After hearing the workout explained I thought, ‘Wait a minute. They want me to load a barbell up to 225 lbs., then bend over and lift it off the ground until I’m standing up straight? Repeatedly, as fast as I can? Using my back? The only one I have? Nope. Not doing that.’”

I’m Not Doing Any of That is a fitness transformation story by an attorney who left the world of corporate law in search of a more balanced life. It chronicles his search for community and the unlikely way that he found it. After years of avoiding anything likely to bring out the overachiever in him, he decided to try CrossFit.

Yes, that CrossFit, the one where crazy athletes do insane workouts and seem superhuman. Improbably set at a gym known for high intensity workouts and tracking results, this is a story about learning to play again. It is about the funny mishaps, enlightening moments, supportive friends, helpful coaches and a hundred other factors adding up to a way of life that supports a lifetime of health.

We all have to start where we are. Where we end up and what we achieve tells us little about the journey.

In I’m Not Doing Any of That we are reminded that there are people and places to help us every step of the way, and that in the end, the best story that we can write of ourselves is about the tribes we form and the meaning we find in our journey.