Crossfit: 6 month checkpoint

My wife (Akriti) and I had been working out fairly regularly at Equinox for a while (2.5 years for myself and 1.5 years for Akriti) and both of us had engaged personal trainers at different points of time. We certainly made progress — got stronger, increased our range of motion, felt fitter and most importantly, the clothes fit better! My goal was mostly to lose weight and to that end, I had a fairly controlled diet (low carb, paleo). However, I had plateaued and wasn’t making much more progress. On the other hand, I had started to develop pains here and there that I usually attributed to the workout (at the gym prior to crossfit) being heavy. My workouts consisted of a mix of strength and endurace, totalling to 4–5 days / week. I had been hearing about Crossfit from friends for almost 5 years and found the concept intriguing but a little too challenging for me. It wasn’t something I wanted to do… I didn’t think I had the flexibility or the strength to do the movements that Crossfit typically entails. I wasn’t ready.

In September 2014, both of us joined Flagship Crossfit in San Francisco after pondering over it for a few weeks and being encouraged by friends like Mark Williamson, Don Brown, Joey Echeverria, Ivan Yip. We committed to trying it for a month before committing any further and we did end up committing for an entire 6 months. I would confidently say that it has been one of the best decisions I’ve made for my health in the recent past. My experience so far (both good and bad):

1. Contrary to the popular perception, Crossfit does not mean lifting heavy weights all the time. Our workouts are a very balanced mix of strength and endurance. We do all sorts of functional movement training as well as metabolic conditioning activities.

2. Range of motion and flexibility is of utmost importance. I’ve heard stories about Crossfit gyms not paying attention to this. My experience at Flagship Crossfit has been different. When I started, I couldn’t do an air squat with any reasonable depth. After 6 months of work, I am able to squat to my thighs being almost parallel to the ground, with 220 lbs on my shoulders. That’s something I never thought I’d be able to do. Coaches at Flagship (Will Sockolov, Vincent Som, Matt Brockhaus) constantly worked with me on improving my range of motion. I have a long way to go but I’ve made progress I never thought I would. The coaches have been very encouraging and yet pushing me beyond my limits every day.

3. Joint and muscular pains that I felt as a result of workouts turned out to be due to poor range of motion causing different muscles to engage that shouldn’t engage in those movements. One big example for me was my knee. During one of the workouts, my knee started to hurt real bad. It felt as if I have injured myself and this was going to put me out for a while. I could barely stand or walk. I visited my doctor, who after a check up said that my knee was strained and I needed to rest, apply ice and get physical therapy. In addition to that, I should be avoiding squats and lunges. I figured he’s the medical practitioner and I should follow his advice. So, the next time I went for a workout, I told coach Will that I can’t do anything that strains the knee and asked him for modifications. He asked me what’s going on and I described the situation. He wrapped a vodoo floss around my quads and asked me to squat 10 times. Seemed counter intuitive and I was quite apprehensive but I did what he said. 10 squats later, the pain had drastically reduced. Funny! Turned out my hips and quads are tight and during workouts the muscles would pull on my knee cap, causing pain. The knee was just fine. I had to work on mobilizing the muscles and relieving the pressure. This was about 5 months ago and I’ve been working on those since. The pain is gone. I haven’t needed any rest and the legs feel much stronger now. My last back squat was 220 lbs.

4. Ketogenic diet and crossfit don’t really go together very well. Half way through the workout, it feels like I’ve been hit by a bus and can’t move. Complete energy crash — something I’ve never experienced before. This is one regime I’m yet to figure out the optimal approach. I have a few ideas that different people have suggested that I have to try to see what works best.

5. My endurance hasn’t improved as much as my strength and range of motion. I’m not any better at running than I was before starting crossfit. Some workouts do include running and I just hate those (and end up avoiding them).

6. I haven’t had success losing much weight (only 11 lbs) but my clothes seem to fit better. I’ve likely developed muscle and lost fat so the net loss is probably higher. I’ve yet to get a dexa scan done to put some numbers to it.

7. Every day, Akriti and I look forward to our workouts at Flagship, unless we are sore to the point that we can’t move. Coach Will asked me to take rest deliberately even if I wasn’t sore. We were working out 5x/week. With a ketogenic diet, that’s a bit much for the body to handle. Had to bump that down to 3x/week till some carbs weren’t introduced back. After that, back to 5x/week and it’s a bit much for the body to handle. Crossfit can become an addiction and you got to watch out so you don’t end up overtraining and causing more harm than good.

It’s been a fantastic experience so far and I intend to continue. My goal for the rest of the year is to be able to squat full depth with the right posture, and flexibility in my ankles, knees and hips.