After my first attempt at Crossfit last week, I asked Reign City Fitness co-owner and trainer Julie Tro, with stupid sincerity, what exercises she recommended I do the following day. Since she said whatever wasn’t hurting could be exercised, the obvious answer was — nothing.

The gym opened up last month, and an advertising salesperson thought it would be a great idea for me to not only write a business story (See Page 16), but take a class on the popular exercise and share my pain with you fine folks.

I thought I was in better shape than most, until I took my first Crossfit class at Reign City. There’s a difference between a person’s workout performance by themselves and in a group setting. The latter evokes in me some primal need to compete or, at best, avoid epic failure. I was wrecked. I haven’t worked that hard to impress a bunch of strangers in a gym since I was in college.

It was great.

Exercise is one of my few good habits, but I hadn’t pushed myself in a long time. I was in a rut, doing the same routine and neglecting certain exercises, particularly my legs. My residential fitness center is barebones, and most coming through its doors are there for a light walk on a treadmill.

Crossfit combines a circuit of exercises, participants attempting to complete as many circuits possible in a certain amount of time. If you don’t do a lot of pull-ups or squats, Crossfit will definitely shock those muscles you didn’t know existed. I have to thank trainer Alex Konicke for his patience, watching me flop on the pull-up bar like a hooked, dying fish.

The day after my Crossfit session I was limping around the office like a lame dog, but less gracefully. While there had been no taunting to push myself that hard, the group mentality had kicked in and I had something to prove that day at Reign City. There were so many more inspiring people training with me, and seeing them push themselves motivated me to jump back on that bar, and not crawl into a corner to await sweet death.

By the second day, the soreness had dulled significantly. I was back to normal by day three, and glad I no longer grunted when I sat down.

When I went back to my meager gym accommodations on Monday, I found myself thinking back to that Crossfit group and what I’d accomplished with a little push. It wasn’t the same as having people there setting a standard, but I know I worked out harder than I would have before taking the class, now aware that my limits go further than I had once thought.