You can't succeed at being a fitness freak without having an undeterred sense of dedication. This comes in the form of a strong commitment to your gym regimen, diet and lifestyle choices that will help you propel yourself forward. CrossFit superstar Camille Leblanc-Bazinet has this down to a science. We say "science," but she would tell you that's it has just been instilled in her since her childhood.
As a young gymnast with hopes of going to the Olympics someday, Leblanc-Bazinet perpetually trained like there was no tomorrow. Despite injuring herself at a critical point in her career, the stars ended up alligning for Camille and she fell into the world of CrossFit. After hooking up with BSN Supplements for our limited edition 6PF X BSN collaborative bag, we got the chance to sit down with Camille and talk about her intense commitment to her CrossFit career, her continued education and her background in gymnastics.
How did your gymnast experience lead you to the world of CrossFit?
I was a gymnast when I was a little girl. I competed in gymnastics until I was 16-years-old, so I had a pretty long career. Then, life happened and I injured myself and I stopped. After that, I just spent all of my time trying to find a new challenge. For example, when I was 12, I remember I did a gymnastics competition and at the end of it, I didn't like that I was out of breath after my floor routine. So when I came back home, I put my shoes on my feet and I went out to run. My friends thought someone had kidnapped me. The idea of trying to be better at my weakness has always been inside me.
So after I stopped doing gymnastics, I just started playing every sport that ever existed and playing on every single team at my high school. I joined up for rugby and some of the people on my rugby team were doing CrossFit. That's when they introduced me to CrossFit and everything changed.
What's the most challenging sport that you've ever done?
Physically, rugby. Mentally, gymnastics. It teaches you discipline, self-control and it really makes you pass over your fears in a very powerful way. Rugby is just so damned hard. You know you're going to get hit, but you keep running after the ball anyway.
Do you have a personal favorite sport?
Gymnastics. I've done it for so long. It was my dream as a little girl, I wanted to go to the Olympics. I've never been into a sport as long as I have been into gymnastics either. CrossFit is the second longest and it's been the only sport, aside from CrossFit, where I allow myself to dream about something big.
Are there any similarities for training for gymnastics and CrossFit?
Definitely. It's funny all of my coaches tell me that I'm the athlete with the most discipline that they've ever coached. It's funny to me because I'm just doing my job and I don't really understand why it's so weird. It's just how I learned in gymnastics, I never missed a workout and I always found a way to do it. I really just do it and have a lot discipline. It's just a great background for my CrossFit training and I understand movement a lot better.
How'd you move from CrossFit training to actually competing in the CrossFit games?
As soon as they started CrossFit, I watched the games and when I watched it, I told myself I was going to be there this year. So, the transition was really quick. I came home and I had no one to teach me CrossFit because I was at university and training by myself in a global gym. I started by attacking my weaknesses. I would really challenge myself. I worked my butt off, especially because I had no one to look at my technique. I had to go on the Internet and watch videos. Then, I tried out for the qualifications and I finished first in the first portion and fourth in the second portion€¦ And then I was at the games.
What kind of things should athletes look for in a CrossFit gym?
At a normal gym, they almost always have dumbbells. You can do so many things with dumbbells, even moreso than with barbells, but for me, all I need is a dumbbell, barbell and a place to do a pull-up. I've done so many pull-ups in really weird spots. You can pile things up for high jump, you can use a dumbbell as a kettlebell and find a wall for gymnastic moves.
What's the weirdest thing you've done a pull-up on?
Oh my god€¦ I've done them on a tree, that's pretty weird.
Weird or not weird... It doesn't matter. Camille has been blazing a trail of fitness and leaving her competition behind in her dust. In the next installment of our blog series featuring the young CrossFit star, Leblanc-Bazinet goes into more detail about how she manages to train, eat healthy and continue her college education in chemical engineering. Stay tuned!
