Testimonial Tuesday - Esther Wakeman

Esther has been CrossFitting with us since May of 2012.  You can usually find her in the 5pm class, but she's been known to appear in the mornings on occasion.

Esther showing Matt real "guns".

My husband Rob thought it would never ever happen that I would enjoy hard exercise. He rides his bicycle almost daily, averaging 20 kms a day, including the occasional jaunt up Doi Suthep mountain. I rode with him maybe twice in the past 30 years! I’d been trying to start exercising regularly for years, but nothing seemed to click. A couple years ago, Mark Ritchie started CrossFit Chiang Mai, a fitness center, and I started hearing about it from folks who loved it. One friend joked that he was addicted to CrossFit, but he wasn’t in the cult yet because he hadn’t bought a t-shirt. Now I know what he was talking about.  One week back in July, I wasn’t able to get to a workout until Thursday, and I was complaining about my frustration to Matt, our wonderful trainer, on the way out the door after another good time sweating and working harder than I ever imagined I could—whinging about how much I had wanted to come earlier in the week, but work responsibilities had prevented it. Matt tried to comfort me and said, “Life is life. It’s only a gym.” I looked Matt in the eyes and I said, “No, it’s not. It’s changing my life.”

CrossFit is based on research about fitness that shows shorter intense periods of work with short rest is most effective in building overall fitness. I love the resting times in CrossFit, and this is one of the things I’ve been learning to carry into the rest of my life. It is good to work hard in bursts, and rest! CrossFit also includes lots of variety—you don’t get bored; and it was designed for great overall fitness, including strength, stamina, flexibility, etc. I love working out in a group—doing the same workout together and encouraging one another. I think we all do much harder and better work because we are doing it together. I love that all the moves and workouts can be scaled to different levels of ability—so I, a 57-year-old not particularly strong woman, can work out and have fun with a bunch of buff youngsters. I love seeing my progress—from doing push-ups off the wall, to now doing “negative push-ups” (slowly going down in a regular push-up position), and watching the increase in the amount of weight I can lift and feeling the improvement of my form as I gain strength. I love learning how to lift weights properly even though I cannot remember what the lifts are called! I love the energy I feel when I’m all sweaty at the end of a workout, and I love being able to feel my muscles regroup and grow over the course of a few days after a workout—they are quite alive, and I feel more alive.

The trainers are knowledgeable and always learning more and improving their skills as they work with us to improve ours. They are encouraging and friendly—CrossFit is not a place where you will be harassed or humiliated. You will get helpful input and tips throughout your workout so that you can continually improve your form and develop your capacity. CrossFit is teaching me many things. It is teaching me the importance of staying focused. It is inspiring me to be more tidy and organized, and to do things as efficiently as possible. As I mentioned, it is also teaching me about the importance of rest, and benefiting from the rhythm of intensity and rest. I’m hugely grateful to Mark Ritchie for bringing CrossFit to Chiang Mai. I’ve finally found the workout place that works for me. I’m planning on being a regular for as long as I can get there.