How CrossFit Helped me Love my Body

Have you ever wondered why the first unspoken rule of CrossFit is tell everyone about CrossFit?!! Nooo, it’s not part of our “cult” contract. It’s because it changes your life. Seriously! I know that sounds dramatic but for a lot of people it really truly does. They discover a sense of fight, passion and belief in themselves that they never knew existed and break freeee of the whole workin out to burn calories and “get fit” mentality. We get to challenge ourselves daily, sometimes we win and other times we fail but we’re always learning and evolving.

For me, my journey with CrossFit was a very healing one, on so many levels. I was coming from a clean eating, body building background. I was working as a PT in a globo gym. We were surrounded by mirrors, everyone was too cool to take their headphones off to talk to each other, no one ever made eye contact, except for the creepy dude that hit on everyone, everyone scrolled Insta between lifts looking at Fitspo and we were all there for one of very few reasons, to get massive, to get tiny, to get ripped or to get ready for Stezza.

The attitude was Go hard or Go Home! Eat clean and brag about your cheat meal on the weekend, then when you’re done with your workout, take some selfies in the bathroom to view your progress immediately. This did not put me in a healthy headspace and certainly did not leave me with a healthy relationship with food or my body. I felt anxious and self-conscious ALL THE TIME. I needed my body to look like the Bikini Body Pro’s and I needed it now. I over thought every workout, every meal, every supplement. Was I not doing enough, not going hard enough, not eating clean enough?! I was exhausted and overwhelmed trying to look the part, I wasn’t enjoying training anymore, I was sleeping like crap, I’d literally run myself down into Chronic Fatigue and Stress. All because my sole goal was to have the perfect body for no reason at all, other than I thought it would make me happy.

And then I found CrossFit!! There was not a single mirror in the room, no headphones, people supported and acknowledged you. They even gave you a fist bump at the end of your workout and told you how awesome you were. The coaches were there to help you move better, there wasn’t a phone in sight and anyone and everyone would just rip their shirts off or rock booty shorts with the body confidence of Beyoncé. I loved it all, the new friends, learning new skills, the community and support, my new found mental strength and self-esteem and just feeling like an absolute bad ass in general. I was genuinely happy!!

My focus went from needing to change the way I looked to “What other cool shit can I do with my body?!” Handstand walks, Olympic lifting… squatting more than 20kg haha I never knew my body was capable of that!! And so I become empowered! I started to love and respect my body for all it allowed me to. And at some point I realised, if I wanted my body to do more, I needed to give it more! More appreciation, more respect, more love, more food, sleep and recovery time!! All things that I never would have considered essential in the past.

It added value to my life and not just in the way of my physical and mental health improving but I found a community, a place to belong. No one cared how I looked and no one cared how anyone else looked. In between making inappropriate jokes about snatches, we were all there, just getting fitter and stronger together ….Gooood Times!

#CrossFit #training #Fitness #BodyImage #selflove