Fit By ___

What’s this CrossFit cult that everyone seems to be talking about? Don’t ya’ll just throw stuff around and scream at each other and take off your clothes while you work out? Do you have to drink to Kool-aid?

Yes, CrossFit is all of those things… but it’s also so much more.

CrossFit is simply a community of people, around the world, who have one thing in common… to push each person beyond what they ever thought possible. CrossFit is not about what you can’t do, it’s about what you are going to do… and what you are going to do will blow your mind. Things I never thought possible become more and more my reality every time I’m in the box (CrossFit Gym). Here are few principles that I have picked up so far:

1. Work as hard as you can until the clock stops. (Or your clock stops… see what I did there?)
2. You will not die today so push through it. (pain is temporary, so are emotions, and so is the tough crap in life)
3. Trust the process. (and your coaches)
4. These 3 things must stay in balance and in good health: Sleep, Food, and Exercise.
5. Community changes EVERYTHING.
6. Stay away from Negative Town… it will consume you and lock you up.
7. Sometimes you have to work hard for the sake of those around you because we all have days where we have no drive to do it for ourselves. (Did I say something about community?)

Those are just things off the top of my head that I believe to be principles of my CrossFit experience. There are a lot of health benefits too, but I’m not a doctor. haha! These are not officially sanctioned statements of CrossFit Inc or CrossFit Combustion… it’s just Jacob. I wanted you all to understand the point of the CrossFit addiction. It’s deeper than an exercise community… it’s deeper than a gym… it’s a bedrock life-altering movement of community that invites the whole world to be a part of and be changed alongside each other.  It’s a beautiful thing and maybe other groups could learn a great deal from this movement.

Anyways… so what’s all this CrossFit Open talk?

The CrossFit Open is a worldwide competition of individuals doing 5 different workouts, which are announced each week over a five week period. Each Thursday Night, we all watch a live stream of an event where the next Workout Of the Day (WOD), is announced. It’s a mixture of fear and excitement. Fear because you know it’s going to hurt and hurt bad! Excitement because you know everyone is going to be with you in the battle.

Basically, it’s an exercise competition for people really great at exercising. (Yet it’s so much more)

Each WOD is judged and scores/times logged into the Games website. Each region of the world then has a regional competition for the top 20 in each region. From there the top people go on to compete in The CrossFit Games… that’s what most people might recognize.

Why does it matter?

Last Sunday, I was judging a guy doing 17.1 (I’ll post more about this WOD later) He was three weeks into CrossFit… brand new! He wasn’t competing for regionals… he wasn’t competing to beat people in our box. He was competing to break through the false realities that he had come to believe about himself. He was there giving it his all, because somewhere deep inside, he knew that his current reality was false. He was more… he had more… and he was going to prove it to himself. It was a beautiful experience to be alongside him, walking with him, helping him, and encouraging him. He nearly passed out three times during that 20-minute WOD, but HE KEPT GOING! At the end of the day… that man won a HUGE battle! That man changed his life, and he will be different because of it.

So, why do the open… because being the same is unacceptable. Don’t you want to change… don’t you want to do and be more… don’t you want to surprise yourself?  Let’s be more than conquerors… let’s do more than we ever thought possible.

Most importantly… Keep Going!