I’m back at CrossFit! The decision to go back was so much easier this time around than it was before.

According to my blog posts, I stopped doing CrossFit on December 29, 2011. I stopped because I got sick, then I tried some other workouts, plus I was really meant to enroll in Krav Maga for at least six months. My Krav Maga sessions ended on September 1, 2012. Since then, I’ve been dragging my feet on rejoining CrossFit. I even considered barre3 and Bikram yoga over it. I finally bit the bullet and stepped back into the box last February 15, 2013.

One of the reasons why I hesitated for so long was because I felt that the CrossFit Manila coaches – back then – didn’t inspire much confidence. I didn’t think they knew what they were doing. For me, their WODs seemed totally random and were designed to torture rather than to build strength and endurance.

Right around the time I left, most of the coaches quit to put up their own thing. It was then that I sent messages to Miggy, one of CrossFit’s owners, about my concerns regarding their programming. I told him that there didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason behind the WODs. For instance, for one week straight, we’d be doing, say, squats. The whole freakin’ week, we’d do nothing but squats, or variations of it, until our legs turned into trunks of wood. And then the squats would disappear off the board and we wouldn’t see them again for a while so that, by the time they were back on the WOD, our legs had turned back to jelly.

I didn’t feel like I was getting stronger. Because the WODs seemed so reckless and haphazardly put together, I always made sure to err on the side of caution, lest I be sidetracked by an unwanted injury. Sure enough, the box saw a lot of injuries around that time.

Since I’ve been back, however, I’ve found a new and much-improved CrossFit. It feels a lot more like a program now, no longer arbitrary but more targeted, if that makes any sense. There seems to be more emphasis on learning a skill and doing it right, than just pissing out reps with no regard for form.

We now warm-up as a group. It’s still tough. Yep, “your workout is our warm-up” and all that. We do spider crawls and bear walks from one end of the room to the other. There’s a lot of jumping involved. By the time we’re done with the warm-up, we’re pretty much spent.

They now take the WODs off the CrossFit site and adjust accordingly. And they can still totally scale it down, depending on your skill.

I myself have never been competitive and am totally not interested in lifting heavy (- although it can be a trip sometimes, knowing that you’re getting stronger). But I’m absolutely fine with not doing Rx. I prefer to be skinny and lean than develop Hulk-type muscles. Yeah, if you think I’m being silly, I’ve seen CrossFit Manila’s Amazonas and, while they’re totally hot and sexy and strong as oxen, I really don’t want my arms or shoulders to ever get that muscular. I even worry about what swimming everyday when I’m in Siargao will do to my shoulders! But that’s just me. Although, recently, I got to talking with one of the Amazon-Women-On-The-Moon and she told me that she rarely does CrossFit anymore. She said she had gotten too “big” and that she could no longer fit into her clothes.

The way I see it, I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. The only person I am in competition with is myself, and me and I are pretty loose.

But I do like the “new” CrossFit Manila (- well, new to me, at least), so returning to it this time around was a no brainer. I actually wish that I could spend more time in Manila so that I could keep doing it. Now, CrossFit’s become a program that I think I can grow and develop with, one that may finally help me realize my fitness goals where countless others have failed. (What these goals are, I have yet to identify.)

Believe it or not, I can jump rope now. Because I come in early, Amie, one of the 12:30 regulars, has been helping me figure out what I’ve been doing wrong. It turns out I’ve been holding the rope behind me rather than in front of me. Of course, the one day that she wasn’t around (last March 4), I finally got it right. Proper singles. It’s all about the small victories. I’m still working up the courage to give double-unders a try.

Today, the jump rope. Tomorrow, the pull-up bar?

3 April, 2012, 12:30 PM WOD:

17 minutes

• 1 minute: push-ups

• 1 minute: kettelebell swings (Rx for women was 16 kg. but I only used the 12 kg. bell.)

• 1 minute: burpees

• 1 minute: sit-ups

• 1 minute: box jumps (Complied with Rx and used the 18" box.)

• 1 minute: rest

• First round: 100 reps, total.

• Second round: 93 reps, total.

• Third round: 88 reps, total.