Heather Hodges

I am home from the Level 1 Crossfit Certification in Ft. Worth (I’m in the middle in the black tank top.)  It was a tough, informative weekend with some incredible trainers.  Lisa Ray, Jon Gilson, Chuck Caldwell, Tony Budding, Dutch Lowy, and Major Andrew Thompson of Crossfit Quantico were all phenomenal teachers.

I felt like a pony among thoroughbreds, but it was an incredible experience. We were all instructed on the nine fundamental movements/ technique along with corrections for all of them.  The pattern for the day was instruction, performance, repetition, correction, repetition, more correction. Tired? Lactic acid overload? Good, repetition, more correction. It’s amazing how heavy an 8 ounce pvc pipe can become after holding it over your head for two days. I needed a whole day to recover.  We heard lectures on: What is Crossfit, What is Fitness, Nutrition, Glycemic Index, Sick-Wellness-Fitness Progression, The Nine Fundamental Movements, and Programming.  I am on information overload. I loved the format of experiencial learning, and I’m really looking forward to my Crossfit Kids Certification later this month.

In crossfit there are notorious workouts that are all named after women.  Today’s workout was named “Karen.”  It was 150 squat wall balls with a 14lb medicine ball for women and a 20lb ball for guys.  You do a deep squat while holding a medicine ball then on the way up you launch the ball towards a target on the wall.  For guys the target is 10 feet high and for girls its  8 feet high.  The first 10 felt really good and then after that my body and mind were both on auto pilot as I barely cranked out 140 more. My time was 11:04 and Wades was around 7 minutes (what a stud.)

If any of  you are still intrigued with this “crossfit” thing I’m taking a few people to the Saturday 11am workout for beginners.  It’s free, so come along!!!!

More incentive: I’ve been crossfitting for 5 weeks now and I’ve lost 10 over all pounds, lost 2% body fat and gained 2 pounds of lean muscle.  It just works!  Call me or email me if you want to go on Saturday.

I started going to the Next Generation Crossfit gym with Wade exactly 1 month ago today.  I don’t have a before and after picture to share with everyone like Wade, but I will say that it is making dramatic differences in my life too.  I was a college athlete and have gone through my share of grueling workouts, but crossfit is on a whole new level of fitness.  It’s a cross between weight lifting, gymnastics, and endurance training.  Every workout is different so your muscles are always confused about what’s coming next and you can never get bored.  Each workout consists of reps and rounds of different movements (i.e. deadlifts, pullups, lunges, pushups, situps, squats, etc.)  The trainer says “ready, set, go” and we all compete against the clock to post our best time for that workout.  I have lost over 10 pounds in a month and more importantly I am getting much stronger.  In fact during yesterday’s workout I finally beat Wade !!!  This is no small accomplishment and I probably won’t be able to do it again for a long time.  I’m finally feeling like a real “Crossfitter”; I started filing the callouses on my hands, I’m doing real pushups (and lots of them), kipping pullups are in sight, and I beat Wade for the first time !!!!!  I love crossfit !!!