1 Resilience
CrossFit is a roller coaster of highs and lows; a love-hate relationship with just enough affection in it to keep you two together. It is hard and sometimes it makes you sad - sad at a movement you just can't work out, sad you can't do a pullup yet, sad that double unders are so, so, so stupid! It builds you up with a ton of successes: your first brilliant clean, a PB back squat, your first pressup and then it crushes you with your inability to fathom snatches or pistol squats. But you keep coming back and you keep working hard and keep on improving and slowly, slowly snatches begin to make more sense; slowly slowly your mobility improves and you realise you have become resilient! If you can get through that wod you all did last Wednesday, you are sure you can get through pretty much anything!
2 Commitment
CrossFit helps you stop prevaricating in the real world.If you are one of those people skilled in the art of putting off today what could easily (but probably won't be) done tomorrow then CrossFit has something to teach you.
In CrossFit, you learn very quickly to stop waiting for that perfect storm because that perfect storm comes around so very rarely. You are always going to be a bit tired or a bit sore or a bit hungry or a bit late or a bit pre-menstrual or cross with your boss or your kids or your cat....
The workouts don't often throw out a combination of everything you're good at, they might give you two movements you love but temper it cruelly with one that makes you swear....but you do it anyway because it's written on the board and everyone else is doing it and your coach has never written, 'Did not finish,' on the board yet!
In short, you learn to go with the flow. You discover how to make the beast of it. You realise just need to get on with it. And if you do that enough, it becomes a habit and you find yourself better at finishing tasks in the real world that you could normally have strung out for weeks.
You learn that it isn't about having to have a positive mental attitude. You understand what Nike were saying all along: you just do it!
3 Pride
There are things you do at CrossFit that you never imagined in a million years you would be able to achieve. There are things you might work on for months, years even, that when you get them fill you with such genuine, deep, well-deserved, overwhelming pride that the birth of your first child is relegated to a 'pretty good day, I suppose.' For someone who battles with depression, that achievement could be showing up 3 days a week for 6 months, come rain or shine, black dog or rainbow unicorn!
For someone who has battled with their weight their whole life, it could be getting their first pullup.
It could be going upside down on the rings for the first time, running 200m without needing an ambulance on standby, it could taking part in your first CrossFit competition...
Pride that comes from diligence, hard-work, commitment and resilience is pretty damn hard to beat!
On top of all this, you get really, really strong and have great muscles. What's not to like?
My brother was into crossfit and I too got into it because of him. It’s a high intensity workout regimen and beginners must be monitored by professionals. Also it is best to avoid very tight clothing during workouts. Those seeking apparels with perfect fit for crossfit sessions can try out sports bras on Carbon38.com.
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