One year at ELC, now my case might be a little more extreme then you or the people you know who have joined Crossfit. Not everyone owns 5 pairs gym shoes, gets their CFL1 Trainer Cert, or buys a barbell to use at home. In reality none of those things are all that necessary besides maybe one pair of shoes, to make a significant change in your life. Being that one year is a long time to keep doing something 5 days a week, this year is something I am pretty proud of I thought it would be neat to reflect a bit and share my journey with others. 

The reality is I didn’t join ELC because I felt a need to get fit (though it is a pretty sweet side effect). Just the other day my wife asked me, “Could you have ever imagined you would be so into fitness?” The answer without skipping a beat was no way. I played football from 5-8th grade and that was the extent of my sports experience. From time to time I would go on a jog or do a few push ups but that was it. My decision to walk into ELC for the first time came less from a desire to reach the pinnacle of physical fitness. For me the year of 2018 was a year of huge personal growth. I dove headfirst into reading books like Man’s Search for Meaning (Viktor E Frankl), The Power of Vulnerability (Brene Brown), Extreme Ownership (Leif Babin & Jocko Willink). I started seeing all the areas of my life where I needed to improve to be a better father, and husband, and thus began the painstaking work to improve in areas like vulnerability and authenticity. In this process I realized that one area where I was extremely lacking was time set aside for me. Working 60-70 hour weeks, and trying to figure out how to balance that with being a good husband and father meant I rarely if ever took time in the day to check-in with myself, and when I did take time I felt selfish for not spending that time with my family. 

It was the realization that I am no good for anyone if I am burnt out out and losing touch with myself that finally pushed me to buy a year membership to ELC. For some of you this might seem like a counterintuitive jump, but what I found is as Jocko says “Discipline equals Freedom”. I started going to ELC 5 days a week at 5:15 am, I was home by 6 and had one full hour of time to myself where I didn’t feel guilty because my family was still in bed and I wasn’t taking away from time with them. I began living a much more disciplined life and the result is a whole new person. Now I’m not saying CrossFit is the secret to life, love, and the pursuit of happiness. What I found is that spending one hour a day surrounded by others striving to improve their health (both mentally and physically) energized me and inspired me to continue putting in the hard work in all areas of my life. When you build mental resilience grinding through a 2k row, that mental resilience starts to help out in all other areas of struggle you face in life.  

Now I know I just rambled on about how this year isn’t about physical fitness, but it’s also amazing to look at the progress I have made in one year so I had to throw a few numbers and hopefully/maybe this will help inspire you to take the plunge. 

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