My journey with CrossFit started 4 years ago… I was attending a regular boot camp class a couple nights a week above Bluez when I noticed different equipment appearing up there, a white board with a workout written on it, people’s name’s and their time it took to complete the workout and so on. It completely got my curiosity as I was someone who always exercised from early morning walks, boot camp to now learning about what this “CrossFit” program was all about. I took a look at the names on the board hoping I recognized one of them so that I could ask them about it.
From there I got Lindsey’s contact info and did my first work out called “The Baseline”. I recall that 6am one on one workout clearly. I was feeling winded, shaky, and felt like I just might pass out. I didn’t want to lead on to Lindsey how terrible I was feeling and I really wasn’t sure if I was even going to make it down the stairs of Bluez to my truck. I got into the truck and between the coughing fits, I yelled out loud, ” I am NEVER doing that again”! Got home, had a bath, coughed for the entire morning and thought to myself, I had to give it another couple try’s to really know if I liked it or not. After that initial shock of that workout, it got better each time I went and I knew then that I wanted to keep at it. I loved the variety of workouts and loved the people that were already in it – so encouraging and non-judgmental. Well going on five years later, here I am. I think the biggest reason I keep coming back for more is first off, the many wonderful faces that you see and meet. Everyone there has a big heart and welcomes you each and every time you walk through that door. Some days we all celebrate together and some days we all “die a little inside” together.
Once a community, always a community! Second reason, I love what CrossFit has done for me physically, mentally, and emotionally and for that I can’t see me leaving CrossFit anytime soon. As I get older I may have to make changes as to what works for me and I am prepared to do just that. Growing old young with your children is something one will never regret!
About a year and a half ago I decided to put the final missing piece in the puzzle for my health and fitness: Mission Nutrition. Even though I had been doing CrossFit since 2012 and was in the best shape I had ever been in my life, I knew that the nutrition component was still missing… I was hesitant to join Mission Nutrition, I didn’t feel “ready” to take it on and be accountable to a coach when it came to my nutrition, but after talking with Coach Alyssa on how it was proving to be successful for her and seeing the number of other people that were starting to join and see success I finally took the plunge in October of 2015. I started on the Thanksgiving Monday and let me tell you when I received my start date from Lindsey I immediately thought “really??”. Doesn’t Lindsey know we all eat pumpkin pie at thanksgiving? BUT Is there ever a good time to start? The answer is no! Life is busy, be it your job, having kids to run after, social events, etc. Holidays will always be a part of it anyway. And so my journey began…
My first two weeks on the program were tough! Although mentally I was ready, hitting the macros was the struggle, it was a learning curve, but the coaches told me that everyone feels this way and just hang in there- by the third week it will be so much easier and it was. I didn’t hit the macro numbers consistently until my third week in. I recall sending out a post saying, “Hit my macros two days in a row”. That right there was a sense of accomplishment. At about week 10, I was catching on, I was 8 lbs down and feeling some success. My initial goal with Mission Nutrition was to lose 10 lbs! Well, 10lbs turned into 20lbs. I took a break in May as summer was on its way, too tough to record during summer, on and on and on.
I took from June until October off and re-joined once again on the Thanksgiving Monday 2016. Yep, Lindsey still knows everyone eats pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Monday, but my head was back in it and I was ready. I still had pumpkin pie but was good with a sliver of a piece. I went into it this time with no goals in mind. I had great success right off the get go and lost 5 lbs within the first 4-5 weeks. I was in it to win it!!!
Were there times when I felt like giving up? You bet I did and yet when sharing my struggles with the other women or coach’s at CrossFit, I soon learned that this was the norm for the tail end of the cut. I heard all the positives that come out of it and I listened to their struggles and success’s and they were all very encouraging to keep going and stick with it. Things got real tough in about mid-December, but you can’t get rid of the social events and holidays that come with life so I had to learn how to navigate through them and stick to my goals. I lead a busy life just as many of us do and I am on the road lots. Planning my meals and being prepared wasn’t something I really enjoyed doing, but I wanted to do this to succeed. Now this is just part of my week that gets put into the planning of it all.
My body was leaner therefore the drop in weight takes longer and are harder to achieve. With that I also recall a post from Lindsey saying, ” make the cut as short as possible because the goal is to get back to maintenance as quick as possible”! That post stuck with me, I went home with a mindset, “of I can and I will, and I did!”.
Did I have struggles along the way? Yes! I would be lying if I said no. As I mentioned previously…I had moments of falling off the wagon, I had moments of giving up, and telling myself “good enough”, but I also had “cloud nine” moments and with those came confidence, self-worth, self-image, a new level of positiveness, and strength. Belonging to the CrossFit community has also contributed to my success: the positive energy, meeting new people and being surrounded by people who are there to better themselves. What many probably don’t realize is those who are there to better themselves end up impacting and bettering those standing around them as well. I have met so many walks of life through CrossFit that I probably wouldn’t know today had they or I not walked through those doors.
Lindsey had asked me what my proudest moment in the gym as well as my favourite Lair story was and honestly those are the toughest questions to answer and I’m not sure I have just one that sticks out. There are so many from finally figuring out toes to bar, to doing a WOD with kipping pull ups, to getting rid of an ab mat for hand stand push ups, to PRing all my lifts. I never ever wrote on the “goals” board until this year. Why? I don’t have an answer to that but in January I wrote “to walk on my hands”. I am not quite there but I am very close and when I do get it I would have to say that will be my proudest moment(physically). My first proudest moment(mentally) is reaching my goal in mission nutrition and my favourite lair story would have to go out to all of you! It’s people like you that make my lair story the best!
In closing, I have to share that CrossFit and Mission Nutrition has taught me determination, hard work, mental toughness, how to fuel my body, a life style change that has even filtered down to my kids, and so much more. To call Mission Nutrition a diet would be misleading; but rather a way of life with healthy eating incorporated daily. I know for me I can maintain this way of eating for years to come. I still expect some bumps along the way, but my knowledge and change in thinking will hopefully keep me on track. I also have to add that having weekly check-ins with Lindsey was a huge factor in all of this. Being made accountable makes you successful. There were highs and lows and sometimes you needed that pat on your back to tell you you’re awesome and sometimes you needed that kick in the ass to tell you to get back on track. Having to report makes you want that report to be successful. My success also came with listening and watching other people’s mission nutrition success stories. Our small-town Unity has a facility with such knowledgeable coach’s that are willing to make CrossFit your own to work for you and your goals whatever they may be. They scale your workouts to your current needs, individualizing it, or pushing you to what they know you are capable of.
30 lbs less of me,
Gail Hofmann