I think I might try CrossFit!
Mom Life

I’m Too Intimidated By CrossFit… In Fact, I Cried About it.

Three things to remember if you’re intimidated by CrossFit.

I think I might try CrossFit!

I married into a VERY athletic family.  My husband started wrestling before he could speak full sentences and the stories they have from their childhood wrestling days would make your draw drop. Each brother went off to wrestle in college.  One of my brothers-in-law owns his own CrossFit gym in the Henderson area, and my other brother-in-law and his wife went to CrossFit regionals a few years back and have their sights set on getting back there soon.

I remember being 9 months pregnant with baby number 2.  There I sat, watching my family train as I devoured a hot fudge sundae, and I thought to myself, “Who does this for fun?!”

About 6 months after the hot fudge Sunday incident, I started to get anxious to get my body back.  You can read more about that here.  The thought of trying CrossFit made my stomach hurt.  I was about 30 pounds overweight at this point and my ONLY experience with CrossFit had been watching these collegiate athletes kill themselves in these insane workouts day in and day out.  There was no way my body could handle what they were doing.  The last thing I wanted to do was work out IN FRONT of these super athletes so they could watch me struggle {in a measly attempt} to mimic what they were doing.

One night my husband and I went out for a great dinner without the kids.  I started to express my interest in wanting to lose the baby weight and he did it… he said the word, “CrossFit.”  He asked if I wanted to try going to the gym with him.  The next thing I knew, I was CRYING in the restaurant, and my husband was apologizing profusely and kept saying things like, “You don’t have to CrossFit!  I promise I will still love you even if you never workout again!”  That night we both decided to take CrossFit off the table.  I was going to find something that I enjoyed for myself.

A few weeks later I was at a MOPS meeting and sat with my good friend who happens to be a mom of twins.  She started telling me about how she joined CrossFit and was really enjoying it.  I was shocked!  She had twins, she was a normal mom just like me, and she was doing CrossFit?!  The next thing I knew I was making plans to join her at the gym.

I learned quickly that CrossFit wasn’t just for elite athletes.  It was for ordinary people that wanted to improve their health and fitness.  There were people at the gym that were far more experienced than me that could do pull-ups, push-ups, and lift what looked like more weight than I had ever seen on a barbell, but there were also people at the gym who were new, and in the same boat that I was in.  Everything in CrossFit can AND will be modified to your personal fitness level.  As my skills and strength improved, I was able to do more.  The first 6 months of CrossFit I improved drastically.

Two years later I can officially say I have found something for me and it is CrossFit.

3 Things to remember if the word CrossFit Intimidates you.

If you’re interested in trying CrossFit for the first time, but you’re intimated, I want you to remember these 3 things…

1.  Everybody that CrossFits has had their 1st day of CrossFit, and everybody gets nervous about it.  Some people {like me} even cry about it.  But once you’ve walked into the gym you’ve already overcome the hardest challenge.

2.  In the world of CrossFit, it’s YOU against YOURSELF.  Try not to compare yourself to other athletes, because your journey will be completely unique to you.

3.  If you’re worried about other people watching you struggle during a workout, don’t.  Everyone in the entire gym is struggling through workouts.  You will see them struggle and they will see you struggle.  In fact, they will cheer you on so that instead of giving up, you muster up the strength to finish and move on to do things you never thought were possible.

If you’re looking to try CrossFit for the first time, check out the CrossFit Gym Affiliate Locator.  These days CrossFit gym’s are popping up like Starbucks.  Don’t be afraid to try out a few gyms before committing.  I love the community aspect of CrossFit, so it was important for me to find a gym where I felt comfortable.

We would love to support you on your CrossFit adventure.  Let us know how your first day of CrossFit went in the comments below.

Interacting with our community on social media fuels our passion to keep on creating!  We do our best to read and respond to every single comment.  It means the world to us to know that you’re out there listening and going through the trenches right alongside us!

on Instagram:  @stayfitmom_tracy and @stayfitmom_Krista 

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5 Comments

  • Reply Leslie February 2, 2015 at 2:40 pm

    I really loved this post! Thank you for sharing your experience! I have heard SO much about crossfit for the last year and was so intrigued, but intimidated by it. I have never been the athletic type … Total klutz is more like it, but one day I had a surge of bravery and signed up for a crossfit “6 week trial”. One the first day I was so scared about what I had done I almost didn’t go. Luckily for me I have a very supportive fiancé who encouraged me to at least try it and said he wouldn’t make fun of me (too much) if I completely failed. Today was the start of week 4 and I am loving it! Crossfit really is just about competing with yourself and tailored to your own level. It has pushed me farther than I thought I could and I have already seen so much progress in myself. I have been able to do things I never even dreamed I could ever do! It is so exciting to see progress in yourself and celebrate the progress of each of us in the class! Thanks again for sharing your journey and experiences. They really are encouraging!

    • Reply Tracy February 4, 2015 at 3:33 pm

      Leslie,
      I am SO proud of you for facing your fear and showing up to try CrossFit!! I know exactly how you were feeling! Keep up your hard work. I can’t wait to hear how you’re improving!!

  • Reply mary August 7, 2017 at 2:24 pm

    I only just found your website. I am 31 weeks pregnant with my 3rd baby (I have 2 boys, 8 and 5, and we are waiting until delivery to find out the gender of #3-though my heart says boy!!). I have consistently worked out for the last decade but most of it was cardio based- avid runner and competitive kickboxer. But in my 30s I realized I needed to switch things up. get away from the long hours of cardio, stop getting knee’d in the stomach 40 times a night, and maybe avoid a sport that includes the occasional knock out kick to the heard. I love it, but as good as it was for me, there were things about it that I had to acknowledge were not good, including too low bodyweight. it was only in the last year that I started lifting heavy weights with my dad and doing HIIT workouts at home. For the last 2 years I’ve become increasingly interested in crossfit but have not tried it do to being intimidated by the style of workout. I can run for days and spar hard with a man who’s got 50 pounds on me but I could never imagine mastering a squat press or handstand push-up or 30 double unders or whatever other crazy stuff you guys do. I spent 8 years kickboxing, training, getting better, getting …good. to start over at something, to enter a gym knowing I’ll be one of the worst is deflating. So I’m curious, when you finally started, what could you already do and what was ridiculously hard? what are things you can do now that were seemingly impossible and how long did it take you to get there? thanks so much!

    • Reply Tracy August 7, 2017 at 2:58 pm

      Hi Mary,
      Just based on what you’re telling me, I’d be willing to bet you would improve quickly with CrossFit and it’s that progress that becomes addicting! It’s not about being the best (or worst) at the gym, but it is about improving drastically everyday!

      When I first started I couldn’t even do a pull up. Now I can do strict muscle ups. You can google that if you’re not familiar with what those are. I’ve now been doing CrossFit for 4 years . In addition to watching yourself progress in the gym, you will love the body composition changes you’ll begin to see in yourself. I can from a running/ triathlon background, so I felt comfortable with the metabolic conditioning side of training, but weight lifting is still a challenge. The best thing about CrossFit is that everyone has their strengths! Good luck to you! I hope you give it a try!

  • Reply Jim Marshall October 23, 2023 at 6:39 pm

    CrossFit just doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t like group exercise classes and working out on my own has a meditative feel for me. I don’t like the emphasis on lifting weights for time, this seems like a sure way to hurt yourself. I also don’t like the emphasis on working out while injured. That is wrong on so many levels. I don’t need people cheering me on when I exercise, I can plug along on my own at my own pace. I can’t see the sense of paying exorbitant fees to exercise. You can read books and watch videos and design an exercise plan. I think it’s better to work with a qualified trainer instead of someone who attended a weekend seminar to become a CrossFit trainer. If you need difficult physical activity, I suggest you dig ditches or stack firewood for a living.

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