Tuesday 08/04/09 - Diet vs Fitness & Athletes vs Specialists

During my introduction to CF, I saw videos of the original CrossFitters and thought, "MAN, I want to look like that!" Cut, ripped, lean, yoked ... how awesome would that be? My outward appearance meant so much to me that I was striving to "look" good instead of to "feel" good. For my first six months, my crossfit experience up to that point was based solely on whether or not a WOD would help my abs, arms or chest "look" better. Consequently, it took me those first 6 months to realize that I was dead wrong in my thinking.

CrossFit is not about being lean and looking good in a swim suit, it's about becoming more fit and training for whatever life throws at you. For example, moving out of your home and being able to lift that couch with perfect form or bringing 8 bags of groceries in from the car instead of 3 or maybe it's carrying shingles from one end of the roof to the other. These are the reasons I crossfit now! Instead of me working on my low-calorie diet, thinking that this will make me leaner and therefore help my CF performances ... I changed to working on my CF times/lifts and refueling my body with foods that will help in my efforts to become an elite crossfit athlete.

My advice to anyone starting CF would be to shift your thinking today. Is this new diet you're on helping your CF times/lifts or hurting them? As alot of you know already, CF is physically and mentally demanding! So why would I abuse my body even more by not taking in the nutrients it's needing. Focus on, "How are my CF performances improving?" instead of, "How is my body looking?" By preparing for the first, you won't need to worry about the last.

Don't fool yourself to think that you are not an athlete because you just started CF. In CrossFit, we are all athletes starting today. Alot of you know CrossFit in terms of Rounds for Time. CrossFit is more than just running and push ups and sit ups ... it's focus is to turn you into an overall athlete. It focused on ten aspects of fitness (Agility, Balance, Speed, Power, Stamina, Coordination, Flexibility, Strength, Cardio, Accuracy) and pushes you to be better in all of them and not just some of them. If a power-lifter boasts that they can deadlift 550 lbs, I'm going to ask them, "What's your mile time?". If an endurance athlete says they can run a 5K in 18 minutes I'll ask, "How much can you Push Jerk". But if an athlete says they can run a mile in 5:00 and Squat Clean 300# ... then you've found an individual you is more well rounded and more suited for lifes demands. Focus on becoming a more well rounded athlete instead of a specialist!

What is Crossfit?

What is CrossFit? from Jennie Yundt on Vimeo.