In the first two installments of our blog series featuring BSN Supplements athlete Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, we've established that she is a beast. Whether on the competition floor or in the classroom, the CrossFit all-star kills everything within her range of sight and then some.
How does it all happen though? What makes Camille go to the gym, train hard and eat the right foods? What's her conditioning process and food prep like? If you've ever wanted to get inside the psyche of a CrossFit pro, read on as Camille offers up information on her training and eating regimen that never seems to stop. She just keeps going and going and going and going€¦
What's your training regimen like in your downtime, compared to what you do when you're preparing for a CrossFit event?
Even when I'm not preparing for a competition, I'm always looking forward to the next one. We have the Games in July, but the rest of the year is pretty much already all planned out for how to prepare for that. My coach's program for me, he's the little mastermind behind all of this, after the games is
to focus on getting stronger and attack any weakness. I'm not going to do as much MetCon [Metabollic Conditioning] and typical CrossFit workouts. I'm still going to do it, but it's going to be more focused on really making my body as strong as I can.
Then, later in the year, we will start building up my cardio endurance more, pretty much when the Opens are. After that it's a lot more volume, a lot more MetCon because that's what the regionals are based on. Then we focus on more random stuff because that's what they ask us to do at the Games. That's what my year
-long program looks like.
If I do have a competition, normally what I do is my coach's program for me that will make my body crash two weeks before, so I'm at my peak during the competition. Two weeks before we are going to tons of volume until I go take a nap and then I'll be ready.
Are there any differences in your diet when you're training and when you aren't training?
Right now I'm trying to gain strength, so I'm going to need to eat a lot more. So what I do is I eat like three good meals a day, and then I have my protein shake twice a day because I train twice a day. Thanks BSN! It's like a five meal kind of deal where I want to eat at least 135 grams of protein and that's pretty much what I focus on. Also, if I feel tired, I know I need to eat more carbs. I know my body well enough now that I can just adapt and know what I need to eat that day. Closer to competition, I clean up my food more. Everyone around me says my diet is pretty damn clean and they wonder how I can make it even cleaner.
What about your meal prep process? How do you go about planning/making what you'll eat?
I'm in school right now and it's my crunch time because of finals. Typically on Sunday night I cook enough meals for the full week and after that I eat what I cook. That's pretty much my plan. I'll take 12 chicken breasts and cook them all at once and I'll do tons of sweet potatoes. Then I just take the chicken and sweet potatoes, put them in a container and then I'm gone. It's that easy.
At what moment did you become pro in your head? When did you start training like this was your job and knew you were going to make some waves at competitions?
In gymnastics, I was too young for that because it was always about playing. In CrossFit, it's funny. I've been to the Games for four years and this year I definitely felt that I turned professional. This year I remember finding myself taking the time to be a professional. I have more sponsors, I'm running a business and it was a state of mind because I saw myself being a businesswoman instead of a little girl who played. It was a turning point. I was dressing more professionally outside of the gym. My friends at school really noticed. They said, "Camille, you look really good, what's wrong?" Before I always just dressed in a hoodie and jeans [Laughs]. That's me turning into a professional.
With a sense of dedication and heart that could lift a hundred dumbbells, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet continuously kills it in the gym, at school and during CrossFit competitions. By following her lead and taking control of your weaknesses, just about anything is possible, whether it's weightlifting or any other aspect of life.
