Things nobody warns you about when you start CrossFit
When you start CrossFit, people tell you a lot of things. It’s scalable. You don’t have to be fit to start. You’ll learn how to lift. You’ll get stronger. You’ll meet great people.
All true.
But there are also a few things nobody warns you about.
The laundry. So much laundry. You will somehow generate an unreasonable amount of workout clothes for one human being. And if you forget a sweaty shirt in your gym bag for a couple of days, good luck to everyone involved.
You’re going to own more shoes than you need. At first, you’ll think one pair of training shoes is plenty. That’s adorable. Eventually there are lifting shoes, running shoes, old training shoes, new training shoes and the pair you swear makes you better at squatting.
You’ll develop very strong opinions about barbells. In the beginning, they all look the same. Give it some time. Eventually you’ll walk into class, notice someone has the bar you like, and quietly wonder how you’re supposed to train under these conditions.
You’ll start using words nobody outside the gym understands. AMRAP. EMOM. T2B. C2B. HSPU. RX. You’ll casually say you did an AMRAP of power cleans and burpees over bar and forget that most normal people have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.
Counting becomes surprisingly difficult. You are a perfectly capable adult until you’re five rounds into a workout. Suddenly you can’t remember whether you’ve done 8 reps or 9, what round you’re on, or possibly what year it is.
You’ll spend a shocking amount of money on little pieces of equipment. Grips, ropes, tape, wrist wraps, knee sleeves. And somehow you’ll still need to borrow tape.
Chalk gets everywhere. On your hands. Your clothes. Your water bottle. Your phone. Your car. Sometimes you’ll find chalk on yourself hours later and have absolutely no idea how it got there.
You’ll start looking at everyday objects differently. Heavy suitcase? Farmer carry. Bag of dog food? Odd object. Something heavy needs to be moved? You immediately start thinking about the best way to pick it up.
Your definition of “fun” may become questionable. At some point you’ll finish a workout lying on the floor, completely exhausted, and say, “That was fun.” This is when you know things have changed.
You’ll learn things about people you never expected to know. Their back squat. Their deadlift. Whether they can do double unders. What movements they hate. Which knee bothers them. You may not know what they do for a living, but you know exactly how much they can clean.
You’ll check the workout before bed. Some people want to know what’s coming. Some people absolutely do not want to know. Both groups think the other group is wrong. But I write 300+ blogs a year, so I hope people are reading them.
You’ll have a favourite spot. Nobody assigned it to you. There is no nameplate. You have absolutely no legal claim to it. And yet, if someone else sets up there, something feels off. This is a bad habit that you should be trying to break.
You’ll become weirdly excited about tiny accomplishments. Your first double under. Finally getting your toes to touch the bar. Adding five pounds to a lift. Jumping on a box you’ve been nervous about. Things nobody outside CrossFit would understand can make your entire day.
And maybe the biggest thing nobody warns you about is how normal all of this eventually becomes.
You’ll voluntarily show up to do things you once thought looked completely insane. You’ll have friends you might never have met otherwise. You’ll celebrate other people lifting heavy things. You’ll complain about burpees and then willingly come back the next day.
At some point, someone new will walk through the doors, look around at all of us and probably think we’re a little nuts.
And you’ll think...
Just wait.
Thursday, October 8th, 2026
Focus:
Rowing Technique
WOD:
For Time:
2000m Row
100 Sit Ups
Check back each night at 8pm for the next days WOD .
Contact us: Address: 200 Mountain Rd #3, Collingwood, ON L9Y 4V5 Phone: (705) 444-0006 Follow us on Instagram @crossfit_indestri