July 11, 2008FRIDAY 080711
Dreaming already about competing in the CrossFit Games next year, young Kent Green works on a good-looking L-sit at CrossFit Coastal. Another dream in the making is HyperFit USA's hope of being named "Best Gym in Detroit." But you can make the difference by helping them to win! Vote here. Now, imagine this was all a dream. All of CrossFit. And we had to start back where we were before we all found each other. Read "The Land Before CrossFit" . . . Imagine we had to go back. Back to the Land Before CrossFit. Before wall-ball and thrusters and burning lung metcons like Fran and Helen. Back to a place without our friend Pukie or Uncle Rhabdo or the legendary Nasty Girls. To a time when the only language spoken was "Is it Legs or Chest day?" Back before we realized there was a madman in the tower, dreaming up workouts that combined both, and, in the ultimate piece of twisted depravity, adding a stopwatch to the whole mix. Back before we knew the madman's name was Greg Glassman. It was all so sterile, so boring, and so futile. On those upper-body and lower-body and separate cardio days, we built some pretty muscles but we never really used them. Or, when we did, like when we toted a heavy bag of sand at Home Depot, or lifted an overloaded suitcase off the airport luggage carousel, we often injured ourselves, because pampered pretty muscles are like the Ice Queen at the Prom: she looks great but you can't really take her home and **** her. Better you should have some real muscles to do real work. Power units that will, quite simply, help you to lift heavy stuff off the ground. Functional muscles for a functional life. Like what you earn in CrossFit. But also realize, unless you're very lucky, that your friends and loved ones still live in the Land Before CrossFit. They still toil away on ellipticals and "butt-blasters" and horrible weight machines because they have been told, "This is the way." And they still believe it, even though it takes them nowhere. They are like newborn baby birds, sitting in the nest, their beaks open but their eyes still covered, waiting and crying for someone to feed them. But they still don't see. They hear the rumblings of CrossFit in the distance, but they don't understand yet. The noise, to them, is perhaps the shifting of some seismic plates. They do not understand that those are the footsteps of thousands of CrossFitters, pounding across the arid desert of bullsh** "fitness", sprinting past the lies and the half-truths, coming to throw open the gates and set them free. So, what to do? Tell the baby birds. Better yet, show them. Live the CrossFit life. Be a walking testament to the power of the properly executed below-parallel squat, Olympic lifting, and metcon. Shock them by doing heavy deadlifts with good form, without breaking your back or having your uterus drop out on the floor. Become a living, breathing example of the results the naysayers only promise to deliver. And then wait . . . There is a line in the Tao Te Ching that reads, "Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity." So, do your work: CrossFit. Then step back. Eyes will open and the baby birds will see. Let's just hope they don't fall out of the nest and break their necks before they even get to wall-ball.
Comments
Excellent article! It is so true. I still have co-workers that will walk by and see my watching so crossfit video and laugh and say things like "they must not planning on walking for much longer squatting like that" I try to explain, but they are so stubborn. They do the same thing watching me eat my zone/paleo friendly meals also. I guess to some even seeing what the benefits could be is not enough to think it can work. Oh well I guess the life of well being at fitness is not for everyone. Comment #1 - Posted by: Chad - CrossFit Timed at July 11, 2008 12:42 AMAwesome article!! Perfect timing too; I'm putting on a CrossFit Intro Class tomorrow morning...I'll be reading this article to the "baby-birds"--thanks Lisbeth & Allison! Brian Comment #2 - Posted by: Brian--CrossFit Ramstein at July 11, 2008 1:26 AMLisbeth, Your words are perfect! And everyday new converts are won over. It really is only a function of time before even the most stubborn make the switch.
"...because pampered pretty muscles are like the Ice Queen at the Prom: she looks great but you can't really take her home and **** her." ow. ow. ow. i just snorted coffee out my nose. as a wise man once said, "ROTFLMAO!!!1!!" awesome article! Comment #5 - Posted by: MikeG_CFATL at July 11, 2008 4:30 AMLisbeth, that was perfect. The best way to get others to convert to this way of exercising is by becoming great testimony to the program. It's definitely a lot more powerful to show the world CrossFit through your actions, then to talk nonstop about it like a religious fanatic. Best advice I've found on the mainsite aside from Coach Glassman's Tips for a Successfull Affiliate is from Skip Chase - "You have to live, breath and walk CrossFit." What we follow is CrossFit. We are CrossFitters and we're all pretty damn proud of that. Lis, Trying to convince people that a CrossFit workout won't result in immediate death is my toughest challenge. I try and explain to people how CrossFit works and they all say the same thing: "You're crazy!" I guess until someone tries it, they'll never be able to understand it. Comment #7 - Posted by: Chris - CrossFit Watertown at July 11, 2008 6:34 AMThanks for your support. I feel honored to affiliated with such a cool group of people. Lisbeth: Thanks you for writing the words I have always felt, but have been unable to express. Thank you! Comment #8 - Posted by: Doug at July 11, 2008 7:01 AMWell said Lisbeth! We WILL take over the fitness world - one 'baby bird' at a time! Results don't lie, people do! Comment #9 - Posted by: Nick at OTG at July 11, 2008 7:24 AMLisbeth, Lis... Awesome article!!!! We are holding classes at a local park here in Rochester until we open our own place in September, and the amount of people that come and watch, telling us that we are crazy is mind blowing to me. There are also a number of folks who use the park for their daily "exercises" and when we ask them to join us for the day, EVERY one of them refuse. They would rather run back and fourth, do sit ups and push ups incorrectly, and think that they're getting in a good work out rather than join us and learn proper form and execution of their movements. I can't even begin to think what my life would be like without this community... all of the friends i have made, all of the awesome people that i get a chance to work with... we're all really lucky. Lisbeth: Thanks for directing people to the Affiliate Blog today to read this. Our efforts are misdirected by chastising Cpt Picker. Someone needs to show him he is misinformed. I have a client that one comes in twice a week. "This (CrossFit) interferes with" his heavy bench day. I have made it my mission to open his eyes! Comment #12 - Posted by: Dana Lynch - BGI Fitness at July 11, 2008 11:24 AMThanks to everyone for the kind words. I really appreciate it. Just doing my best to try to speak for us all. I think one of the "sticky" issues we face as a community is the kind of thing we see going on over in Daily Comments today. Passions inflame, which can be a good thing but, unfortunately, sometimes drive us to show our less-than-best sides in verbal debate. Comment #13 - Posted by: Lisbeth at July 11, 2008 12:01 PMToo true, running into a lot of reformed "Body-for-Lifers", can't wait to get more in and get them off that crap. Comment #14 - Posted by: Brian PCF at July 11, 2008 12:33 PMGreat article! CrossFit is starting to spread here in our athletic department. All it took was watching my co-worker to get me hooked. Now we've got a little core group who CrossFit regularly and others who are still watching but seem interested. Slowly they try the kool aid and jump on board. Even the strength and conditioning coaches ask me what sort of fun i have in store each day and aske me questions about the workouts. Comment #15 - Posted by: Brian at July 11, 2008 1:16 PMGreat article, it's only been 7 months for me but they have lept me ahead of the rest of the "workouts" from my past. I can't wait until I can forget the days of wasted gym time. Comment #16 - Posted by: Neal-CF Katy at July 11, 2008 1:30 PMWish this article was published in the Houston Chronicle as a featured article for the rest of the year! Comment #17 - Posted by: Grace CF Sugar Land, TX at July 11, 2008 1:38 PMLisbeth: very nice. Thanks. Comment #18 - Posted by: bingo at July 11, 2008 3:04 PMLisbeth, Sean, my photo is actually on the cover of many magazines at your local supermarket check-out stand: I happen to look EXACTLY like Angelina Jolie. Haha! Okay, maybe not. Troll back a few weeks and you'll find it. (As for knowing how a guy's mind works, I chalk that up to spending some formative years on the flightline with damn fine NCO's, as well as living in a houseful of testosterone right now.) Comment #20 - Posted by: Lisbeth at July 11, 2008 8:06 PMLisbeth, glad to be of inspiration! Comment #21 - Posted by: Allison Bojarski, CFNYC at July 12, 2008 12:09 PMPost a comment |
