Crossfit Returns

In April, I decided I would stop going to Crossfit starting in May. I seemed too large and unwieldy, plus we were starting childbirth class and work was kicking me in the rump. I initially intended to go to prenatal yoga from that point on and end my pregnancy in peace and meditation...

If you are just meeting me for the first time, I'm not really a relaxed, meditative person. In fact, I'm hyper, super-competitive, anxious, and really rely on strenuous, intense exercise to calm my mind into submission.

After a few weeks of crazed working, no yoga, and basically no body movement, everything rebelled. The baby got restless. My body felt sluggish. I had difficulty sleeping. I felt like a greasy blob. It was the first time since I wandered to rugby ten years ago that I had gone without working out for 2.5 weeks. It was bad.

The Crossfit trainer emailed me and told me to come in and work out. I listened. It was such a good idea! I went two times at the end of the month when I had some time, working on the rower and empty bar one night and, on Memorial Day, doing the same workout as everyone else, only with modified pushups and the lightest kettlebells and good mornings instead of back extensions. I guess I skipped the rope climb...

I felt so damn good when I got home! I slept that night, all the way through. My hip didn't hurt as badly. And I felt normal, like my regular self. Sure, I was going super slowly on the exercises and lifting weights my unborn child could probably handle without much effort. But I was moving and my body was getting to say, "look at me! I can almost exercise!"

I decided to renege on my plan and return to Crossfit for June. As a final nail in the yoga coffin, the prenatal instructor really, really gets under my skin and makes me want to punch her...this is in all ways a better choice.

Tonight is my first return workout. Then I can't go the whole rest of the week because I have other commitments, but that's ok! I'll just be back next week. And the next. And the one after that...