You Will See Results
Many women start a health and fitness regime wanting to change aesthetically and CrossFit will certainly give you those results. CrossFit workouts combine weigh training, body weight exercises and high intensity interval training. The variety of workouts will target different levels of cardio and activate your metabolism to burn calories. Coupled with a caloric deficit (which you can achieve through changes in your nutrition habits – not a restrictive diet which leaves you with zero energy), you will certainly lean up if that is your goal.
Some women are concerned about ‘bulking up’ if they do CrossFit. While its possible, the physiques of professional CrossFit athletes Like Tia-Claire Toomey, take a level of dedication that most of just aren’t able to put in. The aesthetic changes we usually see are an increase in lean muscle-mass and a decrease in body fat percentage. Getting leaner, combined with adding muscle goes hand in hand with better posture and an increase in confidence, which will give you a fit and healthy appearance.
You Will Change Your Relationship With Your Body
While many women start CrossFit with aesthetic goals in mind and they do see these results; there is often a paradigm shift in the way women think about their bodies in the first few months of CrossFit training. Historically, women have not been socialised to be kind to themselves about their bodies. As girls grow up, they quickly learn that their bodies should look a certain way. We are conditioned to think of our bodies from the perspective of what we believe others will think of our appearance. Not only that, on the off chance a girl is happy with the way she looks, there is a good chance she will be torn down for that as well. Essentially, we can’t win. We are taught that to hate and criticise our bodies is part of being feminine – Remember the scene from Mean Girls where Regina George and her girl gang are all criticising themselves in front of the mirror, and poor Cady, who has recently arrived from a remote part of Africa, just doesn’t get the social norm? … there is way too much truth in that scene.
CrossFit is revolutionary to many women because it changes the focus from what your body looks like to what your body can do. At first, every burpee, squat and wall ball will be about burning calories, but pretty quickly you will find that your goals will be increasingly about fitness and mastering skills, and less about the number on the scales. There is no doubt that losing 5 kilos (if that’s a goal for you) feels great, but it’s not even close to the rush you get from achieving your first box jump or hitting a new weightlifting PR. It hard to a maintain a negative relationship with your body when it can do all these amazing things!
Women Who do CrossFit Support Each Other
The CrossFit community is extremely supportive. For some women this kind of community support can be difficult to find. Just as we are not socialised to be kind to ourselves, women are often not socialised to be kind to each other. Gyms and sports clubs can be cliquey and it can be hard to ‘break in’ when you’re new to the sport.
A CrossFit box is completely different. Women who do CrossFit support one another and take as much joy in seeing others achieve as they do in their own achievements. The community is about lifting each other up and celebrating what we can do, not lamenting what we can’t.
People want different things from their relationships at their gyms. Some people are happy to come to a friendly, supportive place to work out and then go their own way. But for many others, special bonds are formed with the people you work out with. Sharing your goals and your triumphs in the gym, often leads to strong friendships. You may find that some of the women half your age ‘get you’ more than many of the women you work with. It’s not uncommon to find that people who start CrossFit at the same time share a close relationship. They start an amazing physical and mental journey together, and that leads to friendships that go beyond their one-hour in gym together.