Long before CrossFit was known as the “sport of fitness”, it was created to help people get out of chronic disease, improve life quality and bring people back to their long-lost primal fitness. In an industry that claims to be about health, CrossFit was the main methodology that looked at creating a fit body for life, instead of creating a body based on an aesthetically pleasing body. Hence our focus on the journey, rather than the destination.
While it is extremely important to have goals, your fitness should not have an ending point. “Losing 10 pounds” and leaving the gym because you achieved your goal is like taking a laxative: you’ll probably end up having to do that all over again in a few months.
The reason why this is important is because of what training looks like when you’re training for life vs when you’re training for a goal. Every professional athlete, every model, every competitor will tell you, the way they got to where they are is unhealthy. Sleep deprivation, overtraining, mental and physical stress and poor nutrition are a few examples of what high level athletes go through.
Does that ring a bell?
As you can imagine, these two types of people will go through the same issues mentioned above. The difference is that one usually has loads of money, free time, endorsements, support groups and resources. The other is your average American person.
We need a shift in mentality, in order to truly be healthy. And that’s what CrossFit is all about. We need to build muscle, increase our cardiovascular capacity, learn how to properly move and increase range of motion. These might not be “sexiest” things to do in a gym, and it might not get you to lose 10lbs as fast as you want.
But you will be training for health. You will improve your quality of life, decrease the chance of chronic disease and be a happier person all around.
Want to learn what it takes to train for life? Come chat with one of your Celebration CrossFit coaches today!
by Coach Matt
