CrossFit Rockford

This is the best Crossfit testimonial - it said it all for the three of us... Recommended reading any time you're having a bad "crossfit" day...

'It’s Not That Kind of Place...'
published on CrossFit website 11-11-07

My family was at lunch last Sunday with another family and I was asked how my working out was going. This is a question I’ve been getting lately from people who have known me a long time because I look quite a bit different. My response was that it was going great and I elaborated by talking about working on pull-ups and showing them my callused hands. They asked why I didn’t wear gloves. That’s when I said, “It’s not that kind of place.” How can I explain that those callused hands represent lots of hard work on the bar? How can I explain that ripped calluses are practically a rite of passage and that I am secretly proud of my calluses?

CrossfitOKC is the kind of place where age and gender are not excuses. I like that. It was okay to start out doing knee push-ups (the only kind of push-ups I’d ever done), but it was clear that strict push-ups were expected. I like that excellence is the standard and that standard is not lowered just to make you feel better. Sure, there are scaled down versions of the workouts, but I know that I haven’t really done the WOD until I can post “as Rx’d”.

Crossfit is hard to describe to people. It is not fitness reduced to alternating between upper body, lower body and cardio workouts. I can’t imagine how dull that must be. I’m certain that the variety is one big reason I keep coming back. Crossfit has been my first experience with free weights. Jason is so particular about body position while lifting. I feel confident that I am learning the correct way. Some of the exercises that he has me do, like jumping rope, doing handstands, and box jumps may seem simple or everyday to some, but they are very hard for me. These are things I haven’t done in 20 years or more. Will I be doing them in another 20? I sure hope so.

So, what kind of place is CrossfitOKC? Well, it’s the kind of place where five months ago a 46 year old out-of-shape woman who had done some running but had never really lifted weights before could come and actually see some pretty fast results. Yes, outward results such as lost pounds (about 10) and smaller sizes (about 2). But also other types of results, like strength, stamina, increased energy and confidence. Crossfit has also reacquainted me with athletic competitiveness, something that I had let go dormant for a very long time. It is hard to remember how little I could do just 5 months ago. I had to walk part of 800 meter runs, couldn’t do more than 15 sit ups and my first encounter with burpees about did me in. Now, running 5K is relatively easy, I just did 96 sit-ups in the Tabata workout, and burpees…well, they still about do me in.

-Laura Rankin of CrossFit OKC