I've been working out with Paul at Category Five Fitness three times a week for the last four weeks. On the first day, I completed a test that included 200 meters on the rowing machine, inverted rows on the rings, push-ups on one of the bars, and squats that sat my butt on a bench every time I crouched down. The workout shredded my leg muscles for the next few days, but I completed all of it in 11 minutes 27 seconds. Yeah, I was big-time out of shape.
So over the intervening weeks, I have been doing all sorts of different movements at different levels of difficulty. Some I hated. Others were pretty easy. Still more were a challenge. These were the types of exercises that I've shied away from for such a long time. I liked the way I worked out at my local gym, nevermind that I wasn't really seeing any results and often skipped going to the gym because of the time it took out of my day.
Then last summer, Paul told me what he did at Category Five Fitness. His workouts are based on CrossFit principles, but are customized to work with any type of person at any stage of fitness. They're short, intense and have consistently yielded results for his clients. Still, I was resistant to the idea of stepping out of my comfort zone.
