Meet Colette Fournier. She started CrossFit in 2012 - 10 years ago!

Spending most of her life focusing on long distance running, Colette decided to join CrossFit to add some strength training to her routine. This has provided her with the strength and fitness for her to enjoy other passions too, like mountain biking and stand up paddle boarding.

“I feel like I have been able to navigate middle age better than I ever imagined. I am going to Utah mountain biking in June and I would not even attempt such a feat without my CrossFit training.”

She decided to commit to 6 month of CrossFit, rather than joining a large scale gym as she had in the past as she “always found them quite boring.” But like a lot of us, it was intimidating for her when she first started.

“I was not able to perform most of the movements. When I did complete the WODs (scaled), I was often so sore that I struggled with the motivation to return to the gym. I was also surrounded by many elite CrossFitters which, in itself was intimidating for my competitive personality. In my initial gym, the trainers would write on a whiteboard how many reps and what weights everyone used in their workouts that day. I found this quite embarrassing. The emphasis was all on performance. If I had not committed to the 6 month trial period, I likely would have quit. Fortunately, CrossFit became much more enjoyable and just keeps getting better.”

Colette has learned to be more patient and kind to herself, and set appropriate expectations. It took some time and is something she has to continue to reminder herself of (as so many of us do). A quote by Theodore Roosevelt "comparison is the thief of joy" really spoke to her, and the coaches and community has helped her find her way.

“Jason has helped me learn to focus on my own journey and to celebrate my own accomplishments, as I have a tendency to compare myself to many of the amazing women athletes in our gym. I've come a long way :)

Jason is an amazing coach; an exceptionally kind and sensitive person who genuinely cares about all the members. Despite coaching over 100 members, he has the uncanny ability to remember what weight or scaled version of a workout I have done in the past and what would be appropriate for my current ability.

I also love the community of CrossFit. I enjoy interacting with people of all ages and walks of life that I would never otherwise connect with day to day. Regardless of how I am feeling before I go to CrossFit, I always feel energized and happy post WOD.”

In addition to that, the variety and challenges of CrossFit make things fun and prevents the boredom she was feeling at large scale gyms. Toes-to-bar are one of her favourite movements; “it took me years to achieve and yet continues to be a challenge in terms of volume” and the first WOD she ever did “CINDY” is still her favourite workout; “I enjoy the body weight challenge and the ability to perform this WOD outside of the gym with minimal equipment.” As a bonus, she has achieved several PRs in the last few years (yet that is not the daily focus). One of her personal highlights include her first strict pullup before the age of 50!

Colette is a physician and currently focuses on palliative care. She is a true lifelong learner and always has her ebook with her or is listening to a podcast. Her two favourite people in the world are her two teenage boys - both of them are currently away from Saskatoon to pursue their passion for hockey (meaning a lot of time of the road for Colette now and into the future). She feels privileged to support their journeys as they grow into men and CrossFit has allowed her to show her boys that a healthy lifestyle is achievable at any age!