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After a week of trying CrossFit Chelsea we fell hard, head over heels, in love with the workouts, skill/mind component, and the community. As noted below, we started last Saturday (February 1st) during an 'open gym' session and completed the WOD from Friday. We went to the regularly scheduled class at 6:30pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, (took a rest day on Thursday) and then continued to class again Friday and Saturday. This Saturday's class was different than our first one in that they've incorporated a new "Team WOD" that morning at 9am, how great?! We loved all of the classes during the week and especially loved the Saturday WOD because it was our first time doing a partner WOD, which was a new and exciting experience.

We thought about the pros and cons all week of committing and honestly in the end, it's whatever makes you happiest overall. I know a number of people who don't agree with CrossFit for whatever reason, trust me - I used to be on that side - but after a week of really pushing myself, learning new technique, meeting people (and coaches) who care about form and want to see you succeed, feeling giddy and excited about working out, it was difficult to justify not signing up and seeing where this takes us. We're still going to continue to run/race because we love it and if I am being honest, we like having a little extra endurance in our pocket for some of those workouts ;)

Lastly, I see a lot of speculation and criticism of form from CrossFitters. I just want to point out that injuries can occur in every sport; power lifting, running, yoga, you name it! Only you can control and prevent injuries from happening while doing something you are passionate about.

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We finally did it. We caved and tried our local CrossFit gym on Saturday. It was "open gym" so we figured that would be a great day to drop in and see what it was all about... as opposed to driving by on the daily, peering into their 6,000 square foot warehouse with turf, rings, and bumper plates galore. (I guess you can say we were envious little creepers...) We were welcomed genuinely and kindly by all members. Two members (co-owners/coaches & married) showed us around and gave us the WOD from Friday, since we looked athletic enough and have experience in the gym, we didn't want to leave without immediately feeling it and putting the work in. They took us through each move just to be sure we felt comfortable doing it and then started the clock. The workout was as follows:

For time: 70 Kettlebell swings (bottoms up) 53#/35# 60 Hand release push-ups 50 Box jumps (land and stand), 24"/20" 40 Walking lunge steps with bumper overhead, 45#/25# 30 Power snatches, 75#/55# 20 Goblet squats (kettlebell) 10 Handstand push-ups 100 Double unders

 - We slightly modified the power snatches for push press and the double unders for singles - still pretty tough for newbies I hear.

I managed to finish in 22:04 and J finished in 25:00. We were impressed and surprised at our heart rates skyrocketing throughout the workout. It was challenging but rewarding and most of all we felt accomplished. One of the most appealing parts of the workout was the different components that create and make-up the workout - you can go from strength, to agility, to balance, in one workout - instead of trotting along doing the same machines for 3-4 sets for an hour and feeling little to no push or motivation to move faster, get finished, and give it 100%. After that, soreness quickly ensued but we still had a training run to fit in for the half marathon on Feb. 16. We set out and planned for 10 miles but wound up only completing 8, after painfully trotting up and down the trail we decided it would be best not to push it and encourage the possibility of an injury.

This is going to sound silly but I always had a fear of CrossFit, so I never tried it, I actually made fun of it a little... (whoops...). Not a fear of the workouts, I knew I could push through those - but a fear that I'd actually really enjoy it and like it too much not to continue and go back for more...

As presumed, my fears were accurate. J and I went back last night for an official class with other people and enjoyed it just as much. We are going to continue going this week for the trial basis to see if we want to "make the switch" from our regular gym (which costs 5 times LESS to attend) to this CrossFit gym. The cost intimidates us, obviously... but we've also met more people that share similar interests and passion for fitness in the last two days than we have in the last 6 months of living here - so that factor weighs in on our decision a lot too. Injury worries me, but only slightly. I've read painful articles about Crossfitters who go to hard, push to far and end up blowing out their knees or some other gruesomely sounding injury (EEK!) but I hope my self control overpowers my competitiveness and I can keep myself injury free should we decide to go the CrossFit route.