Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Food for Thought: The First 50 Days of CrossFit

What about Your First 50 Days?
   As I was completely unable to be productive yesterday (probably because I never saw the sunshine and am still recovering from Fran) and instead spent almost all of my day reading different CrossFit websites, I was able to find some neat resources. I stole this one from The CrossFit Chronicles, and felt that with the influx of new members into our gym, it was too good not to share.
   Let us know what you think about it, and if you have any websites that you check on a daily basis. I know that The CrossFit Chronicles is going to be one that I start to check on the daily.


11 comments:

  1. The tips were good but I could have done without the full page of advertisements. Aside from weightlifting shoes, you don't need any of that stuff. Not to mention you can get a much better deal on shoes from other websites.

    Kinda getting away from the "you can do this in your garage" feel when you're telling people where to buy their supplements and how they need to dress, no?

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  2. @ Anonymous

    I completely understand where you are coming from. However I do not feel that the author was trying to advertise. Instead I believe that he / she was trying to help new members jump into the CrossFit culture, instead of looking at it from the outside.

    You by no means are expected to purchase any of the things that were listed above... However, when you hear the top athletes at your CrossFit box talk about the new INOV-8's, Progenex vs Stronger Faster Healthier, or Fran times, you will feel much more included in the CrossFit family if you know what they are actually talking about and more importantly, you can participate in the conversation.

    For most of us CrossFit is not a workout program, it is a way of life. From our eating, to our sleeping, to the way that we workout, to many of us, this is our life. Yes we may have Jobs, but all we do when we are there is dream about our CrossFit life.

    That being said, to you this may just be a workout, and there is nothing wrong with that. But the intention of the article was to help those that want to make a transition into the CrossFit way of life as easy as possible.

    I hope that you at least checked out all of the links that were listed, and if you have any questions I'm sure that a trainer at your local CrossFit affiliate will be more than willing to help you out.

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  3. I've been doing the CF mainsite WODs in my garage going on 8 years now. Been to loads of affiliates along my journey, and enjoyed many of them, the garage just fits better with my schedule. I can see where you're coming from cause I've heard it all before plenty of times.

    The "CrossFit life" you mentioned hasn't always been that way... that's been a very recent shift that's occurred clearly in the last 2.5 - 3 years as CF has become more well-known. If you're having trouble "transitioning" at your box or feeling left out because you're wearing the wrong brand of shorts, well, your box is more a clique than a community. The sense of community has been faltering as CF grows. It's unavoidable, unfortunately.

    Just my .02... I've been doing this long enough to see the trends as they come and go. :)

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  4. @ Anonymous,

    You definitely have been doing this a lot longer than I have, but I too see the transitions, and I don't care for a lot of them. However, I don't see how the "CrossFit Life" has been a recent development. When I started CF it was always, 1) What is your Fran time... 2) How many Blocks do you eat / what is your fat multiplier...3) Is 3 on 1 off enough, or are you overtraining...

    I don't feel that we are having trouble transitioning at all at our box. We are a huge family, and we treat the new members just as we treat everyone else. That being said, I can see how someone who is new to the gym feels like we speak another language. Minimalist... INOV-8, Omega 3's... HSPU... "Hey did you see Barber pull that 360 PU on Main Site the other day"...We really do speak another language.

    That being said, I know that we are more than willing to explain any of it to our new members, but at the same time, if they can take a little initiative and ask what we are talking about, or spend some time reading a little bit, they are going to understand our language.

    More power to you doing the WODs by yourself. Hopefully one day I can have a small gym in my garage as well as own my own affiliate... That is if Reebok doesn't open them all first :-(

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  5. Definitely some great advice in there. As a total newbie, I actually found some of the brand names really helpful. If someone suggested I look into getting a pair of knee-hi socks or specialty shoes, I wouldn't know where to start.
    The links provided were awesome. Watching some of last year's Crossfit Games on live stream online was a huge eye-opener at what straight determination and willpower can achieve (and that was quite a bit before I was able to start up at BlackBox). I especially liked the "Beauty in Strength" link...inspiring pictures of truly beautiful and strong women.
    Thanks Tripp, now I'm stuck researching everything Paleo instead of doing homework! :)

    PS- Aspirin makes a WORLD of difference!

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  6. @Kristin,

    I Hope that you were able to get at least a little bit of homework done, ( or not cause Paleo is awesome! ) Hopefully soon enough, the screaming desire for Aspirin will turn into a dull moan and you won't need it :-)

    See you in a few minutes!

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  7. I, too, was kind of offended by the "get these shirts and these shorts" tone. I think the flat shoes, high socks, and compression gear were great, though. But the shirts and shorts thing seemed VERY clique-y to me. I was a CrossFitter for more than 6 months (not 50 days) before I finally bought a shirt (other than one from my box). Maybe I found it rude because the shoes, socks, and compression gear are *useful* and the shirts and shorts are just style?

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  8. @ Mandy,

    I can see your point, I guess I just didn't get that vibe from it. That being said is there anything else that you would add to the list that wasn't there?

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  9. I don't feel like the authors adequately covered how important I think cheering on your fellow athletes is. Yes, they talked about it in terms of supporting those that compete, but they didn't talk about encouraging everyone in your gym when they're just pushing to get through the WOD. That, to me, is a major part of our community and culture - at least at CFBB, anyway.

    Also, I think they dowplayed the role of competition in CF. I'm not a competitor in terms of actual CF competitions, but every WOD is a competition for me. I'm always competing against myself, and I frequently compete against other people in the gym (whether they know it or not).

    Finally, I think they overlooked the mental aspect of CF. It's HARD. You WILL fail. And getting used to that and accepting that failing in a lift or taking (what feels like) forever to finish a WOD does not mean that you are a failure. Truly, that's one of the best things CF's done for me. I now know that failing doesn't mean I am a failure. I still *hate* failing, and I may still cry out of sheer frustration. But when I leave the gym, I know that whatever I failed at that day will be something I succeed at one day soon.

    And I forgot to mention earlier. I check these sites every single day:
    www.crossfitblackbox.com
    www.crossfittaskforce.blogspot.com
    And the affiliate page on the main site

    CFBB because it's my box, CFTF because I'm friends with the owner and like to see what he's programming (and I love his random blogs), and the affiliate page becasue I like to see what other boxes are like, what they do well, and what they struggle with.

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  10. @ Mandy,

    Great thoughts and comments! I feel like you really put out some good points! Thank you :-)

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  11. I understand everybody's point about the pseudo-advertising in the list re. the shirts, but I also understand their point about it creating camaraderie with strangers. My brother was at the Warrior Dash this past weekend and said that the amount of affiliate representation was huge based on people's shirts, and he struck up conversations with a bunch of them.

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