Coming clean on Crossfit: Did I drink the Kool-Aid????!!!

Happy Sunday, friends!

It's a beautiful day here in NYC; hopefully it's here to stay! Any plans for summer kick-off BBQs? Trips to the beach? Jaunts with friends?

If you read my last blog post, you'd know that I tried Crossfit for the first time on Saturday. As promised, I'm going to give my honest feedback, sans photos (I was too excited about the class the remember to take out my phone!). While I'll give an assessment of my first-time experience, I don't know how helpful it will be for those of you considering giving it test run because...what we did in the intro class was not what a typical Crossfit class looks like.

This, I'll admit, was a tad disappointing. Well, more than a tad--I was really expecting more. Now, don't get me wrong: I understand the importance of teaching proper form for basic exercises like squats, pushups, pull ups, and sit ups because they're fundamental building blocks for developing strength. I guess I just wasn't expecting the workout to be a little more Crossfit-inspired and a little less bootcamp.


Basically, we introduced ourselves (we were a group of 5 newbies) and talked a little bit about the Crossfit philosophy with our trainer, Dylan. Then we took to our mats where Dylan walked us through how to perform the following exercises with proper form, including modifications: squats, pushups, sit ups, and pull ups. Then he described the HIIT method called Tabata (8 rounds of 20 seconds hard, 10 seconds rest, total= 4 minutes), and told us we'd be going through 8 rounds of Tabata with the exercises we'd practiced.

While this would be a great workout for any other day of the week, I was expecting more! I thought we'd be box-jumping, doing Burpees, swinging kettlebells...it was totally boring! Granted, we did learn proper form for the kettlebell swing--which, I'll admit, totally humbled me!--but that was it. It seemed to me like those higher up on the Crossfit totem pole have been instructing their trainers to take it easy on new recruits, ease them into this type of training. I can certainly understand that perspective considering all the negative press that Crossfit has come up against.

So, is Crossfit for me? Am I eager to try it again? The simple answer: hell yes. My disappointment with the intro class has not dissuaded me or turned me off of Crossfit in search of something more intense. In fact, knowing that I conquered some of the fundamental exercises and know I can handle something much more intense has boosted my confidence and desire to tackle my first WOD!

Bring it on!

-Hilary