Crossfit Impressions

I had my first workout at Crossfit today. I'm taking a one-month "on ramp" class in January, but I'm still going to be traveling when it starts, so I did a make-up class in advance.

The workout was a lot of fun. It was short but intense. After the warm up, I did a timed workout that was a short run followed by some bodyweight exercises (pushups, squats, etc.) and then finished off with another short run. The whole thing took less than seven minutes, but I still felt like I was going to die at the end. My heart rate takes a lot longer to come down after one of these than after other cardio like a long run. It's more like that time Jason had me on the Jacob's ladder for five minutes and I couldn't talk for half an hour. That's about the only time I get speechless, and it makes me feel like I want to cry or puke. I know I can get better results if I push myself out of my comfort zone like this, but it still feels really weird.

Afterward I asked about using the rollers for stretching and I tried it a little bit and it's pretty cool. I need to get something so I can do that at home. It feels like a totally intense massage.

I'm having some concerns about the diet that they want me to go on. They recommend the paleo diet, and it's cool if they want to recommend that to people who are looking for help with their diet. But he's having me keep a food journal, and he wants me to completely cut out bread and potatoes and dairy. I'm like, no way.

I have already been journaling my food and how it makes me feel for years and I know that I don't have any problems with gluten. He talks about how bread is a drug and it's harder to give up than crack, and I'm thinking it's a good thing then that I'm not interested in giving it up. I can cut out sugar and alcohol, but the rest of that is just not sustainable at all for me and I know from experience it would make me feel like crap.

So anyway my plan is just to keep going with practicing the new Weight Watchers plan, to limit my sugar and alcohol and high-fat foods, limit bread, eat whole foods, etc. I'll keep both journals honestly, and use the accountability to inspire me to eat a diet I can be proud of. If we disagree about that over the next month, no big deal. I'm really just there to get some good workouts and have fun. He's a respectful and supportive guy and I'm sure it'll be fine.