Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Cross Fit?

Pretty sure I mentioned that my new job is moving to new office space, right? The new space is about 8 miles from my house and will allow me to bike, and perhaps even run, to work ... which makes me happy. 

But there's another interesting feature at the new location. 

(And no, HR Girl, it's not the slide. Though there will be a slide, people, from the second floor to the first floor. Why? No clue. I think it's so we can tell people there's a slide and everyone goes, "Whaaaaaat?" But I digress.)

The other interesting feature is that there's a CrossFit gym a few doors down. 

And one of my co-workers is a CrossFit Fanatic. 

I've been doing some research. 

This is what CrossFit says about CrossFit: 
CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.
Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.
The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We’ve used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.
The needs of Olympic athletes and our grandparents differ by degree not kind. Our terrorist hunters, skiers, mountain bike riders and housewives have found their best fitness from the same regimen.
Thousands of athletes worldwide have followed our workouts and distinguished themselves in combat, the streets, the ring, stadiums, gyms and homes.

It's sort of pricey ... $120/month for unlimited classes. That's after the free evaluation and $100 fee for six mandatory technique classes. And because I'm not sure I can actually do everything required with my stupid knees, I worry about wasting the dough. 

But the environment sounds inclusive and supportive. It doesn't appear to be about matching your scrunchies to your iridescent leggings, which I like. There is something called the WOD or workout of the day which changes all the time and has an element of competition with CrossFitters from your gym and perhaps others, which appeals to me, too. But it also seems a bit cult-ish. 

Have you ever done it? Known anyone who has? Tell me what you think. I'd love to know. 


6 comments:

marthamac said...

It's mostly strength training, according to my teaching partner (dark haired girl that ran with us). She loves it, and says it's an awesome workout. People why 'Crossfit' are definitely addicted...they love it. I can't afford it. :( Do a trial and see if you like it. It would be a different workout for you...and very convenient! :)

Amber said...

I've been interested to know more about it lately. I'm looking for my next addiction but like you, I'm not sure my ankle can handle it.. essentially anything with impact is out right now, including walking down stairs... it's the pits. If you decide to give it a try I'm definitely interested in hearing about it.

HR GIRL said...

Another idea might be yoga? It is harder than it looks and if done right it can give you a great workout and change your body in different ways than running, strength training or hopping up on boxes or moving tractor tires does. I have dabbled in yoga over the years and the poses take some practice, but what is the hardest to master (at least for me) is to be still in mind and thoughts. A salesman that I hired over a year ago talked at length about taking up yoga the year prior and was so convinced and passionate about it changing him (both in weight loss, elongating his body and stride) and said it permeated his whole being AND made him a better runner with faster recovery AND he shaved two minutes off his time. Something to think about - talk amongst yourselves....

PS - Why can I not post comments from my iPad? Could you talk to your IT Director and get that fixed?

Miss Daisy said...

Thanks, everyone, for comments. It's pricey. And I'm cheap. And running is essentially free. But sometimes I just need a change. My gut tells me I'm not patient enough for yoga. My brother-in-law dabbles and likes it. But I love the idea of wearing more yoga pants. Comfy for an official reason!

Miss Daisy said...

Oh, and my IT director says, "Turn off your computer and turn it back on. That fixes everything."

HR GIRL said...

Miss Daisy - Thanks for the slow response (I have the market cornered on impatience). The turn off, turn on thing doesn't make a difference. All it means is I cannot comment unless I am at work......
Yoga or those shake sticks would be something to mix things up.