Exercise Works: CrossFit

I sat on the phone for a bit this morning arguing with my husband about going to exercise. Jeff is out of town, which always sets off a bipolar trigger and I do not do well. I was angry and depressed this morning, thinking life will never be better and I am sick of doing all this work to be well only to have my illness flare up constantly. Jeff said I had to go to CrossFit this morning, I argued that exercise doesn't really help and I wouldn't go. However, I really like the people at CrossFit so I went anyway and within ten minutes I was feeling better.

photo from www.crossfitcleveland.com

Yes, exercise works, no matter how often I swear it doesn't. For me it has to be high intensity exercise and so CrossFit is perfect. It is high intensity and challenging so you immediately start to get a mood boost. Running will do the same thing for me, but because I am so slow, I have to run for at least a half hour before I start to feel any better. CrossFit is totally different and I feel better right away. For instance, today's workout was:
Warmup: 15 sec. Sampson Stretch and 15 box jumps: repeat 5 times
Workout (for time): 1,250 meter row
                                   100 Sit ups
                                     75 Squats
                                     50 Push ups
                                     25 Pull ups
                                     10 Burpees
Cooldown: 125 meter row sprint, 3 times

In all the reading I have done about exercise and mood, high intensity is best. Low intensity still helps, but you have to do it for much longer and let's face it, if you feel awful the idea of doing anything for thirty minutes is agonizing. However, you can convince yourself you will do something for ten minutes and if you feel better right away, you will end up sticking with it for a full workout. And, we should exercise at least every other day. I try and exercise every day because if I skip a day, I am a mess, which is probably why I was so bad this morning- I did not exercise over the weekend.

So, if you feel awful right now, go out and exercise, for ten minutes. Run around your block, do box jumps on a low box or step, use the elliptical-whatever-just ten minutes. You will feel better.

Blessings,

Rev. Katie