10 Rounds For Time:
3 Squat Clean Thruster 155/105
3 Muscle Ups
Ryan, post college, pre-CrossFit
Ryan now, 8 months CrossFit, mid WOD suffering
Fitness and being active has always been a huge part of my life –
although sometimes more than others. From an early age (5 years) my
parents got me involved in whatever sports I wanted. From martial arts,
to baseball, basketball, swimming, track and field, to my love – soccer,
I was constantly being pushed. I'm sure a large part of this had to do
with my mother keeping me out of the house and thus, her sane!
My
parents always instilled the importance of eating right. I was never
allowed to leave the table until I ate everything on my plate. Steak, no
problem. Salmon, great. Salad, hell no! Little did I know that these
habits would come back in a huge way later in life.
Through my
college years, I strayed away from high intensity sports and focused
more on what was important at the time – girls, parties and all of the
"other things" that come along with them. I grew into a big, fat, boozy
mess of a college kid. From time to time I would do strength training –
you know, bench presses, curls, military presses, the standard 24hour
fitness routine – yes, "mirror staring" is considered a workout there.
All I saw was a more swollen tubby dude staring back at me. To give you
some perspective – throughout high school I weighed no more than 160#.
When I graduated college I had ballooned up to 210#. I was a mess. Upon
graduating college, I immediately focused on my career. Gym? Who has
time for that – I need to make that money! Over time, the stress of a
messy personal life as well as the demands of a job that was out of town
had me falling back into old habits. I was constantly tired, ate like
crap, slept a ton and couldn't figure out why I was always tired and why
I looked like crap. The answer was staring me in the face the whole
time – I needed to get back to who I really was.
Fast forward to
2009. I had recently moved back to Sacramento from the North Bay and
wanted to focus on myself for once. I was hell bent on peeling back all
of the layers that had built up and made me resent myself. A coworker of
mine had mentioned this gym called CrossFit Diablo where he worked out.
The energy that he showed when talking about it was contagious. He
talked about how awesome it was, how chicks routinely kick his ass, how
he feels spent but full of energy later that same day. I was hooked – I
had to check it out.
When I got home that Friday night, I looked
up CrossFit and the "boxes" (yeah, i was laughing) that are here in
town. East Sac's website had the gritty look of a no bullshit gym that I
was looking for. Watching the videos of Travis and Justin were
inspiring and amazing – how can this little dude bust out box jumps like
a freakin' kangaroo? I had to do this. I called on Saturday afternoon,
and Justin had me in on Monday to do the introductory class. Rowing – no
problem. Stretching, ok, I can do this. Leg swings, sure. Then we did
an extremely easy WOD – air squats + lunges + pull-ups. I felt like i
was going to puke all over his feet. I had explained my quasi-athletic
background to Justin and I'll never forget his last comment to me:
As
I'm sitting on the floor, slumped against the whiteboards…
Justin:
"so, now that you've done that how 'in shape' do you think you are?"
Me:
"huh? hold on a sec. I feel really weird"
Justin: "dude, you are in
terrible shape. sit down, rest, don't leave here for a while – you
can't drive right now"
After that single hour of hell – I've been
hooked since.
I fell into a groove of going to the evening
classes and have met some amazing people and athletes. John Michelmore
inspires me every time we workout together – the dude is a machine! Pat
Harty was one of the first people to walk up to me and introduce himself
and everytime I see him workout, I get motivated. Justin, Travis and
Chris have done an amazing job of creating the space, but the people are
what makes this box tick – and it's awesome.
Now, I'm almost in
the best shape of my life. I've dropped over 25# since November and
have more energy than I did in high school. My mental focus is intense,
my body is capable of doing more than I knew it could (except pull ups –
WTF?) and friends and family can't stop making comments about how great
and happy I look. I've recently started the Zone diet and am hoping for
a summer of being fit, happy and feeling on fire. This place truly is
the Fountain of Youth.
-Ryan Lippman
