I was never an
elite athlete, just an every day mucker and grinder who loves his sports but
unfortunately, for the last 15 years or so, spent a lot more time watching them
on TV rather than participating. Since I
ended playing minor hockey and intramural university sports I have been focusing
on career and starting a family with very little beer league hockey and
mountain biking whenever I could. Typical
story for most people 35 and older. I
was completely neglecting my physical fitness and, as a result, my appearance
and mental well-being. I tried joining a
gym and lifting weights or running on a number of occasions, but it always
ended after a couple of months because I could not fit them into my busy
schedule or for lack of motivation.
Then CrossFit came
into my life. I discovered CrossFit a
few years ago as friends of Al’s and mine became the first CrossFitters in Canada when
they opened CrossFit Vancouver in 2004. Like
most people, I wrote it off as something far too difficult and maybe even a
little crazy. You’d have to be nuts to combine
heavy deadlifts with sprinting and pull-ups, right?!?! I’d never even done a single deadlift in my
life, let alone 50 reps of my own body weight.
But flash forward 4 years and when Al moved to Kelowna to open up the
Garaj Mahal on Glenmore, it wasn’t a hard sell for me to start coming out to
classes. It seemed like the perfect
opportunity to get fit. I was motivated by
the fact that I was carrying about 25 extra pounds that I had piled on in the
previous year which made it difficult to get up and down from the ground when playing
with my kids – at age 36!!!
After completing a
year of CrossFit, I can honestly say that I am addicted!! The results that I have seen in terms of
weight loss, fitness levels, change in appearance, stress reduction and
confidence have been extraordinary. I
have seen huge improvements not only in my strength, but in my cardiovascular
stamina – just ask the guys on my hockey team.
Where else can you get all that for a time commitment of less than 4
hours a week?? The combination of
intense strength training and tests of cardiovascular fitness is the huge
advantage that CrossFit has over other regimens. You will see vast improvements in all areas
of your “fitness” when training CrossFit style.
I look forward to
coming to the Garaj Mahal most mornings knowing that I will get beaten up but
will leave feeling challenged, prepared for the rest of the day and one step
closer to my fitness goals. The CrossFit
community in general is a very motivational atmosphere to be around as everyone
strives for one goal – making the community better by making each individual
better, day by day.
Matt
Nye
1st CrossFit
Glenmore member
Warm-Up:
3 rounds for time of
Driveway Dumbbell Lunges (30 lunges holding dumbbell straight arm out to the Right than 30 back holding straight arm out to the Left) (men 15lbs / women 10lbs)
10 V-Ups (hanging from a bar raise your feet up to touch it and back down)
Workout:
Squat Cleans 5,5,5,5,5 rep max weight
