CrossFit – Motivation Found

Hello there, friends.

This post is coming directly to you from one motivated momma! In short Me + CrossFit = Addicted.

That’s right CrossFit. Maybe you’ve seen a commercial or two (as Reebok has recently decided to capitalize on this up and coming phenomenon). Or, perhaps you’ve caught one of the recent competitions that have aired on ESPN. Maybe you’ve never heard of CrossFit at all; to which I would ask you to do yourself a favor and get acquainted. You will not regret it. Now that we’re on the same page, let me tell you why CrossFit is so important to me.

I was born into a competitive family. I am pretty sure I was shooting a basketball before I knew how to say my ABC’s. By the time I was in high school, I had mastered the art of juggling three sports a year, going to camps in the off seasons, and training year round. I loved every aspect of being a teammate, an athlete, and a competitor. Oh, and it was a huge bonus that it all kept me in shape. I was never concerned about being overweight and, although the scale and the bikini were never my best friends, at least we got along…that is, until college.

It didn’t take long for the freedom of my new college life to overtake my motivation to maintain my physical fitness routines. I still had daily trips to the gym, but they were more to work off an evening of partying and unhealthy habits. The relationship between the scale and I changed. What was once been a harmless coexistence became more like my experiences with my first college roommate; I dreaded our time together more and more with each passing day. The love-hate relationship continued to grow throughout my time serving in the Air Force. I hated the scale after I found out that I gained ten pounds in technical training school and loved it after I lost twenty pounds from my divorce. I hated it when I started gaining a few pounds back because I was eating again (imagine that) and loved it after my four month deployment where my only responsibilities were to work and workout. In the spring of 2009, I was all but elated to part ways for nine months when I found out I was pregnant with Addisyn. To boost the distance between the scale and I, Addy’s developing-baby food of choice was blueberry pancakes. And, you know…I just had to give her what she needed! In the back of my head, I think I always knew that the farther I chucked that boomerang, the harder it was going to come hurling back to smack me right in the head. And it did. In early 2010, the scale and I got reacquainted in dreadful fashion when I realized I would have to actually work off every blueberry pancake and then some to get back to my target weight. So…the fight began.

We’ve been going blow-for-blow for almost two years now. I’ve gotten in some jabs and taken a few sucker-punches, but have successfully battled my way back my pre-baby weight. The next step is to get bikini ready and let’s just say we are more like a relationship between me and an ex-boyfriend: we haven’t spoken in a long time and I don’t see any situation where the two of us would ever get back together.

These days my struggle is to find a workout that fits perfectly into my schedule. If I can overcome the temptation to overwhelm myself as a mom and photographer, then maybe I can get excited for something that makes the best use of my time, is exceptionally motivating, and pushes me to want to be fit again.

Enter CROSSFIT! The workout routine? No, no…workout system? No, that’s not it..the workout lifestyle that has never made me want to cry, cuss, vomit, and smile so much.

CrossFit is easily the most physically and mentally challenging workout I have ever endured. It combines everything I loved about playing sports in high school with the intensity and focus of my deployment workouts. Add in a network of people who are serious about reaching their absolute best fitness goals and who help motivate each other to get there; and you have Stacy’s fitness addiction.

I belong to CrossFit Dover. And, from the moment I took my first class I was hooked. I believe the saying “blood, sweat and tears” would apply to what that first workout took out of me, but was undoubtedly worth all the strength, confidence, and friendships that have developed since. The technical side of CrossFit is that it uses ten components of fitness to help members get the best results: Power, Speed, Strength, Stamina, Agility, Balance, Coordination, Respiratory Endurance, Flexibility, and Accuracy. Each Workout of the Day (WOD) is specifically designed to use most of these components so we are exercising many muscle groups throughout the body.

So here we come 2012! CrossFit has helped me find my motivation again and it is going to be an awesome year.

These past two weekend I was able to go to my first ever CrossFit Affiliation Challenge as well as a CrossFit shoot and combine my passions of photography and fitness. Fitness photography is totally different than wedding and family photography, but I am totally enjoying some of these shots. I hope you do too!

If you are local to Dover, DE, come check out CrossFit Dover here.