CrossFit Journey 3 Years On

This month is my 3rd year of CrossFit and it’s a good time to take inventory of where I am now compared to back in 2011. To keep it simple and CrossFit-like – I decided to make it measurable in 3 categories: fitness, family and community.

Fitness improvement
– Clean +44%
– Deadlift +56%
– Max double unders +3000%
– Row speed +71%
– Fran speed +263%
– Cindy rounds +205%

Friends and Family
– % of family now in CrossFit: 75%
– hours of quality sports time together: +400%
– # of friends who joined CF with me: 17

Community
– # of CF boxes visited around the world:  117
– # of new friends I made with CrossFit: so many
– # of times I discuss CF with people I just met: always

So where does the journey go from here?

In CrossFit, we are never done. As we get better, we’d better get better. While I improved my own performance 2-3 fold in most movements, my peers challenge me even more every day. When you are doing Crossfit, you are not a generalist as some people think, but a specialist in more and more things.

I checked my Beyond the Whiteboard (BYWB) stats and realized something amazing about this sport and the challenge it has: 2 years ago my gymnastics and lifting results put me in the top 30% of the Crossfitters who post on BYWB. Now while I have gotten twice as good in those movements, it is barely enough to keep me in the top 50%.

The point is that while we are improving in this sport, the athletes of the sport are getting better at a rate never seen before. I cannot think of any other sport where the average athlete and the community as a whole can post this kind of measurable, real improvement. I’m glad to be part of this fun, crazy movement of ours.