The scariest thing about Crossfit is….

Historically I have had an ongoing love hate relationship with exercise.

In my youth I played most sports, and like most people from Doncaster, I loved nothing more than tearing down fields with a baton in my hand and spikes in my shoes.

Then suddenly it all changed, I discovered Mad Dog 20/20 (yes really), and boys, then all too quickly I started ditching the spikes for heels.  Also once you were over 16, school sports suddenly stopped for us girls and so the baton was swapped for a dirty little cigarette, and before long my waistline ballooned, my face got spotty, and my legs stayed immobile.

Fast forward 20 years, what I have learnt is that if I want to keep a small behind, then I need to run, swim, jog, and move my ass in order to keep it a normal size.

But I have never loved exercise the way I did when I was sixteen (before the acne, boys and Mad Dog 20/20).

I have always associated getting older with sport being hard work, and not a huge amount of fun.

Lord knows, I have tried most ways of keeping fit.

The Gym

I have lost hours of my life running against a brick wall, cycling nowhere and rowing on a carpet.

I find no pleasure in this, yet ironically I have spent thousands in paying to be a member of many local clubs.

My favourite memory of the gym was falling off the treadmill, (after the bruising faded), purely because it gave me the much needed motivation to quit.

Running

I have ran a lot.  And up until this year I genuinely believed I needed to be marathon training in order to control my fluctuating weight.

I have ran three marathons, and trained five nights a week for four months for each.

And after each one I have refused to step into my trainers again, for at least six months.

I am not a huge fan of running, although nothing beats the feeling of finishing a 26.2 mile run!

But now, a run once in a while is ok, and with company a jog is pleasant.  But my marathon days are over.

Plus, at my age, what chance do I stand of ever winning London?

Step

Why did I think I could ever master this?  I can barely walk in a straight line never mind jump up and down on a box whilst tangoing and grapevine-ing….

Step was never going to be the exercise I excelled at.

Now, at 36, I am bored of forcing myself to go to the gym,  and looking for new unused excuses to not attend in the evening.

So I have been looking for something new…

And that led me to Crossfit.

I’ll be honest, I read a lot about Crossfit before signing up to give it a try.

What I read scared the living daylights out of me on the few occasions I could understand the language.

It looked hard, it looked painful, from some of the squat positions online, it looked downright impossible.

I must have been under the influence when I signed up to give it a go….

However, the scariest thing I have done at Crossfit, was walking through the door the first time.

(That and the time I thought I was going to lose all bladder control when trying to do Double unders)

It is a completely different approach to working out.  One that harks back to my childhood rather than the last twenty years.

Sure it is hard, but that doesn’t even come close to the fun.

It is a group of like-minded people, all cheering each other on, all helping you improve….

Remember at school when you were running the last leg of a race?

Your classmates were stood around cheering, your heart was pounding as you threw every last inch of yourself into trying to reach the line.  Your breath was exploding as you knew that you couldn’t give anymore.

Remember the smile that stretched over your lips at the end, when you completed a personal best, or knew you had tried your damnest.

I get that feeling every week now.  It is simply exhilarating.

No workout is the same, and the community is incredible.  Only seven weeks in and I have met people who have challenged, inspired and amazed me.

I have not dreaded a workout, thought of an excuse to avoid a session or even contemplated skipping a class.

It is a workout, a community, and serious fun all in one go.  Apart from Turkish get ups   – there is no fun to be found there.

It is for anyone who wants to improve their fitness, challenge their own perception of themselves, and improve their own strength.

It is most certainly for me.

If you want to find out more about Crossfit you can get more information from the website of the box I go to: simply click here….