Guys, so excited to share this – my trip to San Diego started with a bang!
I was wandering through town on Thursday and happened into the Reebok store to see if they were hosting 15.1 just to find out Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, the reigning champion of the CrossFit Open, aka the Fittest Woman on Earth, would be there the next morning dishing out CrossFit advice!
Ah, WHAT? This was the opportunity of a lifetime; I couldn’t pass it up!! I rushed over from my work conference the next morning and stood in line for about a half hour with about 30 other people. Once we were all in the store, they shut the doors and started our chat with Camille! From the moment she started talking I think the whole room fell in love with her sweet personality! She’s seriously so adorable!
WATCH Camille Leblanc-Bazinet talk the Zone Diet and her “power pouch”
It’s funny I’ve actually followed Camille’s CrossFit career since 2013, when I started CrossFit. In fact, she was the first and only CrossFitter to ever grace the cover of my favorite magazine, Oxygen! I remember ripping into that magazine when I saw a CrossFitter on the front and getting really excited about my own CrossFit journey! I cheered for Camille at the CrossFit Open but it wasn’t until the following year that she won — do you remember her famous transition from pull-ups to bar muscle-ups?
She’s a beast! But yet, adorably small in person!
I know most of you have probably already done 15.1, but I couldn’t help but share her tips anyway!
Camille Leblanc-Bazinet’s Advice for 15.1:
- Breakup the toes-to-bar into sets of 5 or 3 (if you can’t kip 5 easily) but don’t waste time under the bar.
- Don’t go too fast at the start. Pace yourself and stay consistent.
- She said 15.1 is really a toes-to-bar workout, not a lifting one. It’s funny she said, “75 lbs is a baby weight!” Haha. She quickly felt bad saying that I think and followed up, “I’m sorry if that’s not the case for you!” 🙂
- She gave a lot of mental tips, too. She said after two rounds she likes to tell herself “you’re doing well, you’re fine” and then start speeding up/pushing herself. Of course she said to have fun too and to compete with yourself, not others at your box.
- I thought it was interesting she thinks of workouts in terms of running distances (she said this workout is like a 2k) to anticipate how she should feel during it.
- She also said to keep hips high during deadlifts to engage hamstrings, not rely solely on the quads.
- She also recommended a wider stance on deadlifts.
- For the lift, she suggested taking a full minute after 15.1 to bring your heart rate down.
- She suggested planning ahead and knowing in advance the clean/jerk weight you KNOW you can throw up. Plan three lifts around that number, don’t do 6-7 tries or try to go too heavy at first and get mentally frustrated having to scale down.
WATCH this video of Camille Leblanc-Bazinet providing advice for 15.1
After the Q&A session, everyone got into a line to get a photo with Camille. She was super nice when I talked to her! She also signed a Reebok tank top I bought from the store that says California! She wrote “work hard, be proud,” which she says is her personal mantra. I love this next clip where she talks about her cameo in this CrossFit documentary.
She had a great sense of humor! She joked about some challenges – like pushing the sled in this documentary – and how Josh Bridges jokes that she workouts in her underwear but she really only takes her shirt off because she tends to fiddle with it if she doesn’t. She also joked about how her coach started counting reps when she was resting one time and it made her crazy! She really had a fun-loving personality! I’m so glad I met her, you bet I’ll be rooting for her this year!!
I was really happy to get to take a photo with her! I also bought a Reebok Top Tank for her to sign, which she wrote “work hard, be proud,” a motto she’s adopted for herself.
To say this made my trip would be an understatement! This was the most surreal experience ever!
Have you ever had a chance sighting of a celebrity?
Did you do 15.1 yet? What advice would you give those who haven’t yet?
