I was there.

I was. I promise.

When I started working out at CFCM three years ago, I did jumping pull-ups. I was too scared to jump on the 18 inch box. I had never put a barbell over my head. I had no clue what a clean or a deadlift or a jerk were. I couldn’t do double unders, overhead squats, or handstands against a wall. I got smacked in the face by wall balls. I couldn’t do workouts prescribed and I never finished first. I was not very fast or strong or mentally tough. I was in no way going to compete… probably ever. I was there.

I tell people this and I think sometimes they don’t believe me or they think I must have had a very athletic background before coming to CrossFit, so it came very naturally to me. Sure, I ran, but honestly, I was just OK at it. I played tennis in high school, but again, I was just OK. Though I liked being active, I would by no means consider myself an athlete… feel free to ask my parents! I am not trying to say that I am anything amazing now… I am still learning and growing and being humbled every day… but I am a different person than when I started. I guess what I am trying to say is, if I can do it… get better, do a muscle-up, compete, whatever… so can you.

Our gym, which was once a small “garage gym” is now quite large, but I think all of you get the idea that we are very much about community. We celebrate first pull-ups and new PR’s. We cheer each other on through tough workouts. We sweat together. We have paleo potlucks. We go out to watch each other compete. I would not have made the progress that I have if this community had not challenged and encouraged me to be better and to try new things. I am being completely honest when I say that I had no interest in competing at all. I didn’t think I was good enough and I was terrified of it. As much as I didn’t want to do it, I am so glad that I finally did. It felt amazing to overcome my fear and it pushed me to want to work on the things I wasn’t very good at. It was after my first competition that I really started to progress and grow.

Why am I saying all of this?

Well, most of you know that the CrossFit Games Open is starting this month… or maybe you don’t. Either way, the Open is the qualifier to the CrossFit Games, which are in July. Every week for five weeks, there will be a workout posted. Anyone anywhere can register themselves, do the workout within the week, and submit their time or score online. Our gym will be setting aside one day of each week where this qualifier workout will be the Workout of the Day, so you will likely do it anyway. I did this last year, and it is pretty cool to see where you stand amongst thousands of other people around the world who are also competing. Not to mention, it is a fun way to be a part of the larger CrossFit community.

I could tell you that by registering for the Open you can help our gym get a team to qualify for Regionals, or that if we have enough people registered we can win spectator tickets for our entire gym to go to the Games. Although both of these things are true, it’s not really my style to sell you on it like that. I hope that you will register for you. My guess is the things that hold you back are the same things that would have held me back a couple years ago… that you think you aren’t good enough and that it won’t really matter anyway. Maybe it won’t. However, I know from my own experience that doing things like this helped move me forward. I would argue that the more you think you can’t and that what you do doesn’t matter, the more you are holding yourself back from growth (and by growth, I mean being a badass). So I’m just going to say, I hope you take the chance and see what happens. You are a part of a gym that wants to help and encourage you to be the best that you can.

You have to start somewhere…

Ok… click HERE! If you in, I would love to know!

Thanks for reading… Love you guys!