Thank you all for your responses to my previous post about your experiences.  As promised, here are my experiences.  I hope you enjoy and don’t be afraid to laugh a little.  I know i had a good chuckle over it.

• What was your intro to CF like?

Like many people in the early days and now as well i was told by a friend about it.  Actually it was a “The martial arts Chick” at the gym i worked at.  I was a Personal trainer at the time in a health club in Austin.  I immediately started searching for my closest affiliate and found Jeremy Thiel.  He was in the park doing free workouts and in the early days there were 3 of us.  He tried to convince me not to go back to school and stay in Austin and train people.  He was convinced that he was going to be HUGE… Every once in a while i regret not sticking around but then i wouldn’t be where i am now so i’m happy with my decision at the time to go back to school.  I started my affiliate (Crossfit ATM) back in August 2006 and have been coaching ever since.   My memories include a really really slow and painful fran done in the gym i worked at and a horrible cindy i did at the park around the corner from my house.  It had to be 150 degrees with 120% humidity.  Sorry i don’t have concrete numbers for you but they weren’t really that important at the time.

• Was it responsible and gradual or abrupt and violent or something completely different?

I would have to say more abrupt and violent but totally my fault.  No real guidance and a little bit of ignorance.  I will say that even in the early days i knew intuitively that the 3 on 1 off was over reaching so i have always trained the way i feel. If i needed a day off then i took one.

I will admit that i have been the root of some pretty violent introductions to CF and subsequently probably kept people away from CF for life.  We used to give most new people that came to the gym (garage) Fran as their first workout.  It was wildly entertaining for us but not too effective in client retention…

• What was the process and why do you continue to train?

I think i outlined it above but it involved A LOT of experimentation.  We did long, short, heavy and light workouts.  Challenged each other to ridiculous feats of athleticism.  I remember an entire afternoon was spent trying to jump on a box while jumping rope and not miss.  We built some pretty crazy things like rolling, swinging monkey bars and boxes made from random crap found on the side of the road.  Good Times!

• Is your current program sustainable long term? (1 year, 5 years, 50 years…)

I’m not sure yet…  I’ve never been that great with foresight or planning so lets see where i am tomorrow.

• Are you held accountable?  By who or what?

Currently, No.  In the past i have had coaches and goals  but i am currently exploring my options.  In the early days i would explain it more as peer pressure than anything else.  Not always the best program to be on but sure as hell keeps you honest.