The story goes a little something like this…

My amazing Sorority Sister started Crossfit quite some time ago, and I’ve been stalking watching her progress through Facebook pretty much since the beginning. She’s truly become an inspiration for me, and I’ve been wanting to try Crossfit myself for a while. But, as it seems to go with workouts, there’s always been a reason not to get started.

“It’s too expensive.”

“I don’t have time.”

“I don’t want to go by myself.”

etc. etc. etc.

Well, a Living Social deal for the Crossfit nearest to the Infragistics office came up, Crossfit Nassau. I figured that if I could get a few other people to go with me that maybe it would be less intimidating. Three of my colleagues, one boyfriend, and one Sorority Sister later, we had a group of six brand spankin’ new “crossfitters”!

We gave ourselves 2 weeks to get “prepared”, and for five of us (my Sister was traveling back from the ATL this evening), we had our first on-ramp class today. As per my usual anxiety, I forced my boyfriend to leave 30 minutes earlier than we really had to, and we got to Princeton insanely early. BUT let me just say that if Crossfit Nassau hadn’t been amazing and we had to find street parking, we would probably have juuuust been on time.

And so in we went.

Honestly it was exactly what I imagined it would be. Kind of like the Jillian from the Biggest Loser’s outdoor gym facilities on this season (14). Giant tires, lots of weights and barbells, rings at different heights, ropes, and probably lots of other things I didn’t notice in my n00bness. We gave in our Living Social coupons, signed a crazy-intense waiver giving away all our rights if we die during a workout and waited for the rest of the crew.

Everyone made it, and our instructor, Joe, started our class up. The first thing we did was since we were first time on-rampers, was listened to a quick talk on what seemed like the basics of Crossfit. What the philosophy is, what they expect from us, etc (Constant Variation of Functional Movement by expending High Intensity, is what my *amazing* brain recalls). We went over how the math of High Intensity works (no I can’t remember. ForcexDistance/time? I think?), and then Joe brought us out on the floor to learn the fundamentals of squats.

I thought at first it was going to just be baby-learning-steps, but, oh no. Of course we went over form and function first but then one of my favorite workouts from Derby came to haunt me… the 20-10s. If you don’t know what 20-10s are, they’re what’s called tabata training… 20 seconds of “on”, where you’re fully exerting yourself, and then ten seconds of “off” where you rest. And no, you don’t do it just once. We did 4 minutes, so 8 cycles, of air squats. It sounds easy now while you’re sitting there reading this blog but I can assure you, it was not. Oh, did I mention that your score is your lowest round? Yep. That. So don’t take a break, kids! After the squats, we learned how to do presses with a PVC pipe, which was pretty darn awesome even though I am 100% sure I did it wrong almost the entire time. Once we finished, that was the end of our workout for the evening. As we walked to the meeting area in the front, we got to take a peek at the Olympic Lifting class that was also going on at the gym, and then Joe wrapped us up for the evening. We also received our on-ramp checklists, which we have to complete in order to graduate from on-ramp and be released into regular classes.

All in all, it was absolutely a great experience. I think the on-ramp program is really going to add to my overall perspective on fitness, and once the classes really kick in I think the intensity is going to go through the roof. After tonight, I can’t wait. 😀

Before I run though, I do want to throw this out there… I want to keep track of my measurements and also what I look like before/after my two months of unlimited classes (plus derby and maybe going to the gym for some light cardio if I can drag myself). I’m not going to post the picture now, but I promise a composite when I finish! However, I am going to post the stats to keep myself accountable and maybe motivate me just a little bit extra. Soooo here we are:

Height: 5’5” (Yes, I know this won’t change. It’s just for reference. Haha!)

Weight: 155

Waist: 32″

Hips: 38”

R. Thigh: 24”

Upper Arm: 12”

Bam. There it is for reals. Let’s make some magic happen.

Questions/Comments?

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By Dara Monasch