Individual Event 3, 2013 CrossFit Regionals
30 burpee muscle-ups

Suspend Disbelief

Brad Rogers joined CrossFit Roots last fall.  Read below for his personal account with CrossFit, nerves and accomplishment, and staring Paleo in the face.

I’m not really the true-believer type. I especially don’t buy into philosophical ideals and “scientific” narratives that promote the latest and greatest fitness regimens and diets. At some point along the way, though, my body just got away from me. I had to try something. I joined CrossFit Roots last fall.

My health and fitness experience through Roots has been like watching Being John Malkovich.  Not a transbody experience. I’m talking about a dramatic mechanism called suspend disbelief. The movie is absolutely preposterous! I doubt anyone would give it a chance after reading a synopsis of the whole plot. But the movie takes the audience on a crazy ride in manageable incremental steps, so we’re still engaged by the end and everything seems…strangely plausible.

Joining Roots was a big step for me. I didn’t know if I could make it through Foundations. Then I wasn’t sure I could complete a workout Rx — my first Rx workout was Fran@16:58. I didn’t think I could get a pullup, a handstand pushup, a muscle up…but I eventually did. CrossFit always seems to have one more step that’s challenging, but not too far reaching.

My biggest mental leap was signing up for the Processed Food Blows Challenge that Roots organized last fall. I couldn’t imagine at the time lasting six weeks without my favorite foods. Abandon my foodie identity and check every food for added sugar…yeah right. But it worked. Forget about eating out and cook every meal for a month in the spring Zone Challenge…this is crazy. But it worked. I lost five percentage points on my fat levels in each challenge.

My recommendation for folks like me who don’t find it easy to believe: you don’t have to believe. But if you can at least suspend disbelief and let yourself buy into the experience for a brief few weeks at a time, you may be surprised at what you can accomplish and how a seemingly difficult stretch leads to a new normal.