i can barely walk.
i knew i was going to get my ass handed to me at my first session last night, but, i still don’t think i was mentally prepared. nevermind the physically because that’s why i wanted needed to go in the first place.
i walked into the gym and it’s just a huge warehouse… no A/C, garage doors wide open, a cement floor, and a wall full of scribbled-on white boards. if you’ve never been to a crossfit gym (i hadn’t until last night, totally different experience), there is no equipment–just weights, ropes, boxes, pullup/chinup bars, rings, and mats.
and NO MIRRORS. i think that’s my favorite part. the gym at our old apartment didn’t have mirrors and i loved it. the gym at the new apartment? the whole damn wall is mirrors. now, i understand when you do certain exercises you probably want to watch and make sure you’re doing them correctly. i get it… but… i hate it.
i work with several people who happen to go to this gym, so that made me more comfortable right off the bat. but it was still scary walking into a gym full of ripped and fit people for my first day. not to mention, i have this ridiculous phobia of working out in front of other people. it scares the shit out of me.
one of my coworkers had told one of the trainers to expect me last night so he recognized me (probably by the deer-in-the-headlights look). he took me on a 400m run and then showed me the stretches. he went through a whole slough of exercises (squats, kettlebell swings, box jumps, pushups, situps, pullups, lunges, up-downs burpees (i don’t understand the name), 10 or more of each, shoot me now please), so by the time those were done, i thought… well, i thought we were done. and we SO weren’t.
brian pulled out a white board and wrote down AMRAP. i no longer like this term. As Many Rounds As Possible. AMRAP is now, in my mind, synonymous with death. this is what he wrote:
- pullups: 6
- pushups: 8
- situps: 12
- squats: 10
then he set the timer for 12 minutes. seriously? in your head, that SOUNDS easy. but i knew it wouldn’t be. i knew there were puke buckets for a reason. i knew i was about to be drenched in sweat. the entire bottle of water that normally would have me running to the bathroom for a pee break? yea… i didn’t have to. because after 4 minutes, i had already lost it all, and was about to puke. 12 minutes didn’t happen. it turned into about 20 minutes, because the other 8 minutes were spent chugging more water and trying to convince myself how embarrassing it would be to throw up in front of 16 other people.
after the 3rd round (that’s what, 30 squats? plus the 20 i did outside earlier? am i dead yet?), i took a quick puke break outside behind a trailer. i sat with my head between my knees trying to convince myself that if i just kept drinking water the dizziness would subside and the upset stomach would, at the very least, stall until i could finish the workout. and it did.
i sucked it up, went back inside and finished my 5th round. thanks to their constant “1 MORE! 1 MORE! YOU GOT THIS!” and never-ending patience, i survived day 1. day 2… is tomorrow.
despite my griping, moaning, cries of pain, and general whining, i loved it. i love this feeling. i miss it. i can’t wait to feel like this every day. i paid my $50 sign-up fee and my $85 membership fee, and the money already cleared my bank account.
oh, IT’S ON NOW.