Fat to (Cross)Fit

Unless you're Patrick Star, you've probably heard about Crossfit. Either someone's telling you that it's ridiculous and if you do it you're sure to get an injury, someone's saying offhandedly that they want to try it, or you may be unlucky enough to be friends with someone who does Crossfit, in which case, you probably hear about it at least five times a day. (You had a banana for breakfast? I ate a banana before doing "Cindy" once... Get your mind out of the gutter; "Cindy" is the name of one of the many hellacious workouts.)
Somewhere in the mix of all the information, it sounded like a good idea. Rigorous workouts five days a week, competition with yourself, strength training, what more could a girl ask for?

So, here's the deal. Ty and I just spent six months in other countries, and let me tell you, the "Study Abroad Fifteen" is a real thing. Even though people might feed you lies about how Europeans eat healthier, don't buy it. There are cake shops EVERYWHERE, and let's be honest, how much self-control can a person have in that situation? To top it off, we had the justification that it was a once in a life time opportunity, and food is a huge part of culture. Long story short: we needed to get on track for a healthy life style. We'd changed our lives forever by studying abroad, and it's high time that we changed our bodies by sticking to a workout program... So what did we do? We signed up for a semester's worth of Crossfit, paid in advanced.

The first  requirement was an "onramp." We had to do three workouts with the coaches so they could teach us the correct form. There were only eight people in the class including us, and two coaches. The other newbie Crossfitters ranged from fit military women, to a mother of three with fibromyalgia. I didn't feel in place or out of place, I just felt like I was there to do my thing. Most of the onramp was a refresher course from high school, but it was also a brutal awakening. The first official "workout" was one Tabata set of squats. A Tabata is twenty seconds of effort followed by ten seconds of rest, eight times in a row. I was sore for three days. Seriously, three days, from a four minute workout!

As of now, we are two days in. There are very few parts of my body that aren't sore, and those parts are becoming sore from coddling the other parts. In the words of my brother, Tucker, "Why are we paying people to make us feel this way?"

Wellllll... good question.

I HOPE that after a month, we won't feel so bad anymore.
I HOPE that after a month, we will be stronger.
I HOPE that after a month, we won't be so tired.
I HOPE that after a month, we will be well on our way to a healthy lifestyle.

And...

I THINK that in a month, all of those "hopes" will come true, thanks to Crossfit.