Challenging Me To Be A Better Me...

[A guest post from Max Lamb]

My daily life as a college student is quite hectic and sometimes challenging to balance. A typical day begins with ROMWOD stretching followed by an extremely cold shower and some occasional singing. I then spend the day attending finance classes at Case Western Reserve University. After school I nap on the bus that takes me to CrossFit Sixth City. Evenings consist of studying until the late night hours. I live by a strict schedule and try to keep myself accountable and focused. Before CrossFit I lived a much different lifestyle.

High school was sometimes rough for me. I was awkward and had very little confidence. I had trouble making friends and connecting with my peers. Around the age of three I was diagnosed with stuttering that progressed into my teen years. Stuttering made me feel self-conscious and afraid to speak in public uncomfortable in social settings.  Being an awkward, slightly overweight teen with a speech dis-fluency did not make my high school years smooth sailing.

Despite playing two varsity sports I was not in the best of shape. I was skilled at hiding my weakness and avoided situations that challenged me physically. During our lifting workouts I filled my time with back squats and leg machines. My quads looked good, but that’s about it. I really hated lifting and after football I felt as though I would never do it again. 

I took a decent amount of these habits with me to my first year of college. As a Freshman I tried to re-create myself into a more confident, unique Max Lamb. I began experimenting with alcohol and talking to girls. Like most young students I made some very dumb decisions. My school workload was tremendous and gave me a lot of anxiety. Most of my free time was spent in the library studying with very little sleep. The worst part of my new life was my nutrition. The all you can eat dining hall was a daily buffet of poor choices for me. Late night eating, poor sleep habits and the introduction of alcohol in my diet led to me being even more overweight and unhealthy. I continued this lifestyle into my Sophomore year and was unaware of how bad I actually felt inside.

In May of 2015, I had my first summer internship in Los Angeles. I moved to Santa Monica and lived with my younger Aunt and Uncle a few blocks from the ocean and pier. It was a huge culture shock coming from Cleveland. Everyone was fit and spent their time being active and outdoors. How was someone so pale and nerdy like me going to fit in with these tan chiseled models?

 

My uncle Curtis was a member of CrossFit Sandbox and insisted that I join him there. I tried every excuse not to go. I loathed lifting and was afraid of embarrassing myself. I had previewed the games on ESPN and was convinced CrossFit people were hardcore and crazy extreme. Thankfully my uncle was persistent and paid my first month’s due leaving me no choice but to try it out.

I can still remember how nervous I was the first day at they gym during the warmup. Very quickly I had no time to overthink my situation. The workout was a 10 round partner workout of wall balls and 400m run. “3, 2, 1, Go”! I sprinted the first two rounds not knowing what I was doing. By round 10, I was walking the 400 meters and in great pain. I remember making it back into the gym and falling to the floor. Was this my “CrossFit Awakening”? For the first time in my life was I was completely drained physically and mentally. AND much to my surprise… I liked it. A lot. So I went back. Again. And again. The first change I noticed was that I had much more energy during the day. I started to develop muscle that I never knew I had. I began to eat better, surrounding myself with more nutrient-dense foods. I began to like the way I looked and felt. I certainly knew didn’t want these changes to stop once I returned home. 

Upon my return to Cleveland, I wanted to join a gym as soon as possible to continue my journey. My friends didn’t understand CrossFit and were a bit critical of my enthusiasm for the lifestyle. I already missed that sense of community that CrossFit provided me in California. After dropping in at a couple gyms, I made my way to Sixth City. Something immediately clicked after meeting Adam and a few of the members at my first workout. I joined without hesitation knowing I was making a huge commitment to my health despite already having a busy school schedule. Transportation to Sixth City meant a 45 minute bus ride from school and then back. I would also have to make it back to campus prior to 8:00pm when the dining hall closed or no dinner for me.

With a new commitment to my health, I began paying even closer attention to my nutrition. I found that the all you can eat buffet at school actually had foods that would fit my CrossFit lifestyle. With better focus and energy, I began to develop better time management skills which allowed an improved sleep schedule. I found that I actually did have time to workout weekly as long as I kept myself on track and created weekly to-do lists. By making a commitment to myself in living a healthier lifestyle, I was becoming stronger and more focused in all other avenues of my life. I began to develop the confidence I had always dreamed of.

My CrossFit transformation went beyond my life and has impacted my family as well. For the first time in my adult life, I was able to influence and change my mother’s way of thinking. (She’s always the one teaching me) Like myself, she always battled extra weight and didn’t truly understand good nutrition. Once she saw how CrossFit began to impact me in such a positive way, she too had an “awakening” of her own and began to do tons of research on living a healthier lifestyle. Much to both of my younger brother’s dismay, sugary cereal was replaced with eggs whites and fruit. Chips and soda were substituted with quinoa and iced tea. If you ever met my mom, you know she runs the house like a tight ship. You better believe that if she was going through this change, so was everyone else at home. My father ended up losing so much weight that he now wears the same size pants as me. I’m still shocked when I see my teenage brothers choose to eat brussel sprouts over fries when we go out to eat. My decision to join CrossFit to pursue an active, healthy lifestyle not only had a huge impact on me, but a greater impact on those that I love the most. My mom (who’s twice my age) can now outrun me and goes to the gym more often than I do. I literally have to make myself go on bad days just so I don’t look bad when she is on her way for the second time that day. She’s turned into a gym beast and continuously keeps me on my toes. Talk about competition!

I find it easy to proclaim that I love everything about CrossFit. I think about it continually throughout my day. My Instagram feed is filled with my favorite athletes. Camille Leblanc-Bazinet (please marry me) and Matt Fraser throwing around my max out weights for their warm-ups. My phone is filled with a lifetime of workout screenshots. I turn down many late nights of partying with friends so I can wake up early and fresh for my workout. If my body and time allowed me, I would probably work out three times a day.

When I am at the gym, CrossFit allows me to shut out all my worries and anxiety. The moment I step into the box, nothing in the world matters besides having fun with the people around me. It’s my time to challenge myself to do things I never thought possible. Competing against my fellow athletes and then giving high five’s to everyone’s efforts after is a truly rewarding experience. Sweaty, sore and tired, I can’t help but take a moment to feel accomplished.

CrossFit has challenged me to live a better, more active lifestyle. It has helped me achieve success in school, and to strive for more when pursuing a full-time job. I believe my newly attained confidence and happiness was a huge factor landing my first full-time position with Ernst & Young after graduation. Moving to New York City this September will bring a new set of challenges. But those challenges are ones I am much better prepared to face today.

CrossFit has made me realize what I’m built of on the inside and what I can offer to the world. I have become a better person for it. I can’t help but want to share this experience with others and encourage them to achieve their goals like CrossFit Sixth City and CrossFit Sandbox have done for me. CrossFit has given me so much more than fitness, it has given me a new way to live life. A life that I truly love.