Shane at the CrossFit Games 2010 Southwest Regionals
Shane grew up in Minnesota and was an avid, albeit average, athlete all through school playing football, baseball, running track, and slalom skiing. His love of sport took him to college in Colorado for two years where he intended to become a ski instructor for the rest of his life while obtaining a Kinesiology degree and playing baseball.
After his second year he was encouraged to transfer schools by a mentor and took the opportunity to make the move to San Diego where he finished school as a business major and happened upon the sport of rowing which for the four years he spent at the University of San Diego became his passion.
While rowing he was introduced to Stephane Rochet and the CrossFit community as a way of training for rowing. As a team, they spent summers become versed in the sport of CrossFit as they prepared for the upcoming seasons. Upon graduation it was a natural progression to enter the CrossFit realm and begin training as well as coaching rowing for the CrossFit community. He ended up at CrossFit Invictus and entered into training for the 2010 CrossFit Games.
It was in this training that Shane met Ben Sullins. The two began a friendly but highly competitive training program that pushed them to great heights as athletes. After the San Diego/Arizona sectionals, Shane pitched Ben the idea of creating a book to tell the true story of what CrossFit is. It was here, that CrossFit Story took its first steps.
Meet the other half of the team tomorrow…
Yours in CrossFit,
The CrossFit Story Team
In my experiences in life and the corporate world I have learned that different people are motivated by different things. What gets me going (heavy weights) is not necessarily what my girlfriend really has a passion for (chocolate?) and vice versa. That’s why I want to write about what motivates me to CrossFit and ask for your feedback on what motivates you to CrossFit as well.
I have the kind of personality that gets addicted to those things in life that seem impossible. The more challenging, mentally and/or physically, the more excited I get. When it comes to CrossFit, the nature of the game is to train for the “Unknown and Unknowable” (Theme for 2009 Games by Dave Castro); posing the never-ending challenge of mental and physical toughness. I wasn’t much of an athlete before starting CrossFit but have since caught CrossFit fever. Doing so however, has caused me to push myself to the point of exhaustion, over, and over, and over again. This is where I discovered the second motivating factor for why I CrossFit; the comraderie.
Everyone in the gym I started at, CrossFit Invictus, was extremely welcoming and supportive of a new guy that had no clue what he was doing. The coaches there guided me through this period of learning helping me avoid any major damage (Thanks Sagefor teaching me how to bail on a snatch!) and within a few weeks (okay, months) I was on my way to making some serious improvements in my overall health.
The last motivating factor for why I CrossFit, and why I’ll never quit, is the community. On May 17th, 2010, my mother lost her six year battle against lung cancer. In her honor I have setup a team to participate and raise funds for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life in downtown San Diego. After polling everyone I knew from work and my personal life I had about $100 dollars and 3 people on the team. I asked the owner of CrosssFit Invictus, CJ Martin, for his help in raising awareness by posting a blog article about the relay. That article ran June 15th, 2010 and within days the team had hit our goal of $1,000. The support from the other members at the gym has been overwhelming. I don’t know that I could have handled the loss without their support.
That is why I CrossFit, and why I’ll never quit.
Yours in CrossFit,
Ben Sullins & The CrossFit Story Team
In case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve added something pretty special to our site. Before we go about touting the great things we’re doing though, we know you’re asking yourself “That’s fantastic guys, but how does it benefit me and my love of CrossFit?”
So instead of telling you what’s new, we’ll start with what it’ll do for you.
The first bit is what you can expect to see from us every day. If you read it and don’t like or agree with it then you don’t have to tune in any more. It’s awesome because you have a clear description of what we’re aiming to do and you know what we’re looking for in a story about CrossFit. A win/win for everyone. “Wait a second” you might say, “That seems too good to be true.” It’s not, we promise. What we’re talking about is our Mission:
“CrossFit Story captures and cultivates the life-changing, sweat-inducing, leave-your-excuses-behind stories that breed inspiration every day. Period.”
The second bit will inspire you the same way it drives us every day to keep going. We all need a pick me up on a cloudy day or motivation when we’re feeling sick. That’s what this will do. It’s like a CrossFit approved paleo energy shot using words instead of a physical drink. It’s our Vision statement of where we will be in the future and what we’ll be doing along the way:
“CrossFit Story exists to be the spark that ignites people to live a beautifully fit life using every means possible.”
Bring your stories to CrossFit Story and help us inspire the world through fitness.
Yours in CrossFit,
The CrossFit Story Team
In the CrossFit community there are countless tales of how life changing this sport, CrossFit, really is. Stories range from former athletes that have found their love of sport again through the complex and challenging nature of CrossFit to people that were so out of shape they were headed for health problems that could affect the rest of their lives.
This begs the question, why does CrossFit, unlike many other sports, inspire such great stories?
Simply put, because it works. CrossFit transforms people from “Normal to Awesome” (Again Faster) in short order, and who doesn’t want to be awesome?!
CrossFit enables normal people to become healthier, happier, and stronger through fun, dynamic, daily challenges. In these events known as the Workout of Day (WOD, pronounced whad), a community of former average people turn into awesome athletes no matter what their skill level. This builds comraderie among gym members and excites additional effort into the competition. Since the movements change daily and rarely repeat, athletes don’t get bored. This is a huge differentiator between CrossFit and other fitness programs.
That’s why it’s so great to hear about how someone went from an unhealthy life, to healthy stud. When these changes occur, they touch peoples lives at the root level, that’s what creates all these great stories, and that’s why we are dedicated to sharing them with others. Not only are we trying to get your stories out to other CrossFitters, we want to share these stories of change with those who haven’t had the chance to experience it for themselves yet, in other words, to the entire world.
For help with you story please visit our How To page or contact us directly (link)
Yours in CrossFit,
CrossFit Story Staff
We hear many stories about people that are either too scared or too nervous to start CrossFit. There seem to be a lot of myth’s out there as well about what it takes to get started doing CrossFit. The truth is it is easy to get started doing CrossFit. Here are ten basic steps that can get you started down the path to a healthier, happier life.
- Look at your schedule and figure out when you can actually carve out an hour every day to dedicate to improving your fitness level through CrossFit.
- Do a quick search for a CrossFit affiliate gyms nearby (I recommend trying http://maps.google.com and entering “CrossFit, <your zipcode>”)
- If you do not find a CrossFit affiliate listed in Google Maps, try the CrossFit Affiliate site for a more complete listing.
- Check out the CrossFit affiliate’s blog. A good CrossFit affiliate shares a lot of knowledge on their blog which highlights the strength of their community.
- Make a short list of CrossFit affiliate gyms that have classes at times that work in that 1 hour window you carved out in step 1.
- Pick a day and go visit all the CrossFit affiliate gyms on your shortlist. This is best to do during a class so you can get a feel for the size of the community and get a feel for how you might fit in.
- Talk to the trainers at the CrossFit affiliate, maybe some of the members also. This again will let you know if you are going to enjoy working out there with the trainers and peers that you’ll see often.
- Select a CrossFit affiliate to start training at. Many affiliates offer an “on-ramp” or “fundamentals” course to get you started. At some affiliate gym’s, this is not a recommendation, but a requirement for good reason. Many of the movements we perform in CrossFit require jumping, lifting heavy objects over your head, and dynamic body weight movements. Without proper training, these movements can be dangerous and lead to injury. So if the gym you are considering has a program like this, do yourself a favor and enroll.
- Make sure you have proper workout attire prior to attending your first CrossFit class. One thing you may notice among CrossFitters is the different kind of shoes they wear. The typical Nike running shoe has a ton of cushion and padding on the bottom. This makes poor running technique less painful but is not ideal for the type of training we do in CrossFit. Look for a flatter sole athletic shoe without a ton of cushion. This will make it helpful when attempting to transition between lifting heavy weights to sprinting around the block.
- Attend your first CrossFit class. This will be a glorious day of nervousness and excitement as you embark on the journey ahead to elevating your fitness level beyond where you could probably ever imagine. Enjoy this day to the fullest and embrace the whole experience with an open heart and willingness to change.
That is really all you need to do to get started. There are much shorter methods, but after making several mistakes in how we got started, we felt we would share what we learned in hindsight. Below are some links to help you get started as well. If you have any feedback regarding these steps, feel free to submit your comment below.
Yours in CrossFit,
CrossFit Story Team
References:
Dispel the Myth’s of CrossFit – http://www.crossfitpc.com/CrossFitPC_faq.html
The Front Door, The Ultimate Milestone – http://www.crossfitinvictus.com/blog/2009/11/tuesday-december-1-2009/
CrossFit Affiliate List – http://www.crossfit.com/cf-affiliates/
Google Maps – http://maps.google.com/
Inov-8 Running Shoes – http://inov-8.com/Home.asp?L=27
Around January of this year, a small group of individuals from our Box began a journey towards a lofty goal, to compete at the CrossFit San Diego/Arizona sectional competition as individuals. Many people go through the trials of CrossFit workouts on a regular basis, and to accept the challenge of competition is adding one more level of complexity to the already intricate engine that is our body.
Most knew each other in fleeting but had never identified too intimately. Their day’s had passed in relative steady flow as training before this commitment was mildly consistent and akin to casual socializing. What happened as they asserted their willingness to devote the near future to a common goal though became an epoch of their life’s timeline. It materialized with a realization that to appropriate the sheer amount of time and energy to such an endeavor would be near excruciating without training partners.
Therefore, they collaborated. Slowly at first, then like a snowball that grows as it picks up speed, they began to come together. They gained greater understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses, met families, shared their accomplishments and failures together, and found deep seeded friendship growing by the day. What began as multiple individual goals for different reasons, had transformed into a unified group, bound tightly by the bonds of sharing a common experience that trancended preconceived notions and created a brotherhood in the finest sense of the word.
