Church

A friend that I have been bugging to try Crossfit for the last 3 years finally started showing up at my house Sunday mornings. It whupped his butt, he is strong as all get out (400+ bench) but not much into cardio. We would do a WOD or some skill work, talk and then drink beer afterwards. Not necessarily the best thing to do but we did it and it tasted great. Sorry, getting off topic. Anyway, he likened it to church for us, we got the fellowship portion anyway. We would both look forward to it, the talking and sharing of issues that were affecting our lives. I believe that is the best thing about Crossfit. The health aspect is very important, but nowhere else have I experienced such fellowship and camaraderie. I don't know what it is exactly about the community but it has the lowest ratio of a$$hole$ of any group setting I have seen.  Maybe it is the pushing of one another to finish faster or the shared pain of a nasty WOD, but everyone that I have trained the last few years I consider a true friend and Anthony, I will see you next Sunday.

How it all began.....

 
It all began with my love of beer that made more of me for my wife to love.....

So it's early 2008 and at 5'8" I am weighing in at a stout 210 lbs at the ripe old age of 37. I go to my doctor for a physical and she wants to put me on medication because my cholesterol is at 230. I don't do pills so I told her I would take care of it. That didn't work out so well.

Anyway, I bump into a coworker who looks great and ask him how he did it, what's the secret (we all know the answer is hard work). In a superior way he say's "Crossfit, look it up". I look it up and think holy crap, not happening. That goes on for a few months and I finally choose to look up a local box (gym) and that is where I met Matt Munson at Crossfit Champions. So this guy that looks intimidating but also very competent tells me they are going to charge me a lot of money to put me through hell to get my life back. I'm thinking that I waste money every day on complete junk that clutters my life and if I don't do something now, I never will.....so I take the plunge. The first elements session where I am taught the basics doesn't go well, I have to stop or else I will throw up. During my first couple of months which started in 8/2008 I get exertion headaches that are the worst type of headache I have ever had, sometimes they will start as soon as I begin warming up. I also wheeze and my lungs gurgle when I go to bed. The doctor says I have bronchitis, Matt says that my lungs are learning how to work again, turns out he was right. The first month or so I only lose five pounds and feel horrible with all of this work I am putting in, sore every day, which is when they introduce me to the Paleo diet (basically meat and veggies). I had heard about it and other crossfitters would say that their performance was bad that day because they ate poorly. That would happen to me too, but while I would have a beer and Mexican food with jalapeños that would want to revisit me during the afternoon's WOD they might have a sandwich. Once I got on the Paleo diet in October 2008 I found out what they were talking about. I would follow it and then cheat with some pizza and feel physically horrible, but I did lose 15 lbs that month when I first started eating correctly. My performance improved tremendously and people at work started calling me the incredible shrinking GM. I went back to my doctor after I had been at Crossfit Champions for around 4 or 5 months. I weighed in at 174 lbs, and got my cholesterol down to 175, while eating lots of red meat I would like to point out. My doctor was ecstatic, wanted to hear all about it and then get her husband to start doing the same thing. We can cure/prevent a lot of things through exercise and proper (Paleo) nutrition.

Since then I have become a Crossfit Level 1 Trainer and have been training friends and neighbors out of my garage for the last 2.5 years.  Recently the stars have aligned and I have the opportunity to work with Matt and Pam up at their gym and it feels like I'm coming home. I love to work out now unless its burpees and I still love beer and food that is bad for me. That is my biggest struggle, the nutrition aspect. My wife is the same weight as when I married her in 1992 and she doesn't feel the need to throw away everything in the pantry which I will eat just because it is there. But, she has agreed to start a 24 day challenge with me July 9th and we will see what happens. I need it to get back on board with the nutrition, she doesn't have to do it, but my hope is she will feel better and jump on the band wagon. I will really miss my Newcsastle beer, but my body/health/performance will thank me for it.