CrossFitters are a health conscious bunch. We take care of ourselves and wear the ‘total fitness’ badge with pride. After all, we care about our minds, bodies, nutrition and community rather than just ‘sport’.
But whilst CrossFit is rapidly growing, outside the immediate community there are still plenty of people who haven’t heard of it, or have heard of it but ‘don’t get it’. Especially when it comes to cake.
Huh?
Let me explain. There’s a bunch of us who outside of the box spend our days struggling to find our way in the corporate jungle. We sit (or stand) at desks, in offices / meeting rooms, on conference calls and desperately trying to process dozens of nonsense emails trying to find the ones we actually need to do something useful with.
There’s also a plentiful supply of cake.
British bake off back on TV? Kelly starts experimenting with cup-cakes again.
Tony’s birthday? Hello two dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
Simone just completed an IT project? Bang – 3 large tubs of Celebrations at the end of your row of desks
John’s kids gone back to school at the end if holidays? His wife’s made a bucket full of brownies.
Michelle having a baby? It’s muffin o’clock.
You get the idea. It’s embedded in our culture.
So as a dedicated CrossFit junkie what do we do? Do we tuck in or do we frown at the mere suggestion of putting public enemy number one (sugar) into our balanced bodies?
The answer is both. And this is where the confusion comes in.
Some days we tuck right in. Other days we will politely but resolutely decline even the nicest, freshest, crumbliest goodies on offer.
Why?
We like cake (we aren’t complete weirdo’s after all!).
We know that our bodies need fuel and that if you put lots of processed food into your body you will be functioning at sub-optimal physical and mental performance. You’re not giving yourself the chance to operate at full capacity.
The bottom line is crap in = crap out (well, technically everything you put in = crap out, but you know what I mean).
Even the mighty Rich Froning himself said ‘I love apple pie. If I see one, I’m going to eat the whole thing’ (but then he does train 5 times a day)
Anyway because of our apparent indecision most people don’t get it. They want to put us in a box of either – eats cake / doesn’t eat cake. To some days join in but others not confuses people. If you pardon the pun ‘CrossFitters don’t eat cake’ seems easier to digest.
But here’s the thing – we work out damn hard. We push the intensity of our gym time higher than most regular exercise bunnies, so yes sometimes we allow ourselves to eat cake (and maybe drink a beer too), but we know where to draw the line.
It’s not that we don’t want or enjoy the cake *weirdo alert*. It’s that we are encouraged to be deliberate in our choices. It’s that we appreciate the importance of balanced nutrition in our lives. It’s that we are tuned into our bodies. It’s that we occasionally allow ourselves to enjoy the naughty but nice edible things in life, but we aren’t governed by them.
It’s that we understand the cake continuum.
I even came up with a (sort of) scientific formula for this:
If A = the number of days a week and π=1 slice of pie then if A x π=>3 then Body fat = >%
But enough science for now, let’s keep it simple – whether it’s cake, or something else highly processed and sugary if you eat it every day (yes even ‘protein’ snickers) it’s going to have a negative impact on your body and mind. But every now and then is fine, you’ve got to live after all.
So yes sometimes we eat cake and sometimes we don’t. Get over it. Maybe CrossFitters are a bit weird after all, but we wouldn’t change it for anything.