There's no place like home!

Vacation? Business Trip? Sometimes we just have to be out of town…and that means missing workouts. Or does it? The famous camaraderie of the CrossFit community will surely be available when you need to work out in a city far away.

I recently had to spend a week out of town while my kids participated in a workshop. I can do my work remotely, as long as I have an internet connection, so I was the obvious choice to be the chaperone. I did, however, worry about missing an entire week of WODs (ok, 3…I only work out 3 times a week).  So I decided to look up some of the CrossFit boxes in the city I was visiting. There happened to be one close to where we were staying, so I read up on the place on their website.

I emailed the contact person, letting him know I was a CrossFitter visiting town and that I’d like to drop in to keep my workout schedule. As expected he was accommodating.  I completed 2 workouts at that box during the week…I know! I know! My normal schedule is 3…but the kids, and the restaurant food, and…

Anyway, I’d like to share my thoughts on “Visitor Workouts”:

#1 There’s no place like home!  Walking in to the foreign box was not too intimidating. Crossfit is Crossfit, after all…there was the rig and the weights,  the medicine balls, the kettle bells and the big ass fans.  It looked pretty familiar. The particular box I went to, however, was in a strip center…so it wasn’t the open air facility I was used to. This place had actual air conditioning (really?).  So, like anything else, I was homesick for CrossFit Champions—home, sweat home!

#2 Where’s my Squad? Again, the CrossFit community is not going to let you down. The other athletes at the guest box were very nice and very supportive. But there is just nothing like your own workout squad! Though we introduced ourselves, we didn’t REALLY know names; though we all worked hard, we didn’t REALLY know each other’s abilities. So the feel of the group was different. Like kissing your cousin…it was a kiss, but would I want to do it again?

#3 THAT’S the WOD??!!  Like anything new, the format of information was different than I was used to. THIS coach only listed the workout for the day—not the core work or the weight work or the warm up or the cool down-JUST the WOD. It was a little confusing for me. When we finished the workout on the first day, I thought “that only took ½ an hour…” THEN he added a Tabata core workout and a lengthy stretching session. OH! That’s how they do it here! 

That is it…that is what I thought of working out at a guest box. Of course, you see that any and all ‘complaints’ are my own –the visitor. The gym, its athletes and coaches, they were all great and I do appreciate the opportunity to keep up with my schedule (kinda) while I was out of town.  So let that be the take away: if you are away from your home box, the famous CrossFit community will take care of you. Find a CrossFit gym wherever you are and keep up your hard work! 

Thank you #NuclearCrossfit of Lubbock Texas….I’m coming home, CrossFit Champions!