Never assume and never say never
I will admit for the longest time I “didn’t get” crossfit, when people would say to me “Ludus is just crossfit with a different name” I would do my nut and woe betide you if after seeing me in my “uniform” of shorts and long socks you dared ask me if I did crossfit. (If I was a two year old I probably would have lay on the floor and pounded my fists).
Crossfitters were zealous peeps who were out to beat each other, they climbed ropes with their feet, flung around on the bar like a fish gasping for air and their workouts were 6 minutes long .. pfft 6 minutes .. Ludus wods take hours not a few minutes!
That’s what differentiated a Ludian from a Crossfitter – we did epic shit and the longer it took us, the more more epic it was. Heck last Halloween I even dressed up as a crossfitter, that’s how anti “establishment” I was.
Then my so called epicness caught up with me and I got one injury after another, so I started spending more time in the gym spinning and rehabbing. That’s when I saw that HPU had two gymnastics speciality classes a week on their schedule.
I’ve always loved learning “tricks” and I wanted really wanted “in” so I signed up for the crossfit induction solely to gain access to the gymnastics classes – I was never going to be a “crossfitter” and I was definitely NEVER going to compete. *when will I learn never to say never*
For the first few months I just did gymnastics. I branched out and tried the barbell club but I wasn’t comfortable under the bar so put Mr P.T in charge of getting me up to speed in that department.
Eventually I got up the courage to try an open WOD class but I wasn’t a fan, I didn’t know anyone and I found Coach Dave intimidating. Everyone could lift more, run faster and jump higher – I missed my smiling Lanistas, I missed my friends but probably more importantly I missed being able to hold my own.
Then six weeks after joining the crossfit ranks CrossfitHPU ran the Dry July Paleo challenge (Paleo was yet another thing I had rubbished). I wasn’t really interested in the Paleo aspect – I just wanted to win the competition AND I knew how to diet after all I had done it for years!
That was when I started doing more open WOD sessions. The main reason being most of the coaches went to the US to watch the Crossfit Games and Coach G was taking all of the morning sessions – Coach G isn’t scary and I respond well to his teaching methods.
July was my turning point. Coach G taking all the sessions allowed me the opportunity to go along everyday and little by little I made some friends and things started falling into place. Coach G even talked me into going back to the barbell club.
Then low and behold I won the Paleo Challenge and Coach G did my programming for me .. July was a good month! I’ve been following the program he designed for six weeks now and today was the day that I had the following realisation
“f**k me I’ve gotten stronger”
You see I’m back at Ludus a couple of times a week now and this morning we had a classic “old school” workout of 3 rounds of 10 exercises – all the same reps (15) with an “inbetweener” which was a overhead lunge length (that’s 30 lengths of lunges!)
One of those 10 exercises was deadlifts.
I used to deadlift 40kgs. I remember watching Anna (long legs, short shorts Anna) deadlifting 50kgs and being in awe and then she moved to 60kgs and so on and so on. I just used to console myself that “because of my knee” I was never going to be able to lift heavier on lower body exercises.
Today however I did the 15 reps unbroken tap and go (not bounce and go) with 60 kgs .. 60! 20 entire kgs more than I used to deadlift .. that totally deserves using the “f” word.
That extra 20 kgs is entirely due to the fact that I took up Crossfit. I’m not like Anna, I don’t have the confidence to just add weight to the bar and give it a go. So the way crossfit is programmed works well for me. Strength sessions are built into the week and I don’t have the option to remain the same.
I hereby sincerely apologize for my previous ignorance. Crossfit you are in fact O for Awesome! I still totally stand behind my observation that a butterfly kip looks like a dying fish though. 😉
Till next time
PS – Did I mention I’m doing the birthday games tomorrow? #eeeek