I committed to the 6 Week CrossFit Challenge and gave myself 1 hour a day, 3 days a week, for 6 weeks. I knew it would be hard, but I knew it would be worth it. I wasn’t sure where it would take me, or what the results would be. But I had faith that I would be better because of it.
For a little more background on how I landed here, check out this post
Results
Everyone’s always looking for results, right?
When I went into the 6-Week CrossFit Challenge, my goal was never to lose weight. Because of that I never weighed in or took ‘before’ pictures.
So because of this I didn’t really have a concrete gauge for my results except how I felt. These are my top 3:
1) It may be surprising, but my pants are tighter in all the right places, and my legs are strong. If we weren’t doing squats, we were doing a movement that somehow secretly included squats.
2) I appear to getting some abs back! I shied away from ab exercises after having my kids because I thought I had a slight case of diastasis recti. When I started the challenge I decided to just go all in and see how I felt–so far so good!
3) I feel confident and energized. I thought that the 6:00 at night classes (yes, that’s late for me!) would be exhausting on both ends. But what happened was, I looked so forward to going all day and the next morning I was still riding the CrossFit high. It really provided a great wave for me to ride throughout the busy work week.
Challenge Experience
I get a lot of questions about CrossFit from my non-CrossFit friends, and someone posted something in our challenge group Facebook page that really sums it up:
We have an amazing team of coaches at CrossFit Coram and they literally coached us through every class of the challenge. We were challenged and supported, while also being introduced to the principles and core movements we might experience if we continued after the challenge.
I was confident in my athleticism going into the challenge, but whoa, I definitely did stuff I’ve never done before. We did eventually get to experience the real weights and practice some barbell movements. I’ve lifted weights in college, but have never lifted a barbell.
Now I’m power cleaning to the point where I need to increase weight.
So Now What?
Wondering what life is like after the challenge?
Our coaches still continue to coach every single ‘regular’ CrossFit class I’ve been to. Different coaches give different perspectives and tips–if you’re paying attention, you can start putting it all together.
Not only do I feel totally badass doing CrossFit, but I love the new challenge. Running and CrossFit are two different beasts, but I’m thinking there is a place for both in my athletic heart.
I actually ran a 5k this past weekend on nothing but my recent CrossFit training, and I totally felt the difference.
Goals
Now that I’m all in, I’m able to track my weights for each exercise on Wodify. I’m being very cognisant of pushing myself instead of getting too comfortable with a certain weight.
RUN! I’m definitely excited about running this season. I’d love to see my times get past the plateau I’ve been at–and strength has always been a big issue.
I also may or may not have signed up for the Suffolk County Marathon again!
I’m glad to hear your Crossfit challenge went well! It’s very intriguing and I’ve thought about how doing more weight training could help me with my running, but it’s definitely intimidating!
Janelle @ Run With No Regrets recently posted…March Monthly Goal Recap and April Running Goals
I’m still intimidated sometimes, but just getting myself there is half the battle. The coaches really make it attainable for everyone.
So awesome that you had such a positive experience! Good coaching goes a long way!
Thanks!!
Hey, this is great! I have never tried crossfit until recently and I have to admit that it was so much fun. I was basically crushing my competition, but it’s mostly because that I do a lot of heavy lifting at the gym, focusing mostly on 5×5 lifts and basic strength, though I’ve never thought I could actually be that good as high reps were usually my weak side.
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