For quite a while, I had been looking for some sort of workout that would keep my interest. From what I had read and seen about CrossFit, it looked like it might be the right thing for me. I had been considering it for a while but due to my strange work schedule and location, it never seemed to “work out” (pun not intended). The class times and distance to other locations never seemed to be manageable. One day, I was driving down Morris Bridge and saw the FitCity coming soon sign and I knew that this was my chance. The location was perfect and if the class schedules worked I would be golden. I emailed Sarah and joined up after our first email. I started doing Crossfit in January of 2015, right after FitCity opened their doors.
As someone who was very active for years, I was having a hard time adjusting to working from home. I have never been a small guy but I had put on a bit more weight than I was comfortable with. I was also finding that I didn’t have as much energy as I felt I should. I knew that I needed to get away from my desk and start to get fit. I wanted to lose some weight, but more importantly I just 
wanted to be more active, feel better, and get stronger.
Describe your first WOD
My first actual WOD was terrifying. FitCity had just opened a week or so before and the early morning classes were still small. There were only two of us in class. It was myself and a very experienced, very strong and fit “FireBreather”. The WOD was brutal and I thought I was going to pass out. What I never expected was the support that I would get from my coach and more importantly, the other person in the class. They pushed me pretty hard and although I didn’t finish before the cutoff time, their encouragement got me much further than I ever expected to get. That was when I realized that these were my people and this is what I wanted to do.
Physically I am much stronger than I used to be. I notice things all the time. For example, the water softener in my house uses salt that comes in 40lb bags. In the past I would come up with some weird balancing act that looked like something a circus performer would do just to pour the bag of salt into the softener. Recently I noticed that when I fill the softener these days, I just grab the bag, lift it and pour it in without needing to do anything to support it. That being said, I notice the mental side of things much more often than the physical. I just generally feel better when I have been going to FitCity regularly. It has become normal and it feels great. What I notice more than the great feeling is the lousy feeling when I don’t go for a few days.
Above I mentioned my first WOD. I will never forget, it was “Karen”. For anyone that hasn’t done it, Karen is 150 Wall-balls for time. The first time I did it, I was only able to get through 120 before the 12 minute time limit ran out. I recently tried it again just to see how much I have improved. This time I was able to complete all 150 in 9:24. That was hard data that showed my improvement. A close second was the first time I was able to back squat over 300lbs. All of that being said, my biggest accomplishment is just being there and getting through the workouts.
There have been many great moments since I started at FitCity, but I would have to say that my most memorable was Memorial Day. Like most CrossFit boxes we did “Murph” that day. It was without a doubt the hardest workout I have ever done. Because of the way the schedule was set up, almost all members were doing the workout at the same time. The motivation that we all got from each other was something that I have rarely ever witnessed in my life. The vibe was amazing and it helped us all push through it.
Any advice for people just getting started?
Stop coming up with excuses and just do it. I am not going to say it ever gets easier because if it does, you are doing something wrong. I will say that the better you get and the more comfortable you get, the more you will enjoy it and the better your results will be. I have a medical condition that made me doubt that I would ever be able to put my body through the rigorous workouts that I had heard about for years. I admit that there are some things that I physically can’t and most likely won’t ever be able to do. When I first started, I explained my condition to my coaches and they have gone far above the call of duty to help me scale, replace and adjust workouts. Tell them what you want and what your limitations are and they will help you come up with what works for you. FitCity has fantastic coaches and more importantly amazing members. Trust the coaches and the people that you are working out with and you will see great results.
“It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.”
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