CrossFit Athletic Group

Go on Google Images and type in "CrossFit class." Or don't and I'll tell you what you'll see: rubber floors, even rows, participants spaced out at appropriate distances, enough equipment for everyone, and an unmistakable sense of order and organization.

This is not what you would see if you typed in "CrossFit class" on Google Images:

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On the first day of football practice every August we'd have "hats only" - meaning no pads, just helmets, shorts, and sometimes shirts. After a few days we'd put on shoulder pads and gradually introduce hitting: shoulder to shoulder drills, wrapping up, and drive blocking.

And then Coach Stanton would say,"Okay men, tomorrow is full pads."

And boy I knew I was in for it. See, my pansy ass was a quarterback, and as such I was mostly exempt from those early-August contact drills. But nobody was exempt from Oklahoma drills. Or angle tackling. Or "QB is live!" And for the Mr. Kuiper's out there, you'll know there's nothing like that first real hit you get after seasons of basketball, track, and baseball; it's still the biggest shock my body received in my sports career, and it happened once a season.

But then something kinda cool happened after that: we kinda get used to getting hit and it... well, I wouldn't say it doesn't hurt, but it's not really a big deal, like being sore after Filthy Fifty. I would never go on record (or off record) saying I was a physical football player, but I would damn sure go on record saying I was a physical basketball player, and I'd also go on record saying I would not have been if I didn't play football every fall.

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Toughness is built into the DNA of the Champions Club because it is built into my DNA. I'm not going to win many fights, but I've been coached on the importance of toughness since I started watching basketball with my dad as a young kid. Mental toughness is something has been talked about often - both on this site and in person at the sessions - and we have plenty of opportunities to practice that. But how often to we get to practice physical toughness? Not pushing through burning legs during a workout, but dealing with some kind of acute, intense trauma? Leg burn on rope climbs or hand rips on the pull-up bar? Yeah, those count, but I am not looking to add those intentionally to a workout. This is why floor hockey and ankle tag are favorites of mine for warmups, and also why Shark Week is one of our most important workouts. It was cool to see the group gradually get more and more comfortable with sharking until finally all forms of hospitality were abandoned. I mean...

... there is no consent here, nor is there an authority lunch mom figure to come in and say "okay that's enough you guys, break it up now," so Mrs. Van fights for her med ball's life, Mrs. Hana fights for her friend, and Mr. Robinson only fights someone he knows he'll beat. All of them will have scrapes and scratches, and their legs are probably still itchy from the grass, but this is what a healthy CrossFit class looks like, and a tough CrossFit group needs to be able to do a workout like this - not every day, week, or month, but they just need to go there when the time is right. Having that ability in your toolkit makes banging your shin on the box during Kelly way more managable.