THERE is an invisible line you cross when you start something new.
Then you stick with it – and all of a sudden you have been doing it for a year.
I crossed this line last month when I rolled up to my regular Saturday morning CrossFit class and noticed there were a whole bunch of new faces in the group.
Before long I remembered it was because our coaches had organised a free open day for beginners to come along and find out what all this CrossFit talk was about.
Looking over at their slightly nervous smiles as they wondered what they were in for, I was transported back to 12 months ago when I belonged to the “newbie” category.
Somehow, amid a blur of sweat, blisters, Deep Heat and brightly-coloured lycra, I had worn in my Nano’s (critical CrossFit shoes) and become one of the regulars.
It didn’t take me long to realise that it’s quite easy to become addicted to the feeling of improving yourself, getting cheered on by your teammates and those sweet, sweet endorphins.
For the uninitiated, CrossFit Inc. is a fitness company founded by Greg Glassman and Lauren Jenai in 2000.
Promoted as both a physical exercise philosophy and also as a competitive fitness sport, CrossFit workouts incorporate elements from high-intensity interval training, Olympic weightlifting, plyometrics, powerlifting, gymnastics and more.
This basically means you get to run around on an “adult’s playground”, pulling off some cool skills and building your fitness and strength from every angle.
Watching some of the veteran athletes lifting bars stacked with weights or smashing out consecutive pull-ups can seem intimidating at first, but the slow and steady approach and encouragement makes these goals easily attainable.
CrossFit cops more than its fair share of criticism as a “new fad”, but that argument hardly holds up against something that has been around for more than a decade with more than 10,000 boxes (CrossFit gyms) across the world.
In the face of a growing obesity epidemic, I think anything that motivates people to look after their health should be applauded.