Crossfit-It's Not Exercise, It's Life Lessons

I have always been an avid gym goer, before marriage and children one might have called me a gym rat but a few years ago I came across a trainer who LOVED crossfit. I was at a facility where it was called "Bootcamp" but I called it what it was-the cross between gymnastic movements, olympic lifting and "cardio" or rather "near death by workout" but something I would never change.

My trainer opened his own "box" and I didn't follow him. I stayed at the gym I met him at, as I thought that was the loyal thing to do since I knew the owner

, but my trainer saw something I didn't see in myself...potential. Lesson 1: People see you in views you don't see yourself.

Two and a half years later and I am at his gym. I walk into the "box", there's the smell of rubber and the smiles of comradery. It's like that of a Formula 1 racetrack that you won't get until you experience it for yourself. It's not just the feeling of blood, sweat and tears but laughter, trust and honesty under one roof. It's a place where you leave your wallet and keys on an open counter and know no one will touch it, unless they feel someone forgot it there.Lesson 2: There is still faith in humanity.

Crossfit is the mental game of when you look at that what your workout is and think: "This is going to be as bad as it looks" but you survive and you survive with others who think the same way as you do- "How will I make it?" But as the seconds and minutes go by you know you will not be there for over an hour. Yet you know that once you start, you don't stop, you won't stop. Your legs, your arms, your body, your heart tell you, you must keep going because just like everything in life you don't stop what you have started. YOU are not a quitter. It's listening to your coaches say "GO! GO! GO! YOU GOT THIS" as you are telling that internal fat kid, "You CAN do this!" Lesson 3: Don't give up on yourself. Lesson 4: You finish what you start or don't start it in the first place

As you now know, I run a business. I am competitive in all that I do. I want to be the best at everything but there's a humbling aspect to crossfit that no matter how much chalk I use, my hands will tear. No matter how fast my heart beats or how hard I try to push my "rubber band legs" they can not beat the timer nor can they beat the person inside me. I don't squat well, I just wasn't constructed with the Jaylo butt, but it's okay, I build it, 3 days on 1 day off. Lesson 5: It's not that slow and steady wins the race, it's that you were better then yesterday and you will be even better tomorrow.

I don't lose well. After a workout people come up to you and say "good job" But it's not "good" unless I "win", and I never win at crossfit, because there's always a faster millisecond or a stronger lift and it's not that you are judging your experience based on the person beside you, although you kind of are, you are really judging you. As long as there are more weights to pull or push and more exercises to accomplish, the job is not done. So in truth, when someone says "Good job" I can't help but think "There's no such thing in this sport" I pushed and I pulled, I lifted and I grinded, I did all that I could to beat my time, but I didn't beat the internal me and this is a feeling you can't get anywhere else. Lesson 6: Doesn't matter how good you think you are you can always do better.

It's good enough for today but not for the future. It can and will only get better, Lesson 7: There's always a light at the end of the tunnel. You are in a surrounding where everyone is cheering you on and everyone around you thinks you are the best you you can be. You aren't surrounded by trainers but rather coaches. People who genuinely care about you, your form, your mental state and who believe in you, which helps you believe in you. It's a community of people who look forward to seeing who they will be suffering beside and loving the people they are with that day as Lessin 8: It's about the moment.

They are all accomplishing goals they thought they couldn't as Crossfit isn't about the last 5 pounds, it's about making your first pull up, running a faster 400m and beating your internal strength that brings you to your next level. Like any job or company, people will knock it, they will try to bring you \and your community down because they don't understand it but the negativity makes you and your team stronger, you want to aim higher, and accomplish more: earn more, gain more, it's about you and your mental game Lesson 9: You are as good as you think you are.

Lesson 10: You are your biggest obstacle and if you think you can you will and if you think you can't you won't as the only thing that stops you is you. That is Crossfit. That is Life.

(By the way, the photo, above...you can't tell but I was 7 months pregnant)

Jessica Glazer is Recruitment Director and Founder at www.mindHR.com-a head-hunting and resume writing agency. She can also be heard every Monday @11:30 with Tommy Schnurmacher on www.CJAD.com and can be seen the 1st Thursday of every month on Breakfast Television.