We Met During a WOD and Now We're Engaged. Yes It's Cliché. No I Don't Care.

I know what you're thinking. "Oh great, another CrossFit person who won't shut up about CrossFit." And you're right! But this time it's about love so maybe that makes it better? No? Ok well I'm telling the story anyway.

The WOD That Started It All

It was a partner WOD. For the non-CrossFit people: WOD = Workout of the Day, and a partner WOD means you pair up with someone and suffer together. The coach was pairing people randomly and put us together.

The workout was something like: 100 wall balls, 80 cal row, 60 burpees, 40 clean and jerks, 20 muscle ups (scaled for me because lol). You alternate with your partner. The whole thing takes about 25-30 minutes of pure shared misery.

By minute 5 we were both dying. By minute 10 we were trash-talking each other in the best way. "Come on, pick up the pace, I'm carrying this team." "Excuse me, I just did 15 wall balls while you were 'resting'." By minute 20 we were genuinely cheering each other on. And by the end we high-fived and collapsed on the floor next to each other and I thought "huh, that was really fun."

That's how it starts at the box. Shared suffering. There's no better foundation for a relationship honestly.

The Box Is Basically a Dating Pool

I'm going to say something controversial. CrossFit boxes are better for meeting people than any dating app. Here's why:

You see the same people multiple times a week. You experience hard things together. You celebrate each other's achievements. You know what someone looks like at their absolute worst (red-faced, gasping, lying on the floor questioning their life choices) and you STILL like them. If that's not a solid basis for attraction then I don't know what is.

After that first partner WOD, we started gravitating toward the same class times. Then we started chatting before and after class. Then we started hanging out at box social events. Then someone suggested we grab food after a Saturday morning workout and that became a weekly thing. And slowly, without either of us making a Big Move, we went from "people who go to the same gym" to "people who are clearly dating."

The CrossFit Couple Stereotypes (And Which Are True)

"You guys must work out together all the time." True. We go to the same box and usually the same class. But we don't partner up every time. We have our own things going on in there. Independence within togetherness or whatever.

"You probably eat the same weird diet." Partially true. We both eat relatively clean but we're not militant about it. We don't weigh our chicken or track macros obsessively. We just... eat well most of the time. And then demolish a pizza on Sundays without guilt.

"CrossFit is your whole personality." Hmm. I mean. We met there. Our friend group is largely from there. A lot of our social life revolves around it. But we also do other things! We watch movies. We cook. We exist as humans outside the box. But yeah, CrossFit is a big part of our lives and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

"You must be so competitive with each other." This one's interesting. We ARE competitive. But it's the good kind. Pushing each other to be better without making it weird. When one of us PRs something, the other is genuinely excited. There's no jealousy. Just hype.

The Proposal

Ok here's the part people actually want to hear.

He proposed at the box. I KNOW. I KNOW how that sounds. But hear me out.

It was the anniversary of the partner WOD where we met. Same workout, same partner pairings supposedly random (the coach was in on it). We did the whole workout. I was destroyed. Lying on the floor. And he got down next to me — which is normal, everyone lies on the floor after a WOD — and he said "hey" and I turned my head and he had a ring.

I was dripping sweat. My hair was a disaster. I was wearing my rattiest sports bra. I probably smelled terrible. And he asked me to marry him on the gym floor surrounded by rowers and barbells and our entire community.

I said yes. Obviously. And then everyone cheered and some people cried and the coach made a speech and someone had somehow smuggled in champagne and we drank it out of shaker bottles because that's all we had.

It was perfect. Absolutely perfectly us.

What I'd Tell People Starting Out at a Box

If you're single and joining a CrossFit box: just be cool. Don't join specifically to date — people can smell that energy. Join because you want to get fit and be part of a community. The connections will happen naturally if they're going to happen.

Show up consistently. Be friendly. Be a good partner during partner WODs. Cheer for people. Put your equipment away. Be someone people want to be around.

And if you catch feelings for someone at the box, take it slow. You see these people multiple times a week. There's no rush. Let it build. The best CrossFit relationships I've seen — including ours — started as friendships that evolved.

The Wedding Planning

We're getting married next spring. The wedding will NOT be at the box. We're drawing the line there. But the reception will definitely have some CrossFit touches because at this point it's part of our story and fighting that would be weird.

Our save-the-dates had barbells on them. Our engagement photos were at the box. Our wedding party is almost entirely people from CrossFit. It's a whole thing.

Is it cliché? Absolutely. Do I care? Not even a little bit. We found each other doing something we both love and I think that's pretty great actually.

3, 2, 1, GO on the rest of our lives together. (Sorry. Had to.)

Related Reading:

CrossFit Couples: The Good, the Bad & the WODs — Everything about making CrossFit relationships work
CrossFit Dating: How the Box Became the New Bar — More on the phenomenon of box romance