What is CrossFit? My journey begins at CrossFit Bare in Sydney

Content by: Guy Lawrence


By Guy Lawrence

In this video (length 3:04sec)

  • What is CrossFit?
  • My Crossfit journey at CrossFit Bare
  • Before & after photo of Lynne Knapman. She lost 25kg with the help of CrossFit.
  • Why CrossFit can be for anyone & everyone
  • What are progressive exercises
  • And much more…

What is CrossFit?

It’s a question I honestly struggle with. For me CrossFit is an ‘experience’ and it is near on impossible to sum up in one sentence. When I get asked what do I do for training, I say CrossFit. Nearly every response I get receives a vague look with questions like ‘CrossFit rings a bell but…isn’t it for the fanatical?’. Then others simply have no idea what I’m on about.

My Journey at CrossFit Bare in Sydney

Over the next few months I’ve decided to blog about my CrossFit journey at CrossFit Bare in Bondi-Junction, Sydney. I’m enjoying it that much I wanted to help reveal a side to CrossFit that I feel can be easily overlooked by many.CrossFit_Bare

I’m from a village in Wales. I would walk down my street to the local shop which was 200m away. This could take me up to an hour on times from bumping into people and talking. I would pretty much know everyone, and this is an experience I don’t get as much from living in the big smoke.

I have a lot of experience when it comes to commercial gyms, and whilst there is all the glamour with bells and whistles, I feel a lot of them lack soul. I may have been a member but I never felt like I belonged. Maybe this is just my country ways.

People who know me know that I like to chat, be part of something bigger than myself and embrace others. CrossFit has given me that. That community feeling that I crave and I’m loving it.

I hope I do CrossFit justice and that you enjoy this discovery with me as I start my journey at CrossFit Bare…Warm regards, Guy.

Ps. The picture in the video was taken of Lynne Knapman pre-CrossFit and 25kg over weight (Cassie’s maths teacher) and was taken in June 2010. The picture of Lynne post-CrossFit is her competing in this years Australian Regional CrossFit Games in April 2012. She is an amazing inspiration!

What is CrossFit transcript

GUY: Hi this Guy Lawrence from 180 Nutrition and today I’m joined with Cassie from Bondi-Junction in Sydney which is CrossFit Bare. So the reason why you are watching this video is basically I’ve decided to track my CrossFit journey over the next few months. I will be getting myself a baseline of what my body composition will be, what food I eat, what supplements I take etc and plotting my journey a little bit as I’ve been enjoying that much over the last couple weeks.

The first thing that I’m finding out when I speak to people about CrossFit, most people have no idea what it is and I feel that they are pretty much missing out on quite a bit.

So I just wanted to bring Cassie in who’s been my trainer for the last couple of weeks and flogging me no end… Cassie, what would you say CrossFit is for people out there watching this?

CASSIE: I was the same as Guy and other people on the street. The misconceptions of CrossFit are that it’s for guys who want to get big and strong, but it was actually when I was at a wedding I bumped into my maths teacher and I hadn’t seen her in about 5 years. She had probably lost 20-25kg and just looked the healthiest, like just pure health. She’s 52 years old has four kids and is just incredible. I asked her what she had been doing and she said CrossFit. And at that time I was looking into CrossFit and thinking about making a change from traditional boot-camp training to into the CrossFit community.

GUY: The one thing I’ve noticed as well is it’s all scalable. We have a range of people here of all different fitness levels.

CASSIE: Yep, I train kids, I train adults, you have over 50 year olds, then I’ve got a couple of 20 year old and everyone is here for a different reason. But in saying that, they come into the gym and they kind of give it their all…

GUY: No work out is the same…

CASSIE: That’s right, it’s all different, so it’s variety. We do functional training, we use dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, olympic weight lifting, gymnastics, athletics. In saying that, some of that sounds scary but everything is scaled.

Guy would come in and an older lady would come in, they do the same workout but the movements might be scaled slightly, and so Guy and the older lady would be getting the same benefits, so it’s all relative.

GUY: Yeah, absolutely. It becomes a lifestyle at the end of the day…

CASSIE: Yeah, lifestyle and community…

GUY: The community has been massive… and the last thing I was going to say is, what you’ll find if you are curious about CrossFit and you are umming and arr-ring… Cassie here will do a free trial session, so if you live in Bondi-Junction come along and have a free trial, and if you like it great! Or even check out your local CrossFit wherever you are living I’m pretty sure they will do the same thing to.

We will see how we go and go from there… Cheers.

Check out our Ultimate Guide to Post Workout Recovery for CrossFit Here

Guy Lawrence

This article is brought to you by Guy Lawrence. Guy is a qualified fitness trainer with over 10 years of experience in the health industry. Guy worked at the UTS Fitness Centre in Sydney Australia where he specialised in exercise nutrition and obtained his Certificate in Exercise Nutrition and Certified... Read More
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11 Replies to “What is CrossFit? My journey begins at CrossFit Bare in Sydney”
Khan Porter says:

Awesome Guy, look forward to reading the rest of your fitness chronicles!
Can’t recommend CF Bare, or the sport of Crossfit enough to anyone out there interested!

Guy says:

Thanks Khan! I’m enjoying it no end 🙂

Had a Dexa scan yesterday. It’s something you should check out…

Dave Stickland says:

Good on you buddy. Wish I had had the smarts to do a blog of my Crossfit experience as it has been such a blast. I train at Crossfit Waverton but have also been to other boxes around Asia and the word “community” would describe them all. Lynne was never my math tracher but she is an inspiration to me as well she is also a gorgeous person and from the first day i walked (well waddled really) into the box she made we welcome and cheered me on.
I look forward to hearing your story

Andrew says:

Guy great intro to crossfit from you and Cassie. Crossfit will change your life and for those of all ages and has been great for me being able to get over chronic injuries. The crossfit experience also comes down to choosing the box hat suits and the team at Crossfit bare – Stacey and Cassie have been terrific in scaling and technique.

I look forward to reading your journey and your positiveness helps push all of us each workout.

180nps says:

Thanks for the comments guys…. I’m really loving CrossFit and feel at home here at CrossFit Bare. Blogging my journey will keep me on track too 🙂

Ninjaman says:

Great blog post, buddy. Keep up the journey.

Crossfit has been a lifesaver for me and my partner. I started in December 2011 with my sister at my hometown in Denver (woohoo D-Town Crossfit…you guys rock!). She was up at 6am most days and I figured if I was going to hang with her, I kinda needed to share this pain with her. Then when I got back to Perth in January, I got with Cooee Crossfit and I haven’t looked back since.

I’ve been in the Fitness Industry for over 25 years and it’s one of a few ‘modalities’ (what DO we call it? The Sport of Fitness is probably the best definition I’ve heard) that keeps me interested, frustrated, excited every single day.

180nps says:

Ninjaman… Love the name! 🙂

Thanks for sharing… The Sport Of Fitness sums it up well. Say G’day to Match for me!

Guy

Angela says:

Congratulations and welcome to the world of Crossfit! My hubby and I joined our crossfit box (The Crossfit Chamber in WA – big shout out to Coach Chad!) in February this year. We haven’t looked back since! No other “gym membership” has ever led to results and passion for training like the crossfit community has for us.
Put it this way – I had worked in the fitness industry over a 17 year period as a group fitness instructor so suffice it to say I have been around gyms a long time! I ‘retired’ from instructing to focus on me, my own training, things “I” wanted to do….led me to pole dancing…..which led me to Crossfit – to compliment the dancing and improve my strength (I don’t know….something about hanging upside down with only your hands gripping a 38mm pole freaked me out a bit – I didn’t trust my strength at all!). And then came a whole new world of firsts:
– from a woman who “wouldn’t run if you paid me” (and trust me – I didn’t and I said this a lot!), my first attempt at a 5km run was 29:58 with the first 2kms run unbroken. That is such a huge personal achievement for me. One of which I am bloody proud of – I’ve never liked running and have always struggled with it. But my body CAN do it if my mind will let it. Without Crossfit I would never have tested this of myself. I still really dislike running but I know it helps me get the results I am getting.
-community/comraderie – while my fellow athletes take some joy in waiting for my facial expression at 6am (by the way – I’m not a morning person at all either but I will get up for Crossfit) as I realise there’s a lot of running in a WOD, they support me through the hard days. The days where my legs are like lead and I feel like I’m running on the spot….a word or two of encouragement…or on the really bad days, someone who’s already finished their WOD coming out to the 50m mark and talking me through so I too can finish the damn thing!
I could go on and on about how Crossfit has changed our lives for the better but it isn’t my blog;) It is addictive for the sense of community it provides, the results you can achieve and so much more. Anyone who asks me to explain it or passes judgement about it, I challenge them to try it…..you’ll never look back!

Donna-Lee says:

Living in a capital city has it’s obvious benefits, Guy, but sadly they lack the community spirit that the smaller, regional centres have. I get this, as I’ve lived about half of my life in Maryborough and half in Brisvegas – Queenslander to the core. So I thank myself very lucky to be working at The Body Corporate Health and Fitness Centre, in downtown Maryborough. Our members are our extended family and we are lucky enough to spend time with them regularly (more than some family members). Dare I say, some gym members were already family, anyway. 🙂
I do find CrossFit very interesting, though, especially when I read The Commando’s book – he was raised here and educated at Maryborough State High, too. At this stage, there is no dedicated CrossFit centre, though we do apply many similar techniques at boot camps, etc.
In two years time, I’ll be Lynne’s age and my goal is to be as fit as her, so thanks for showing the pictures, because now I have more confirmation that I can do this. I’m a big believer that age is an excuse, not a barrier to fitness, and I strive to become an example of this philosophy.
There, now I’ve put it out there for all to see! 😀
BTW I love 180 superfood – you’ve made it easy for me, and put in everything that I would have, for myself. I would love to recommend your products to my oldest and best friend, but she is highly allergic to nuts, so in the future I would love to see if you can get your heads around making a nut-free range. I figured that you might be up to the challenge.
All the best, Donna-Lee

eliz says:

i am looking forward to your journey also. I started crossfit feb this year after 23 yrs of inactivity and i am the 51 yr that needed scaling and my 14 yr old son is doing for functional training from a accident and we love it. unbelievably he love me to do it with him (i do make him look good) Its very addictive and we love the welcoming homely feeling we have at crossfit chatswood.
it is a journey of self discovery and mastering the squatt!!!!!!!!

180nps says:

Thanks for sharing your CrossFit stories guys. A lot of people will be reading them and it’s great to hear everyone’s perspective on what impression CrossFit has made…

I’m planning a bit of a CrossFit tour soon and hopefully will get to have a WOD with you all at some stage 🙂

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