When you hear the word CrossFit what are the first things you think of? Crazy people throwing weights and other weird objects around? A bunch of people working out wearing basically nothing? People that have have too much money and want to spend it on a CrossFit membership? Well, I thought the same thing before trying it out and here’s what I found.
I asked around trying to find out what stereotypes and ideas people associate with CrossFit. I got questions all over the board, but I wanted to take those questions and show you that you’re really just psyching yourself out.
- “The only people that workout at CrossFit are tool bags, meat heads and people that think they are too good for a regular gym.”
This couldn’t be more far from the truth. Although you can’t be totally tool bag free when you go anywhere to workout, SpearHead CrossFit prides themselves on being a gym where everyone feels equal and can all workout together.
- “I am a lady and I know that if I were to do CrossFit I would bulk up and look ridiculous. I just want to get tone and look hot.”
This makes sense. I wouldn’t want to go somewhere if I felt like it was going to destroy my entire workout that I had already done. The great thing about CrossFit is that you are doing weight lifting in a cardiovascular way making it so that you are burning fat while building muscle. I walk into SpearHead and never see girls in there that would freak me out if I ran into them in the streets because their muscles are bigger than mine. It’s funny because a lot of the ladies there are lifting more than me, but they are teeny tiny.
- “If I workout there I would have to wear only CrossFit branded clothes and half the time people don’t wear them because they are basically working out naked.”
Have you seen me? I workout in shorts, a t-shirt and whatever shoes I can find as I am trying to get out of the house at 4:45 am. It seriously doesn’t matter what you wear, as long as you feel comfortable. Granted, yes, there are a couple guys that have taken their shirts off (myself not included cause that would be a site) while working out, but only because they are sweating like crazy and they have the muscle tone to where it’s socially acceptable. At SpearHead you will most see a lot of Lulu Lemon and your occasional CrossFit branded clothes, but you will always see me in Nike, Under Armor or Abercrombie gym clothes. You are required to wear Stance socks though, but that’s because they’re so comfortable and come on, they look fantastic. But no matter what you decide to wear no one is going to care. I mean, I’ll judge you, but I do that anyways.
- “I’ll get injured because I won’t know what I am doing or because the workouts they do at CrossFit are things no human should do.”
It’s true that when you go to a CrossFit gym you are going to be introduced to a lot of movements and exercise you’ve never heard of. That doesn’t make them bad. Maybe it’s a good thing because it’s broadening your horizon and forcing you to try new things. When it comes to working out, I feel like that’s never a bad thing. Thankfully at SpearHead I have never felt like I was in danger. Dallin Frampton, owner and coach at SpearHead CrossFit, says, “Yes, CrossFit is dangerous and yes, you can get hurt doing it. But it doesn’t happen in my gym.” When you sign up at SpearHead you are going to go through what’s called on-ramp where you will be shown the major moves you will be doing and they make sure you really understand those moves before you start.
Frampton continues with, “the reason we are so strict with our introductory classes, our technique and foundations training, our daily instruction and coaching is to ensure we don’t injure any of our clients. Without proper instruction and continued, relentless coaching, injuries can happen.” I have always felt like the coaches have my best interests in mind and they aren’t going to push me to do weight that my body can’t handle. I know of a lot of CrossFit gyms where unfortunately that is the case and it’s because of these gyms that give CrossFit a bad name. I promise you though, the coaching and staff is top notch and you will always be able to feel comfortable and not pushed into doing something crazy.
“In order to become a coach at SpearHead, you must go through a lengthy and exclusive shadowing program,” says Frampton. “They have to shadow me, for a set amount of hours where we cover anything and everything that meets the high standards of coaching we adhere to. We are NOT trainers. We are NOT instructors. We are coaches and our mission is to fulfill that duty every single day through the proper application of our expertise to every one of our clients through every one of our classes.”
Another great thing I love is that they modify the workouts. Maybe I can’t do a strict pull-up, well they modify it so that I can get the same workout, but doing it a little different to make it easier. I love how Frampton put it, “during classes, we set forth proper progressions and strategies for our clients to reach the next level without the risk of injury. We are not on the fast track to risky fitness – we are on the slow, steady and relentless road to fitness through continued coaching in fitness excellence.”
- “It takes too long. Aren’t you there for hours?”
This is what drew me in to CrossFit was the fact that I would get there at 5:00 am and be out of there by 6:00 am feeling like I just took on the world and did an amazing workout. Here is what the average day looks like:
- Stretching and warming up for a few minutes
- Strength workout of some kind where you are focusing on one specific movement
- The workout, usually taking about 8-34 minutes depending on what the workout is
That’s it! I also love that the workouts are different every day making it so that my body isn’t getting into a routine and plateauing. If you need to see what the workout is like, just check out my Snapchats. I post them on there everyday.
- “It’s too expensive!”
I get it, no one wants to pay a ridiculous amount of money just to workout. But what if I did some research and found out that SpearHead was actually a lot cheaper than any personal training session you were doing. Would you give it a try? Here are some gyms that I found what the cost is per session:
If you were like me and went to SpearHead every day (Monday-Saturday) you’re basically paying $5.20 a session. Yes CrossFit isn’t personal training, but when you are in there you have small class sizes and at least one trainer there willing to help you with anything you need. Even if you only went to SpearHead three times a week, you still would only be paying $10.42 a session, which is still cheaper than all the others. On top of that, you are paying a monthly fee to to go to your gym, which usually adds anywhere from $10-30 a month. And do you get a certified nutritionist, high quality training with at every workout and equipment that is constantly up kept? Still thinking CrossFit is too expensive?
- “Everyone that goes to CrossFit has been there already and will judge me based on my ability and the fact that I’ll have no idea what I’m doing.”
When my friend asked me to just come try his gym out I thought, what the heck. I probably wont be able to do any of the stuff. I was right, the workout was intense and I didn’t think I was going to survive, but I had a coach with me the entire time, cheering me on. Not pushing me to work harder and weight that would be unheard of for me to lift. He supported me and cheered me on to the very last second. Applauding me in my hard work and saying that he loved working with me. To this day, that guy has constantly been there supporting me and cheering me on. He’s one of the top lifters at SpearHead, but he doesn’t go around bragging about it. He’s one of the nicest guys there and he cheers on anyone that will give it a try. I’m not going to lie though, like I said before, I will probably judge you, but does my opinion matter? That’s what I thought.
- “People that go to CrossFit only talk about CrossFit. ‘I did this many box jumps’ or ‘I lifted this much’. Is that all I will talk about if I were to do it?”
I made fun of these people too. I could care less about how high your box jump was today or the fact that you deadlifted triple my weight. I think the reason people only talk about CrossFit is because of how much they love it and the daily reminder of progress. I love what it has done for me in making me stronger, more fit and excited to get up in the morning to workout. I wasn’t one of those people that went to the gym for the social part of it, but talk to anyone that goes to the SpearHead 5:00 am class and they will tell you that I am a social butterfly of the entire time. I have been able to make some amazing friendships and found myself meeting people I would never have talked to in any other situation. At SpearHead there is a sense of family and a feeling of belonging. Once you try it out, you’ll get what I am talking about and want that experience on a regular basis.
Are you still thinking that it’s too hard, you don’t have the right attire and everyone will make fun of you? Well, get over it and email [email protected] to figure out when you can come in and try it for FREE. Just give it a try and see for yourself why all these crazy people are doing it.
