Crossfit Training

As most of you know by now from reading my "A Little More About Me" post, I have been an athlete my entire life. I love being active and physically fit. If I didn't have something active to do with my life, I would go insane. So when I moved to Gainesville, I was a little worried about filling that need. I am still struggling with knee pain in many activities so I knew that joining the crew team, or the gymnastics club was out of the question. I didn't find an activity until the third month in Gainesville, and for those first two months, I struggled. I knew that I had to find something active to do, because I was beginning to go insane. My brother Ryan, suggested that I tried crossfit training.

Crossfit training is somewhat hard to explain, but I think I can explain it best with just a jumble of phrases: high intensity, functional movements, and constant variation. I looked online at this gym called "Gator Crossfit" and started to explore their website and the idea of crossfit training. From all of the videos they posted online, I could tell that it was an intense form of training. That got me excited, and worried about my knees. After discussing it with my brother, he said that because they teach you the proper techniques for every movement, it might actually help rehabilitate my knees. So I figured, why not try it? I had nothing to lose.

I started out with an introductory course called "Gator Ramp". This course is a small group of other crossfit beginners working with a personal trainer to learn all of the movements necessary to be successful in what they call "Group Classes". So, for a month, I worked out three times a week learning how to flip a tire, Olympic weight lift, climb a rope, and much more. During this month, I began to really like this whole "crossfit training" idea. The people at this gym are of all age groups, and everyone is very encouraging. It's understood that each person has different limitations and modifications that they might have to make for the workout, and no one is "better" than another.  

I have now been a part of the "Group Classes" for a month now and love it. I go to Gator Crossfit three times a week and work out for an hour. Since I have been going to Gator Crossfit, I have not had one workout repeated, which is amazing. I've learned the correct movements to build strength, and have been doing so. I have gained about 8 pounds since I started crossfit. I'm hoping it's muscle ;) Though I still have to modify many of the workouts to accommodate my knee pain, I have seen definite improvement in my knees. Where there used to be sharp, shooting pains, there is now a dull ache. To most of you, this probably still sounds bad, but to me it's improvement. I've gained body awareness as well as mental strength. If your town/city had a crossfit gym and you love being physically active, I encourage you to check it out!