I first walked into a Crossfit gym at the beginning of 2014. I wanted to get a little bit fitter for the upcoming soccer season, and I was bored with running and going to the gym.  A few people had mentioned this thing called Crossfit to me, but I knew nothing about it except that I had read that it was ‘the sport of fitness’.

My first session, to pull my own weight to the bar I needed a thick green band, snatching a PVC pipe felt hard, uncoordinated and completely foreign, and the concept of only doing a work out of about 7-15 mins seemed ridiculous to someone who ran around a football pitch for 90 minutes.  A 7 Minute AMRAP of burpees and wall balls later, my concept of ‘fitness’ shifted slightly. Later that day I watched a Youtube clip of girls effortlessly performing bar muscle ups, strict pull ups, walking on their hands and squatting what looked like weights I would never touch. Both the competitive and curious side of me lit up, and I signed up for a membership.

I quickly learned to back squat, deadlift and press. Less quickly I learned to clean, snatch and jerk, (I’m still learning) and slowly, I learned the gymnastic skills utilised by the sport of Crossfit today. We see competitors at the highest level complete these skills, with seemingly effortless ease, even under fatigue. It’s exciting and inspiring to watch. Every time I learnt something new, I wanted to do it heavier, faster and better. I wanted to lift more, feel fitter and acquire new skills, and every time I did, my self-belief and confidence grew. When I failed, I learnt to keep going, and to be patient.

Over two years and many hours of training on, I can power clean more than my original max deadlift weight, snatch almost my own body weight, rep out both strict pull ups and strict muscle ups, and my favourite party trick is now walking on my hands. Something I never thought I would be able to do when I first tried to do even a handstand against a wall in this place referred to as a Crossfit Box. Beyond skill acquisition and increased strength and fitness, I have discovered an amazing community of people from so many walks of life who create a positive and rewarding environment by essentially coming together to workout, stay fit and healthy, and have fun.

Learning and acquiring new skills is one of the greatest achievements you will feel. It develops self-belief, confidence and teaches patience. When I watch people string together toes to bar for the first time, or get their first kipping pull up or their first ever muscle up, the massive smile on their face I know stays there that day, and most likely the next. That day they walk tall, and stand proud. It may seem a small thing to some, but to others this is why we do what we do. Regardless of age or level of fitness, regardless of whether you aim to compete, want to just get fitter and stronger or you just want to have fun and hang out in a great community, measurable results are satisfying and confidence building. Basically, they make us happy. A bad day in the office is ok, if that morning you made it ten metres walking on your hands.

Everything is a process and it’s through this process we learn and acquire skills both physically and mentally. Before I learnt to walk on my hands, I needed to build shoulder and core strength. For anyone who has attended a gymnastics class here at Vic you will be familiar with handstand holds, shoulder taps and hollow rocks. Before I could even consider a muscle up I had to master strict dips and pull ups for reps and learn how to false grip on the rings, and for whoever has tried this for the first time, it feels the most uncomfortable and unrealistic way of holding your own body weight on the rings, let alone pulling yourself up. Over time, the bands on my dips and pulls ups got thinner until they disappeared completely, and now false grip feels quite comfortable and normal. Through all of this, patience featured largely, and as so many of us will relate I’m sure, is also a skill in itself.

Perseverance and hardwork will get you a very long way, but being helped and guided will make it far more enjoyable and quicken the process. One of the greatest tools I’ve had along the way is good coaching. Due to the constant variation of our sport, and general Crossfit classes  only being an hour long, it can be hard to coach for any length of time certain skills that can take your Crossfit to a new level, or help develop the last steps of your skill work. To be able to spend half an hour, working solely in small groups on specific skills, and knowing drills and exercises to develop strength to progress, is fundamental to skill development. Our goals may all be different, but no matter what, the gym is a community of constant support and encouragement to working towards achieving what you want. Nothing is a failure, only a learning curve shared amongst each other.