Why

I don't want to write down and argue why crossfit works from a physiological perspective or why it's better/worse than P90X or whatever it is people sell late at night these days. Bottom line, CrossFit works. But so does bodybuilding and LSD (long slow distance). Not as well, of course, but it works. So I'll try and explain why I do crossfit, and why I love it.

Before finding CrossFit I always enjoyed sports and training (minus running!), but the experiences I have had with CrossFit workouts have been something else entirely. I have loved to push my limits for as long as I can remember. Anyone who has known me long enough can attest to this fact and also how it results in me regretting it as many times as not. Wanna jump off the house onto the trampoline? Sweet! Oh, well that was easy. Let's try a backflip off of the house onto the trampoline. Better. (True story) It would often go this way until a near-death experience slowed things down.

I'm not particularly great at it, but the notion of pushing yourself as hard as possible and finding your limits resonates with me. You can learn more about a person--or yourself--in a 5 minute workout than you can from years of conversation. No, really. You won't learn what their favorite color is or when their last bowel movement was (well, maybe...you might learn what they had for lunch), but you get a rare chance to see someone stripped of everything else in life and truly see what happens when they're backed into a corner.

(Nowhere else I would rather be)

I love it. I get pumped the fuck up when I get to see someone push harder, longer than they thought possible. That includes myself. Standing up out of the hole on my Snatch PR was one of the best feelings I've ever had.

There is something spiritual about training. I don't feel it every time I train, but once in a while I do. Those are the times when there is absolutely nowhere else I would rather be. Except maybe on the space station, but only if I was doing the same workout there. Workouts turn into 3 hour vacations from life where time doesn't matter, where you don't have to think about anything but what's going on at that exact moment. Putting significant loads overhead while your heart is racing and you are seeing stars has a potent way of keeping you focused on the task at hand.

Why do I do CrossFit? Or more generally, why do I train? Because NOTHING feels better than completing a lift or finishing a workout and knowing that you gave everything you possibly could. Does this happen every time? Hell no, I'm a pansy when my muscles start to burn and I start to sweat on my fancy clothes. But it DOES happen and I train for chance that it will happen that day.

(Success)