Why Tracie Loves Group Class

Hello Catacombs World--

Our last post was from Coach KMac on why she competes. This time around, I'd like to give you a different perspective--mine! I did my first CrossFit workout 14 years ago after the birth of my 3rd child. I needed something to help me feel like my athletic self again that would also work with 3 very young children and working night shifts at the hospital. It was exactly what I needed when I needed it. The short version is that I started coaching after a couple of years; fell in love with helping people change their lives; and started Catacombs back in 2014.

Over the last 14 years, my workouts have had varying levels of priority and focus. There have been periods where it was all I could do to get a couple of workouts in per week and periods where I hit group class almost every day for months on end--most of the time I am somewhere in the middle. In the early days of Catacombs, I tested every single programmed workout before coaching it. I have always been a "group class" athlete. I love walking into class and just being part of the group. Most of the time, I try to take my "gym owner hat" off and just participate in the class like everyone else. I like being coached, catching up with friends during warm up, the camaraderie of shared suffering, and most of all, the feeling of accomplishment when I'm spent at the end of the workout.

The path has not always been smooth. I've gone through periods where my motivation was on life support and I was carried along by habit or the encouragement of others around me. This is why community and accountability are so fundamental to Catacombs. I am a firm believer that habit and commitment are far more reliable than motivation. I am also 1000% sure that consistency over time is far more important than how heavy or how hard or how fast you go in the short run.

I've never been bitten by the competitor bug in the gym. I compete with myself every single day, but I'm really not concerned about what anyone else is doing. My workouts are my time to improve myself. I love to do all the things in the outdoors and what I do in the gym helps me do those things better. At my age (I turned 50 this year), I scale at least some component of almost every workout. The prescribed loads are often a little on the heavy side for me and some of the gymnastic movements leave me feeling worse for the wear; so I modify as needed. I still LOVE working out in group class though and more than ever, I appreciate the benefits of strength training for bone density and maintenance of lean muscle mass--not to mention mental health. The gym is still my sanctuary where whatever is weighing me down gets put in the corner for the hour I'm working out. There are days that I can bring a lot of intensity and energy to my workouts and there are days that it takes me half the class to get warmed up and feeling good. Fourteen years later, I can still honestly say that I've never felt worse after a workout than when I came in.

I'm so grateful that I found this outlet all those years ago and that it has grown with me through all of life's changes and challenges.

I'll see you in the gym!