bad eating habits the numbers on the scale started to go up and my pants were not. The image of him on the floor of his garage always stuck in my head. He looked like he gave it everything he had. He looked like he competed against 100 other people at a sport and came in first. I didn’t realize that he was in competition with himself.

I knew that this was something I needed to try so I did a Google search for CrossFit in Ft. Lauderdale and South Florida CrossFit Endurance popped up. I started my 101 on September 22nd and my official first day of CrossFit Basics was at the end of October. I took a picture of myself every week noticing differences and although I thought they were slight differences my friends noticed the changes almost immediately. I have lost inches in my waist, lost a couple of pounds, and have toned up real nice. My strength has increased and so has my speed. For example, my first mile TT during my 101 was 8:14 and I’m now at 7:04 trying for a sub 7 real soon. I’ve also PR’d on several different weight lifting movements in these last couple of weeks to the point where I have surprised myself.

I’ve been doing CrossFit now for 7 months (counting my 101 class) and ever since then I’ve been receiving nothing but complements on how my body has transformed. I feel so much more active and I look forward to going to class every day. It’s not like going to a gym and wanting to skip a day because I had a long day at work, I actually count down the minutes to run out of work and make my class. We truly do have a great community of athletes at SFCF and knowing that they have my back with cheers and words of encouragement make every visit there well worth it. I’m honored to be a part of such a great team.