Friday, November 8, 2013

my first time at crossfit: a review

I bought a voucher for a month at crossfit. I went to my first workout last night. I was nervous, but I went with the expectation that I would love it since my sister-in-law and her husband, my brother and his wife, and a good friend all rave about it.

I got there at 7:20 with my friend K as the class was supposed to start at 7:30. Except... It didn't. The class before us run late so it was 7:50 before we got going.

It didn't seem like the owner/instructor wanted to be there and was brusque. It was some person's last night there and the class before us was going out for drinks. I felt bad for him, but at the same time, don't take it out on me.

We started with a warmup and an intro to the gym/box ideals. He described their philosophy as 70% crossfit, 30% bootcamp. He showed us newbies (four of us) the exercise and had us do it. He had us repeat the exercise until everyone did it right. He said he would not call us out if we were doing it wrong, he would just make everyone repeat it. One particular exercise was repeated so many times, that my friend and I finally spoke up and said "If I'm the one doing it wrong, please just tell me." His words back to us were, I quote, "Don't tell me how to run my class!"

Listen, I get not wanting to embarrass anyone, but if I have done the exercise wrong 20+ times, chances are it feels like I am doing it right. Especially if I have never done it before. Tap me on the shoulder, say "Your form needs help. Try x, y, z." Don't keep have me repeating my mistake, ya know? I'm not learning from that.  Not only that, but encourage the people that ARE doing it right, so they can repeat it.

So fine, class was late to start, the guy didn't want to be there, and he snapped at me for wanting more clarity on doing the exercise right. I can still love the workout, right? Right?

I didn't. It wasn't horrible or anything, but the atmosphere was more boot campish than I was anticipating. The workout was 10 box jumps, 10 pull-ups, 10 wall balls, 20 crunches as many times as you could until he told you you could be done. It might have been fine without all the warmup exercises (jump rope, squats, box jumps, pull-ups, several (!) exercises with the barbell that I have already forgotten the name of, walking lunges, crunches, and kettle bells); I was a pile of goo about 3 minutes in.

At the end of class, which was 9:30 (*ahem* supposed to have ended at 8:30 *ahem*), he asked if we had any questions. The website says that classes are 55 minutes long. I am planning on going to the 6am class (I know! Stop laughing!) so I asked if you can leave early if you need to. He said, not a quote but close, "No. You have to stay for the whole time. No leaving early." What?!

He clarified that 6am was the only exception, but wow, that rubs me the wrong way. Isn't it better for me to come in and get a partial workout done than to not come in at all because I can't stay for the whole class? Maybe I don't get it, but I thought crossfit was supposed to be a quick workout. 55 minutes is not quick. Neither does that work if classes are continually running over. (I have no basis for this other than the two classes I observed. Still...) If I have to stay there the whole time, you had better start and end on time.

I have a month there and I am not looking forward to going back. Maybe I'm just a whiner. Maybe I'm not cut out for the intensity of crossfit. But honestly? I just feel like I was mislead. :( Of course, maybe this was an anomaly. <--- I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Oh, and last complaint. I promise. There was no cool down or stretching after the workout. That really bummed me out. After using your muscle to fatigue, I imagine that stretching is pretty important for minimizing soreness. Yes, I can do it by myself, but it seems like a 55 minute workout should include it. Keep your fingers crossed that the rest of the month goes better.


***What is your experience at crossfit? Is this the norm or did I have a bad experience? Do I need to give it more time?
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