What’s your number?

Your age, your weight, your pant size, your finances all swirl around you and right or wrong – are part of the equation of how we are defined most of the time. Young or old, fit or fat, rich or poor – these numbers follow us around in our everyday lives and are pretty impossible to escape. Unlike any place or activity I’ve ever experienced, somehow most of these numbers strip away once you walk into CrossFit. People with 30+ year age differences are high-fiving each other. Police officers, doctors and teachers mingle and meld with college students, corporate professionals and housewives. You don’t escape numbers in CrossFit – but the numbers are completely different.

The only numbers that matter are the numbers you set for yourself and are trying to beat. Regardless of if you do scaled WODs or Rx’d – each person has their own approach to get to the end of the WOD. During class you aren’t trying to beat your neighbor – your only competition is yourself. And I think that is the coolest aspect of the personal scaling approach to CrossFit. It is the magic of how a 63 year old can stand next to a 23 year old college athlete and each get a workout that challenges them. 

How do the numbers get set? As you build up to 1 Rep Max of different moves – you start a gradual progression of pushing yourself to grow stronger, row faster and jump further. So what is my number? Recently I’ve enjoyed a few new PRs. Dead Lift went from 123 to 133. Strict Press went from 83 to 88. Push Press went from 98 to 108, and Power Clean went from 103 to 113. 

While I’m pretty excited to be able to chart the progress, what has been more fun for me is seeing the strength outside of the box. I recently helped my husband disassemble our upper deck and reclaimed the lumber for another project – it was fun to be able to surprise him by carrying heavier-than-expected loads of lumber. And ladies, I’ve found the secret of empowerment. Want to know what it is? Sling a sledge hammer! I actually want to find more things to demo because it is just an awesome feeling!