Post from Chad Dougherty

WHAT'S THE POINT?
Chad Dougherty, CFAI Trainer


It's hard. It's heavy. It's 5 am and the alarm is letting you know the suck fest is about to start all over. The last six months have been a blur. It started with your best friend from college calling about his new fitness program and how you had to get on board. "Remember college, when we could both run a 23 minute 5k? He said, "This stuff will bring you back. Plus, it will make you look like a stud again". So you sign up at your local "CrossFit" gym. It's been a good six months. Your "Fran" time has gone from 13:49 with the bar and jumping pull-ups, to 8:30 as Rx'd. Pretty cool. You can dead lift your bodyweight and look and feel great, but don't realize it. You've started to wonder why you go. What's the point? Your not 21 again, your still carrying around half of your old gut. You work this hard and you're still not ripped? You feel like hitting the snooze button and going back to bed. Stop, and take inventory. You've forgotten about the heartburn, it's gone. Winded at the top of the stairs? No. You're picking the kids up and throwing them around like the "good old days". Your blood pressure has dropped a bit, and you can play basketball with the kids until they want to stop. Health happens when you're not looking. It sneaks up on you because you've already forgotten what it was like before. You felt dull, slow, and weak, with unexplained physical ailments. But now you've become a "CrossFitter". You're already better than college, because now you have a 21 minute 5k, and you can do 20 pull ups. You've discovered it's about more than looks, it's about longevity. It's about the daily tasks that have become easy. It's about your perception of life, it's curiously better. You continue for all the things you want to have happen, but haven't. You've tapped into the unforeseen, or better yet, you understand the possibilities. You are one of the fortunate few. Now it's up to you. You're strong. You're fast. You've already changed your life, and the lives around you. You can continue at the current pace and get a little fitter, stronger, and faster each day. Or you can step it up and realize changes you only hoped for. A little more pain, a little more tolerance to that pain. You change your diet. You get enough rest. You fill the holes in your technique. This is your world. Go get it. Is 60% enough? Maybe. Is 80% better? Yes. Have you given enough? You tell me. Let's light it up.