by Gabrielle Dessaint
Note: Gabby posted this on her Facebook on November 4, 2023. We loved it so much, we asked if we could use it for this week’s blog post, and she agreed!
CrossFit’s best kept secret isn’t a secret at all, just one you don’t see on the outside looking in. It doesn’t appear directly in advertisements, or clearly on posters, you might see it in pictures and once you start, you’ll hear your coach talk about it. You will see it, but you won’t realize what you’re looking at. You won’t fully understand at first or even for a while. They’ll try to warn you nonetheless, about that voice in your head. The one that walks in the door with you-on day one.
It screams at you “wtf are you doing? Stop! Abort! You can’t do this! Have you lost your mind?” It’s loud. It gets to you. It makes you doubt your life choices for a bit and it never fully goes away. It’ll be there to greet you when your alarm goes off in the morning & before every workout-it’s there bright eyed and bushy tailed just waiting to greet you.
But there’s another voice-this 2nd voice barely whispers in the beginning-it asks a simple question “what if you’re okay? What if you just show up?” When you finish the workout the 1st voice told you you couldn’t do-that 2nd voice is what keeps you coming back.
As time goes on, the 2nd voice gets louder. With a little experience under your belt, it changes from a question to an affirmative “you’re okay” then it adds “keep going”.
If you stick with it long enough, the 2nd voice beings to square off with the 1st voice & you begin to wonder exactly how many voices now reside in your head. “You can’t do this” croons the first one “but you have been” replies the second. “You could stop at anytime” the 1st one temps you, “or you could just back off a little” reminds the 2nd.
Eventually, as your body changes & you learn what it can do, the 2nd voice begins to drown out the 1st-“it’s too hard!” the 1st insists “will you shut the fuck up!”commands the 2nd.
Now, about this time is when a 3rd voice makes an entrance. I get exercise induced vertigo & nausea so this one tries to moderate the conversation and says something like “okay yeah definitely shut the fuck up but also, chill a bit maybe? Yeah?” This 3rd, doesn’t get paid enough for what it tries to do & is a tricky beast because sometimes the 2nd voice beats it out. However this 3rd voice is just as important and valid as the 2nd. Admittedly-in my case it should be listened to more often but we’re learning.
If you listen closely enough though, you’ll realize-the 2nd & 3rd voices didn’t magically manifest in your head one day. They came from the outside, from your coaches & your classmates. They’re a gift, that you’ll carry with you, into everything that you do. They do advertise community-and when you hear that, I want you to know that this is what they’re talking about. So come for the workout, but you’ll stay because CrossFit also works-in. When I started I wasn’t looking for this, but I’m so thankful to have it. So much in my life is better because of it. 
