A Fitness Fairy Tale

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the interwebs. I guess I will start by telling you a little about myself. Originally from the good ole' state of Kentucky and now residing in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I'm a 26 year old wifey and mother of 2 fur babies (pictured below). What can I say, I'm a proud momma! I am a die hard Atlanta Falcons fan, certified t.v. show junkie, social media extraordinaire and coffee addict. That's me in a nutshell, but over the past year and a half I have developed a new love. A love that to the outsider may seem a little bit crazy. This new love has a name...CrossFit.

Ever since I was young I have loved everything to do with fitness. I loved working out & I always played sports in school. As a youngster playing sports is pretty much enough to keep you in some semblance of shape. Your metabolism is at its peak and staying up late with your girlfriends eating pizza and Doritos was the norm and had little effect on your outward appearance.

Then it happened. I moved out of my parents house and into the college dorm. I traded my high school jerseys for Sorority letters and sports drinks for more adult beverages. My mom was the type of mom that always made dinner, usually a meat and 2 or 3 veggie options. Unfortunately the mini fridge in my dorm room was not very accommodating to large cuts of meat and all the fixin's. In fact it was barely big enough to keep mine & my roommates drinks in. My diet was more along the lines of the shelf stable variety. Easy Mac, Cup-O-Noodles, Pop Tarts, Granola Bars, Chips, etc. Not to mention going to the gym became secondary to hanging out with all my new found friends.

We have all heard of the freshman 15, referring to the 15 lbs that most college students will gain in their 1st year on campus. I was no exception. Fortunately I didn't meet all 15 of those freshman pounds but over the next few months I began to notice things were starting to change. My jeans were not as flattering, my tops didn't look like they used to and my energy throughout the day was like being on a never ending roller coaster. It wasn't until 1 week that I noticed that I had worn sweats to class everyday. It was just an auto response because my jeans no longer made me feel comfortable. I knew that something was going to have to change.

To make a long story short my freshman year of college started my journey to find true fitness and a healthy lifestyle. Over the next 7+ years I have spent countless hours in the gym and read tons of books and articles on the "Whats Hot Now" diet bandwagon. Constantly in search of the perfect combination to get the coveted swimsuit physique.

Fast forward to 2010. My husband got new orders for his job. After 4 years in Virginia Beach, we packed up our dog and our life and moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia. It's hard leaving everything that is familiar to you behind and start fresh. When I first moved here I signed up for a membership at Golds Gym and that was that. Something was different though, I just wasn't into working out, I didn't enjoy it. It had become routine and boring. I needed something to shake things up.

I remembered this strength and conditioning program that a friend had told me about years before. This thing called CrossFit. Like any good researcher would do, I turned to my friend Google to see where my local CrossFit gym was, and then linked myself up to their FaceBook page to do a little investigating. After just one FaceBook message I found myself in this primitive looking "Gym" loaded with barbells, kettle bells, an assortment of weighted balls and what looked like monkey bars. No mirrors. No elliptical machines. No cable crossover machine. How did these people do cardio?? How do they workout without an iPod?

A lady named Lindsay approached me with a smile and open arms. She proceeded to walk me through a warmup and then a workout or a WOD as they called it. (Workout of the Day) The WODs are timed, so its a race against the clock. I remember this particular workout kicking my ass, even though it had been scaled down from what the others were doing. It felt good. I definitely hadn't pushed myself that hard in a very long time. Being a competitive person, I did not want to come in last place.

I went home that afternoon and began to read all about CrossFit and it's methodology. I went from site to site just taking it all in. The idea behind CrossFit intrigued me, functional movement that involved gymnastics combined with Olympic Lifting, rowing and plyometrics. Core to extremity movements instead of isolating muscle groups, and lastly getting in and out of the gym in an hour. The next day I went by the gym and signed up. A year and a half later I went from being that chick who got her ass kicked by med-ball cleans and running, to earning my Level 1 Trainers certification, competing in local competition and coaching at my gym. I have never felt better. Confident and strong. I don't live and die by the number on my scale anymore and my body has never looked better. My CrossFit journey is just getting started and I am looking FORWARD (pun intended) to seeing where it takes me.