This past weekend was one that I fell in love with.  I was constantly on the move doing something I enjoyed and that left me feeling like I have made a difference somehow. 

Friday evening started out as most Fridays do.  My movie night with Miss {ABM} is a time I look forward too each week.  It is a perfect ending to a hectic work week and a fabulous beginning to a hopefully relaxing weekend.  There is nothing in this world that could tempt me away from cuddling up on the couch with my little and popping in a fun movie with kettle corn and a few different fruits to snack on. 

SATURDAY: CrossFitters complete FGB6

This Friday we had to make it an early movie night so we could both be up in the morning to “compete” in Fight Gone Bad 6 at my gym Corefitness Obsession with all proceeds going to 3 charities {Special Operations Warrior Foundation, CrossFit Kids, and Camp Patriot}.  Fight Gone Bad consists of 5 stations {Wall Balls 20/14#, High Pulls75/55#, Box Jumps 20″, Push Press 75/55#, Calorie Rows} with a minute at each totalling 5 minutes per round.  3 rounds are to be completed of the circuit with a 1 minute rest allowed between each round with total reps combined as your score.  In all it is a 17 minute work out containing 2 minutes of rest that somehow never felt restful.  Although I went in very sore from the WOD the night before and dreading the squating that Wall Balls entail, that was set aside, and I put my whole heart into this event.  I was suprised at how many showed up not just from our gym but from throughout the fitness community.  In all we raised almost $600 from entrance fees from our event alone.  An astonishing $2,283,873.38 was raised during this event globally.  It was my first FGB event and certainly not my last.  I enjoyed devirginizing myself from Fight Gone Bad {with a score of 179rx} while others more experienced enjoyed hitting new PRs and strategizing how they were going to tackle their heat to get better numbers.  Overall it was an amazing event and inspirational to see some of the athletes from other gyms compete.  I realize that I have come so far from where I started a year ago in this CrossFit community and yet have only reach maybe 25% of my capabilities.  This event left me feeling satisfied that I am able to give back in such ways within the CrossFit community and left my head very satisfied when it crashed on my pillow at 9pm on a Saturday evening!

If you are not familiar with the CrossFit community or the workouts here is a little fill in.  “CrossFit combines strength training, explosive plyometrics, speed training, Olympic- and power-style weight lifting, kettle bells, body weight exercises, gymnastics, and endurance exercise”{-Greg Glassman}.  There is a daily WOD {work out of the day} posted with some being named after women and military heroes.  The gyms are not your typical fitness facilities.  You will not find an over abundance of cardio equipment and resistance machines but what you will see is everyone working together as a community and not on their own.  You will also notice the only cardio machine will be a rower {I have a love/hate realtionship with this machine} and any running can be done outside when needed.  Plenty of bars, bumpers, kettlebells, plyo boxes, tires, pullup bars, climbing ropes, dumbbells, and gymnastic rings will be found through out the facility.  These are all used in combination for circuit training {one excercise following the next with little rest} which crossfit is popular for.  The WODs are high intensity workouts that can be done in 5-15minutes on average with some occasionally longer WODs taking up to 45minutes.

The community is like family.  This is what keeps CrossFit thriving as a whole.  You can walk into another affiliate while out of town to get a workout in and its like walking into an extended family.  Many are intimidated by us but you cant judge a book by its cover now can you?  Sometimes we are called a cult or if we do it more than 3 times a week outsiders say we are addicted.  Why not be addicted to what you love?  If we are a cult than so be it as would surfing be to surfers or football to football players.  We all consume ourselves within what we take pride in doing.  So why not have it be in something that keeps my body in prime condition and with people I enjoy being around.  I have been through a few gyms and not until I reached the CrossFit community did I feel welcome by everyone and intimidated by none.  It also did not take long until I realized these people have become like family to me.  Aside from just a good ass kicking, we also love a good cause.  And when support is needed especially for our military who are sacrificing their lives daily for us…we provide it.  Its not one or two gyms with maybe 60 ppl but its hundreds of gyms with over thousands of crossfitters around the world that come together on one day to give unified support to an event.  ….Sure the way we give our support to some may seem a little barbaric or we may seem like a pack of meatheads {for lack of a better term}.  But for us it is more than what meets the eye.  We show our support through these workouts that push us to our limits and break us down mentally and physically in a given period of time because we simply can.  We can suffer through 31 minutes.  We can take the pain of 300+ reps.  We know that the feeling of our lungs burning only minutes into the workout and the blisters forming from the bars or ropes will not last forever.  This pain we put ourselves through and allow our bodies to endure for what seems like forever in the moment but in reality are only minutes on a clock is just a little sacrifice we feel we can give back to those who willingly subject themselves to a far greater pain for us.  It is not just in honor or memory of these men and women that hold more bravery in their hearts than I can ever compare to my own but also to their families who also feel the pain of a wounded or fallen hero.  We do this to show them that we are thankful for what their family has done for ours, for us, for our country.  CrossFit is a community like no other.  It is full of strength and a constant striving mentality to be better than yesterday. 

||This was just my Saturday …stay tuned for my Sunday in my upcoming Friday post!||

{The soul of an athlete can change the game.  The heart of an athlete can change the world.}

{love loudly.}