my fitness trifecta

I've discovered the magic.  The perfect combination.  My ultimate fitness trifecta.

Yoga - running/cycling - crossfit.

The missing part?   It was crossfit.

I've enjoyed running since I was a kid running in grade school; cycling was something we did as a family - ESPECIALLY on Sundays when they closed the parkway to traffic for a few hours; yoga was something I started 16 years ago (I can't even remember now why I tried it) and was hooked.

All of these physical fitness activities I have participated in or practiced sporadically.   I got bored, so I stopped.  For a while.  Then I started again.  I hired personal trainers and worked with them for the 8 week package I paid for.  Then I stopped.  Then I started again.  Then I was bored again.  I had the list of exercises, I knew how much weight to lift, on which machines, blah, blah, blah.   Bored.  Again.

Enter crossfit.  You've seen the commercials, you've seen the youtube videos.  There is a degree of extreme in crossfit that I found mesmerizing.  And while I thought "nope, not for me!" I was intrigued by it all.  Then I tried it because the owner of the studio I teach at got her level 1 certification.  And that was it.  Fitness was fun again.

I'm not even sure what the difference is; most if not all of the exercises are ones I've done over the years.  Deadlifts - check; squats - check; pushups - check; sit ups - check and the list goes on and on.  But there is something about crossfit that just connects for me; maybe it's the applicability of the things we do in class to every day stuff, like picking up a box (oh, that's a squat!) or that it is modifiable and therefore accessible for everyone.  There is the team aspect of it, the challenge of it, the friendly competition, the support, the community, the absence of judgment.  THE VARIATION! I'm not bored.  I'm excited.  I can do it at home.  Like yoga, crossfit asks me to dig deep.  To practice with awareness.  And I do.  Every time.

All of a sudden and for a while now, I'm regularly engaging in all 3 disciplines.  Yoga practice daily, even if it's for 15 minutes in the morning before I go to work; running or cycling a few days a week; and crossfit a few days a week either in a class at CrossFit Conexus or at home.  I am sleeping better, eating better, feeling stronger.  I feel better.  I feel great, actually.  And that's the key indicator for me that I've struck gold.

I've not felt this excited or inspired about fitness.  Ever.   I'm curious to see where this leads.

What's your favourite fitness activity?  How do you get or stay inspired?