Coach Laura tells her story

How I started my fitness journey

When I first started CrossFit I had only seen a barbell a handful of times in my life, like a lot of people, I was intimidated by the bars, plates and weight rooms in commercial gyms – so I didn’t go in them.

I kept myself in the safety of the treadmills and crosstrainers! I began hearing the word CrossFit going around, I didn’t quite get what it was so I googled it, WOW! Then I watched some YouTube videos, DOUBLE WOW! I was blown away by what people were doing and I had to get involved.....So back to google I went, found a local box and signed up! 

My first CrossFit Class

There I was in my very first CrossFit class, nervous but excited to begin my CrossFit journey.....and what was on the agenda? Backsquat! 

I genuinely felt a wash of fear come over me when the coach casually said, ‘go and grab yourself a barbell’ like it was nothing, like it was normal. Not one to cause a fuss I quietly did what I was asked. I remember thinking, wow, this thing is HEAVY, so you can imagine my concern when after a warm up with the empty bar the coach said ‘go on, stick some five’s on’......but I did and I loved it and that was how it started.

I love holding a barbell

It didn’t take long before deadlifts, squats and presses were my favourite things to do. I soon felt comfortable with all the big lifts and quickly signed up to barbell club in addition to CrossFit. I was desperate to give Olympic lifting a go, it was so fast and powerful and I needed to get involved. I got hooked big time and entered my first competition a few months after I started Olympic Weightlifting....I came dead last opening at 25kg for the Snatch....best day of my life!

Laura in a Olympic Lifting competition

I left the competition pleased with how it went, I PB’d my snatch on the day and I was proud of my efforts, but I knew I had a lot of work to do. I trained as much as I could and I never missed a session. I entered more competitions, my technique improved, my numbers went up, I tried every pair of lifters on the market until I found the perfect pair for me, life was good! 

A disaster

Fast forward a couple of years and disaster struck, a shoulder injury. No lifting for me. I was out. 

Fortunately my despair didn’t last long, every cloud actually does have a silver lining, even this one.......A couple of weeks later when it became apparent the road to recovery would be a long one my weightlifting coach came up to me and told me I had to keep going to training even though I couldn’t lift. He told me I wasn’t out because I had a good eye for lifting. I had something to offer. He told me I must watch, I must learn and I must coach........ and that’s where it started!

Athlete & Coach

I eagerly began my journey into coaching by shadowing him, learning from him, listening to him, watching him, watching the lifters, watching him again and quickly began assisting him in coaching the members of our barbell club. I soon moved into coaching CrossFit  and now hold British Weightlifting Level One and CrossFit Level One certificates. I can honestly say that coaching is the highlight of my day. 

As for training, I’ve been able to snatch and jerk again for the last four months now so I decided it was time to get back on the competition floor! Now officially a Masters Athlete I signed up to the Masters Comp at Crystal Palace just this weekend and am pleased to report that I walked away with a bronze medal, quite the improvement from the first go round that’s for sure!