Before i joined the gym, I watched for over a year one of my good friends, Steve, get in the best shape of his life at CrossFit Bexley. I saw clips of him lifting insane weights and doing what appeared to be gymnastics on his Instagram stories. I had no idea he was so into CrossFit, and I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

While I watched these videos I could hear myself saying “there’s no way I can do that. That’s insane.”

One late night after a few drinks and some OSU football, Steve convinced me to join a workout one day and just give it a shot. He told me how everything is scalable, and that I should just experience it for myself. So in January of 2021, I came as a guest and experienced my first WOD.

At the end of the workout I laid on my back gasping for air in a puddle of my own sweat, my head pulsing as I waited for my heart rate resume something close to normal. I had never felt more completely spent of energy. I couldn’t think clearly for at least 10 minutes.

I signed up that day.

At first, I could only come three days a week. The mornings after a workout were brutal. I could barely move my body. But while the soreness was discomforting, I also felt my body waking up. I felt soreness in muscles I hadn’t engaged since I was probably a kid. It actually felt kinda good.

Three days a week became four. Four became five.

Working out everyday became like adult recess. Coming in at noon some with some of my best friends, and getting our asses kicked every day while we’re running around doing insane things. We’d text the night before as we read the next day’s WOD, and usually say something like “They can’t be serious. This is ridiculous! Who programmed this?!?!?!”

But each day we all come in and surprise ourselves.