I was mumbling something crotchety in the Safeway parking lot on our way to the gym on Tuesday and Corey fired back at me.
He usually tolerates my groaning: how I am doomed to 15 pound weights forever, how it sometimes kind of totally sucks to lift weights with someone so spectacularly ripped and strong, god, don't you understand my oversensitive kind of assholish woe?
I feel like a seventy-six year old Ethel with my limp little arms and I actually experience something akin to...anger when I watch him lift 70 pound weights with his pinkie as I labour through the 2 pounders with the force of a dysfunctional cooked noodle.
"You're not overly fun to work out with lately,"he said, or something like that and god, you know what? He's totally right. He was probably being a little too easy on me.
I have been seeing small changes in my body at the gym, but I'm not sure they're enough to make up for the dread that's been flooding me every time I go there lately. If I hear Lady Gaga on the radio there one more time, if the Nickleback Dude with the Giant Biceps ignores my hello one more time, if I have to glower again at the grunting machine hog dude, I will lose it and unleash fatskinny fury on the elliptical machine. Or whatever else is nearby. Probably Corey.
So yesterday, in a fit of Please Let's Try Something Different, we stopped in at the Crossfit down the road from our house. I think it's been there awhile, but we didn't actually notice it existing there until a number of commenters started mentioning it in the comments here. This is actually sad, since it is next door to the Starbucks where we get coffee every single morning. It takes the Internet to make us realize the gems in our own neighbourhood, people.
Anyway! Crossfit works on the premise of varied, intense, bursty kind of workouts that prepare you to do whatever want. The focus is on power and tracking and giving it your all, rather than rotating sophisticated machine at the gym. Dave, the Trainer and Motivator dude, ushered us in and wrote about power and strength and output on a big white board, his eyes snapping with enthusiasm. Then he put us to work, to see where we were at.
We ran 400 meters outside, past the Starbucks, with a giant ball (Corey's was 20 pounds, mine 12), it was gasp worthy and I couldn't stop laughing, which may have impacted my time. We did as many pushups, situps and pull ups as we could in a minute. We did squats, as many as we could, for six rounds of one minute until I started shaking with fatigue. Dave's encouragement pushed me through and at the end my heart was pounding with adrenaline and enthusiasm.
The very cool thing? I've been thinking this whole time that I'm feeble. I may be was feeble - but I'm not anymore. In every exercise we came in, both of us, as much better than average. And I did 16 man push ups. Three months ago I couldn't do 1. And Dave guaranteed me that I will be able to do 3 unassisted pullups in 3 months - though now I can't do one.
The other premise of Crossfit is the paleo diet - something I'm waffling on because of the whole meat thing. I just finished reading Eating Animals and am wobbly on eating meat again. Even so, I'm committed and stoked on this Crossfit thing. Have any more of you had experience with it?
I feel another transformation coming on. Thanks, you guys.
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