I don’t normally blog about my family but I thought this was important enough to write about this month. My dad is 74 years old and is still very active. No, he does not participate in CrossFit and no, I cannot convince him to join a box. However, he does workout when he is not working his full-time job.
We recently went on vacation to Acadia National Park to go “hiking” as he would call it. Most other people would call it “rock climbing”, or even “scaling the face of a mountain.” Not my dad...it’s hiking! Ok Dad but climbing metal bars that are positioned to look like a ladder or grabbing bars to pull yourself up or holding on for dear life is not hiking but I won’t tell him that!
Here’s my point...my dad works out on his two days off. His workouts include walking on a treadmill for an hour then using the machines at his community fitness center to stay strong. After that, he grabs his bike and rides eleven miles. If that’s not enough, he will go to the beach and walk for at least an hour and swim for about a half hour. This is not CrossFit but it is fitness and it keeps him strong and healthy. He climbed the face of the mountain like it was nothing and I can assure you...it was something big! Coach Nate will tell you. If he was not as active as he is that would not have been something he could do as easily as he did. In the two days we spent in Acadia, he walked more that 16 miles. He kept up with me and Ryan the whole time. We ended our vacation walking up the 217 steps in the Barnegat Lighthouse then walking more than a mile down the beach and swimming. Nothing stops him and it’s all because he chooses to remain active as he grows older. He’s my hero!
As we get older, it is so important to keep moving and to keep our muscles strong. That “hike” showed me just how I progressed over the years. I have always gone on hikes and walks with my dad. It’s something we enjoy doing together. There was a time when my legs would burn going up and shake on the way down. That was not the case this time. I felt strong. My legs never hurt or shook and I was able to hike another mountain the next day that was even higher than the first one. There were parts on the hike that required me to pull myself up and that came easily even with a heavy backpack on my back. I saw the carry-over from my CrossFit workouts to my life outside the box and was very happy with what I was able to do.
I don’t always have time for different activities and to be quite honest, I love CrossFit so those workouts satisfy me. However, it was nice to try something different and apply my gains to something else for a change. Weights, numbers, and leaderboards are awesome for tracking progress with your workouts but stepping outside the box, both literally and figuratively, really puts your progress in perspective. We are more than just numbers. Find something different or do something that you’ve been wanting to do and see just how far you’ve come since your first day as a member. I bet you’ll amaze yourself.
--Coach Liz
