14 Months at it and Still Get Stoked about Every CrossFit Workout i do!

Well that might be a touch of a fib, as there are a few of the WOD's that i can go without seeing for some time! Otherwise everyday w/ CrossFit is a great day and it's days like yesterday that keep me rolling! My "Angie" time was not a PR yesterday (16:55), but i've been working on the strength side of things a bit more lately and PR'd my Deadlift by 40lbs!

I haven't posted my CrossFit testimonial on the blog yet, so i figured today would be a good day. Check it out below!

Living but not LIVING!!!

Sure I’ve done tons of Circuit classes in my day as most of us probably have, but any Joe Cool can look like he’s busting his ass (Yah I’m talking to you!!) in one of these classes and still come out after an hour like nothing even happened. This was fine for a while because I was doing triathlons, road races and many other sports to push my performance and keep me what I thought was “Fit”. After doing the same things for almost two years, it was finally becoming apparent just how mundane my workouts had become and I needed something that would shake me up and spit me out!

Sweat Storm

I’m not sure about the rest of you kids, but Crossfit had been in the back of my mind since Muscle & Fitness had a feature article “Sweat Storm” in their May 2008 issue. After reading the article and doing a some internet investigating, I determined that this was just the shit I was looking for…but where on earth the nearest CrossFit…South Dakota is was like 1 or only 2 states to not have a local, let alone any Affiliate gym and my dreams of taking part were quickly shattered.

Annie Putting the Beat Down!

It was October 10th 2008 when I was introduced to Annie “Mrs. CrossFit Sioux Falls” Mello who was a last minute sub on our team of runners going to Omaha for a relay race. As I got to know Annie a bit on the way down to Omaha, it came to my attention that she didn’t actually do much long distance running. I thought this was a touch strange since the race we were heading to was and 86 mile relay race and the rest of us had be running anywhere from 50-120 miles a month at this point. To my surprise I came to find out that her core workouts were all CrossFit and I was amped to see how that translated to the race. I’m not kidding when I say that by the end of this grueling 86 race Annie made all of the males including myself look like we had been pulling plows along during our runs. “This is B.S.”(sorry Annie) I thought to myself and Enough was Enough!

Awakening

Less than a week later I found my self in a garage with Chris “Mr. CrossFit Sioux Falls” Mello doing my first ever ring pull-ups, pistol squats and handstand pushups, wow what an amazing workout! Wait…What the hell that was only the warm up!? Next Chris explained that the actual workout would consist of 20 Kettle Ball Swings (#35), 30 Push ups, 40 Sit ups, and 50 Double Jumps (having little jump roping ability, I opted for 200 singles)…then he continues to tell us we will have the pleasure of doing 3 rounds of this crap, it’ll be timed, and we should try to shoot for negative splits (each round should be faster than the previous)…what kind of pipe-dream did he just come up with?. I wasn’t doubting finishing the workout and it ended up taking me 18mins, but I truly felt that I couldn’t do another rep, let alone catch my breath so I could tell him how bad that sucked! But I’ll be damned if I didn’t want it even more now! Unfortunately my body was telling me otherwise. 8 months of putting my body through training and races all came crashing down on me as I battled 3 different injuries the following 3 months.

Now’s the Time

Finally, injury free, I was able to do my actual Baseline workout on February 19th. Talk about the toughest 00:04:50 I’ve experience to date! This little workout takes every ounce of wind you think you have in your sail right out and kicks your butt faster than you can say “ I think I’m pretty FIT”. The itch was back and it desperately needed to be ripped into! That night I immediately signed up for the 3 sessions a week plan and haven’t looked back sense!

I’ve put my body through more things in the last 3 months at CrossFit than I ever had just banging weights around at other gyms or running on some stupid ass treadmill. From the gold standard pushups, pull-ups, and sit-ups to all of the Olympic lifts, sprints, and Muscle Ups, we do it all as hard and as fast as we can push our bodies! I do it because I will feel it tomorrow and I will know that I’ve made a positive change in my body and the way I look at being “FIT”. CrossFit has opened my eyes in a number ways, not just about my fitness potential but so much more! Whether life, love, family or my career, CrossFit has shown me that I can and should in fact push the envelope…give it all I’ve got…kick, scream, yell, and fight to the end! In life all that’s certain is “the end”…so I’m gonna kick ass and take names all the way there! I dare you to come fight the battle with me!!!

CrossFit’s Lovely’s

My last thought about CrossFit to date has to do with a few special ladies who’ve had a direct impact on my fitness by kicking my ass every time and even kicking me while I’m down. I hope they don’t mind me throwing their names out! “KAREN”, “KELLY”, “ANGIE”, and “FRAN” I just want you to know although I don’t typically hit girls, the next time I see any of you around I’m gonna put the beat down like no other. This is not a threat but a fair warning for what is to come, you’ve been warned!

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop,

-Garrett R. Strating

04/07 Wednesday WOD

Strength
Back Squat 5x5x5
Deadlift 1x1x1x1x1

WOD
"Angie"
100 Pullups
100 Pushups
100 Situps
100 Squats