I'm not particularly competitive, I don't really like most sports, and I don't take myself overly seriously. These traits are not ones that make a typical "athlete." I didn't have any desire to be a typical athlete, I just wanted to be "in shape" (whatever that meant,) look good, and keep up when friends wanted to hike, snowboard, or do some kind of silly theme run.
I tried so many different ways to become that person.
First, I tried training like a bodybuilder. The training style was not a coincidence, my personal trainer (yes, I was 17 and had a personal trainer) at the time used to be a bodybuilder and thought I'd make a good one. I had an eating disorder already (no one knew about that yet) and didn't think building a lot of muscle was a good idea, but I followed along like the well behaved, people-pleasing oldest child old I was and actually started to look pretty good. I did not compete or even come close, which is honestly one of the better decisions I made at that time in my life.
Once I turned about 20, I decided muscle was the enemy and I spent years following a style of "working out" that can really only be described as paying $50 a month to read a book on an elliptical. I was a Cardio Bunny as we semi-affectionately say now in fitness forums. At least it took up a lot of time, of which I had a lot; I was antisocial, depressed and starting to seriously wonder if I was losing my mind due to anxiety and bulimia. Fun times.
There were other workouts over the years, a lot of time spent in the gym, a lot of money spent joining bootcamp classes, yoga classes, running, spinning and trying to find something I enjoyed enough to keep doing. I was still uninspired and bored and cycled through these classes as quickly as my short term memberships expired.
At about 28 years old I decided that STRONG=SEXY. The internet said so and it must be true. I found out that powerlifting existed, and that I could actually lift quite a bit of weight for my size/training level, and that it was really, really enjoyable. I spent the next few years (aside from a few injuries I caused myself) building strength, ignoring endurance, and having a great time doing it. Powerlifting is fun, it's a great way to train, and though I can't really call myself an actual "Powerlifter," training this way really opened my mind to strength, muscle, and building a skill that I was proud of. Even when most people didn't take much interest.
A little less than a year ago, I realized that I was lonely, tired of working out by myself, and still hadn't really found "my people."
Enter, Crossfit. The sport I'd seen the internet make fun of for years; cheesy logos and catch phrases (your workout is my warm-up - really?); stories of douchy, shirtless bros getting so competitive with one and other that they would land themselves in the hospital; a price-point that was easily twice that of my current gym membership. Was I really going to do this? Yes, apparently I was.
Once I decided I wanted to try it out, I needed to find a place to go that didn't have the aforementioned douchy bros (these are a myth as far as I can tell - I've been to a lot of Crossfit boxes.) I wanted coaches that knew what they were doing. I wanted a location that I could get to without a car. Lucky for me, my wishlist aligned and I found my current "box" (I feel like such a dork even writing that, but that's what it's called) and I was hooked.
I'm still a wannabe, but I found a great community, great coaches, and a sport I look forward to doing every day. I'm getting better, stronger, and I think even more aestetic (which was basically all of my initial goals.) My goals have changed, my plans have changed, and certainly the way I spend my time has changed. I wish it didn't take me so long to get to this point.
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