CrossFit is full of "firsts." Asia's Delwin Keasberry tells us a few of his.
Photo by: Han Sau Min
Photo by: Izam Hj Ahmad
I had just attempted 13.5. I was cooling down, and then I thought, “I think I will try doing a bar muscle-up.”
Bam! On Friday, April 5, 2013, I got it. My first bar muscle-up.
If you CrossFit, you would have a similar story. It may not be about a muscle-up, but we all have a CrossFit story. This is mine — a story about firsts. We all have a “first” story.
The first time I tried CrossFit. My first time attempting Grace. My first burpee. My first time in a box. My first palm-rip. My first pair of Nanos. My first triple-under. The first time I watched Rich Froning Jr. The first time I fell in love with Julie Foucher. The first time I managed Fran in less than 10 minutes. The list goes on.
I proudly train at Brunei’s first CrossFit affiliate, GetFit CrossFit. The CrossFit seeds were planted when founding members, coaches Rory Teo and Gavin Sekhon stumbled upon it via YouTube in 2009. After digesting videos and articles about CrossFit, hours of home workouts, they went on to get their Level 1 Certificate at CrossFit Perth in Australia.
Soon after, the core team grew to include Gary Sekhon, Mas Idris and Haadi Samid. GetFit CrossFit held its first public session outdoors on the track and field grounds of University Brunei Darussalam in December 2010.
My CrossFit story started on those very tartan tracks in mid 2011. Up to that point, I considered myself a healthy guy. I had an active lifestyle, I had gone through a gym phase, so I loosely understood weight lifting and I ran every other day.
It was a balmy Tuesday afternoon. My maiden WOD was a combination of air squats, sprints, sit-ups and burpees. I do not mean to sound dramatic, but that one workout unraveled me. What just happened? I was lying prone, sucking the wind and my body felt like it was on fire.
I have been doing CrossFit ever since.
It is awesome being a part of GetFit CrossFit here in Brunei. We have a young box and we are still going through growing pains with space expansions and renovations. We still maintain one outdoor session a week at the University, but otherwise, we workout at the box.
In just more than two years, GetFit CrossFit has had many firsts, too – being invited as fitness partners at local marathons, organizing fitness clinics for kids, organizing the Battle Royale 2012 (a local competition), co-hosting a blood donation campaign, etc.
Most recently, 50 of us took part in the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games Open.
GetFit CrossFit is ranked 20th out of 43 teams in Asia. With 50 athletes, GetFit had the fifth largest contingent in the region. Considering Brunei is a small nation with a total population of less than half a million people, the fact that we were No. 5 in terms of size is worth mentioning.
For many of us from GetFit CrossFit, it was our first time in the Open and the atmosphere at our box across the five weeks has been amazing.
“Signing up for my very first CrossFit Open was a melting pot of emotions and experiences,” Hadthiah Hazair, a journalist and member of the box, says. “Some (workouts) showed me what I was capable of, some proved to me that I was not putting in 105 percent. It was all good, especially when you have a supportive CrossFit community.”
Boon Chu Woo, a medical scientist and member of GetFit CrossFit says he learned a lot from the Open, as well.
“The 2013 Open has shown me weaknesses to work on.”
Haadi Samid, a coach at GetFit who competed in the Open for the second time, says he loves the surprises in programming.
“The minute you think you have trained and prepared, (Dave) Castro throws something out to make you say, ‘(What the fuck!)’ he says. Now that the five (workouts) are done and dusted, it is time to go back and reassess my own training. I am looking forward to the 2014 Open.”
GetFit CrossFit saw beginners and the experienced battling through each workout next to each other. We celebrated new personal bests, we noted down our weakness and strengths, and in the end, it was the athletes who had command across the spectrum of fitness disciplines who emerged at the top.
My CrossFit journey started nearly two years ago. I enjoyed it before, but now that the Open is over, for the first time, I get it.
CrossFit is for everyone, but not everyone will get it straight away. Until you first experience what Craig Nelson describes as “DIS/GFB” — that is “drenched in sweat, gasping for breath” — and have an affinity for it, you won’t get it. As for us at GetFit CrossFit, we get it … and we got it bad.
