Matt Wolfgang
October 20, 2017 07:28
I pulled up to East Dallas CrossFit a few months back to attend a free Saturday workout and see if CrossFit was right for me. I sat there in my truck, watching in the review mirror as they finished their workout. A bunch of incredibly fit people all lifting massive amounts of weight. All I could think was, "what have I gotten myself into?"
I finally swallowed hard and went inside to try my hand at CrossFit.
Ryan Savard greeted me and after a few minutes I realized that I was the only person attending this workout. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. I couldn't blend in to the crowd, but then again I didn't have to worry about embarrassing myself in front of anyone other than Ryan (and surely he had seen worse, hadn't he?).
We started the warmup with some stretches, air squats and other movements that I could just barely do. So after a few minutes of warming up and another few minutes seeing where I was physically by asking me to try a few more movements, Ryan says, "OK, so now let's do the workout." I'm thinking, "that wasn't the workout?" So, I spent the next 10 or 12 minutes doing wall balls, ring rows and 200m runs until I felt like I was going to die, but I finished. I felt destroyed physically at the end of the workout, but proud that I had finished.
It was only later that I realized that Ryan gave me a workout that was easy enough that I would finish, but difficult enough (based on my fitness level) that I would realize how hard I was going to have to work if I decided to join.
I started the prep course a week or so later. On my second or third prep course class, the WOD was rowing and lifting. Once again, I felt like I might be in over my head, but this time it wasn't a coach, but another member, who came over after he finished his own workout and said, "come on man, that bar isn't going to lift itself!" He, along with several other people, encouraged me to finish the workout, which I did. I wondered to myself what kind of response my struggling to finish would have gotten from those working out around me at some other gym. I can only imagine that it would have been a sideways stare or the stink eye.
That was the moment that I knew I was working out at the right place.
Since that time Ryan, Trevor, and Drew have guided and corrected my form - and continue to do so, frequently - while the amazing community has supported my efforts. I can't imagine there is any gym better than East Dallas CrossFit. Excellent coaching, excellent community!