Driven, determined and dreaming by 8pm. Laura is one of our most consistent members and shows up every morning excited to get after it. She joined us during her first year of university while living across the country from her family and on her own for the first time. Over the last year she has made impressive progress in the gym by prioritizing her mindset as much, if not more, than her physical training. Read on to learn how this spritely athlete sets up her day to maximize efficiency and be in motion as much as possible. 

What brought you to Queen Street Fitness? School! I'm originally from Kamloops, BC and moved out here last August for my first year of undergrad. I'm currently in my second year of Kinesiology at Queen's, and although I'm not exactly sure of what I will go into afterward, I have always seen myself entering the medical field. Perhaps sports med? *cough cough* hi Scott *cough cough*. Anyway, my dad went to Queen's approximately 76,483,682,736 years ago and was whispering in my ear when I said I wanted to leave home. I have an older brother and sister who stayed in Kamloops after high school, and I felt like it would be a better growing experience for me to go out on my own. So, why not book it across the country? Go big, right? I knew that I wanted to continue with CrossFit when I came here, and the proximity of QSF to where I live and Queen's is ideal! The location may have brought me here, but saying that joining QSF was the best decision ever is the understatement of the CENTURY.

How long have you been doing CrossFit, what did you do exercise/sport-wise before that? I started CrossFit in 2018 as supplementary conditioning for the other sports I was playing at the time, because clearly overlapping seasons of volleyball, basketball, and soccer wasn't enough :). I have played sports for my entire life, my parents like to joke that they had me on skis the day after I took my first steps. I've tried just about everything you can imagine: skiing, soccer, volleyball, basketball, track & field, and I even dabbled in figure skating and diving for a hot minute. I always found that I preferred the training over the actual games however, I was always that one try-hard who would prefer to run lines than scrimmage. I think that's why I gravitated to CrossFit and why it seems to be the sport that has stuck, I can run lines all day and no one bats an eye!

Tell us about a typical day-in-the-life: I am hands-down the most predictably scheduled, routined person you will ever meet. I wake up at 5am every morning and initiate my little pre-gym routine. I turn on a podcast, make some coffee, and cook up a fat bowl of cream of wheat with protein powder (cake batter flavour, ALWAYS). I then make sure I'm prepped and organized for my classes that day and head out the door to QSF. Unless I have an 8:30 class (in which case all of this is pushed back an hour) I do the 6:30 class with my favourite people. I then stay to do the extra work until about 8:30. I head home, shower, and have my favourite meal of oatmeal with cottage cheese mixed in (yes, it's weird, but I love it don't @ me). I'm then ready to shift gears to student mode. My type-A personality makes me a little obsessive with school, but I am proud of how my academics are going so far. Depending on what time my first class starts, I will do some work/study until it's time to head to campus. I either walk or bike, and the bulk of my day is spent alternating between classes and studying. I always pack lots of food and make it a point to include intermittent walks to refresh myself. This has been huge for me, as my body loves to move and I feel my best when my blood is pumping. I usually get home around 4pm and recognize that all of my productive energy is spent, so I call it quits school-wise. This is when I will pick up any groceries I may need, do my food prepping for the next day, and start my evening wind-down. I turn on another podcast and do some light stretching/mobility, then make myself dinner around 6pm. My dinners are pretty boring and the exact same every night, so I'll save you the mundane details of chicken and potatoes. After dinner I climb into bed and scroll through TikTok and Reddit until I'm tired of conforming to Gen Z stereotype, and pack it in at 8pm. Yup. A second year uni student, going to bed at 8. I should I have kept that to myself? Perhaps. Am I embarrassed? Not in the slightest, I love prioritizing my sleep :). Then, we rinse and repeat in the morning!

What goals are you working towards when you’re training in the gym?  Honestly this may sound a little corny, but my goal right now is to become the best version of myself. IT SOUNDS CORNY, BUT DON'T SCROLL! I've been a lot more open sharing about this recently, but within the past few years I have had some major struggles with food and my body. In 2018-2020 I was in my physical "peak", but then COVID hit and things went downhill. The pandemic had its own set of struggles for everyone, for me it manifested as obsession with food control. I lost quite a bit of weight and when restrictions lifted my strength numbers had taken a nosedive. I was not in a good place mentally, and the following year was spent taking one step forward and two steps back. I have been working on myself a lot in the past year, and it wasn't until this summer that I truly found myself again. I'm not going to lie, I still struggle with thoughts from time to time, but making progress in the gym is what keeps me grounded. I am eating more food than ever and am finally seeing myself building back to where I was pre-COVID. In fact, I have surpassed myself in many areas! I feel so loved and supported at QSF, and every single person I've met has helped me so much whether they know it or not. I genuinely love training, but it is the community that makes me excited to fall asleep at night because I know I get to come back in the morning. So, that is a long winded way of saying that my goals are to simply train the best that I can, in the place I love, so that I can become the strongest, fittest, and absolute best version of myself. 

What’s one thing you do every day that is essential to contributing to your success in the gym? I honestly love this question, and even though my answer might be a little dorky, it has definitely been the biggest game changer in my life recently. I keep a journal, and every day when I get home from the gym I write down my “gym-win”, one thing that I am proud of for that day. Some days that’s a PR, other days it’s that I did one extra burpee when I really wanted to quit, or got off the bike one second ahead of Tony ;) Even on days where it felt like nothing went well, I always find something, anything, no matter how trivial to write down. I can always find something good that came out of that training day. It might sound cheesy but it’s something that I do everyday and it never fails to boost my mood for the rest of the day. Plus, it’s a lot of fun to look back and see the progress I’ve made, or to laugh at a joke that Tim made all over again :) 

As the most consistent member of the morning crew, how does your evening routine set you up for success? My evening wind-down is the exact same every day and I honestly feel like it sets me up for success. My evening stretch-sesh is a biggie for me, it helps to relax my mind and body and grease the gears for the next morning. I also make sure that I go to bed early, which is incredibly easy as I've calibrated my inner clock to turn me into a pumpkin at the exact same time every night. I get 8-9 hours of sleep, and this is the perfect amount to keep me feeling fresh so I can attack every day of training and school with maximum energy.

Tell us about one exciting or proud moment that happened in the gym recently: When I started at QSF, I made a little promise to myself: I wouldn't put my "big lifts" (i.e. C&J, snatch, deadlift, squats) on the PR board until they were true lifetime PRs. Even though it's just an inanimate object, the whiteboard symbolizes a lot for me. I've been working back up from square one this past year and it wasn't until LITERALLY the past two weeks that I've added not one, not two, but THREE big lifts! I beat the old Laura in snatch, deadlift, and front squat and when I say these PR's mean a lot, they mean a lot. I am so proud of myself for how far I've come, and I am so excited to keep training to see how far I can go.

What does fitness mean for you 5 and 25 years down the road? I can't remember a time that I have not been "in-season" for a sport. For me, fitness is a non-negotiable in my life and I find genuine enjoyment in it! Some people's hobbies may be cooking or knitting, but I feel most like myself when I sweat. Right now, I have found so much joy in the process of training that I don't have a set view for where I might be in the future. I just want to keep plugging along, and see where that may take me in 5 years. One thing is certain, though, I will still be CrossFitting! The same goes for 25 years down the line. I may not be doing as much as I am now, but 44 year-old-Laura will still be moving in a way that is productive, enjoyable, and rewarding.

Tell us one thing that most people don’t know about you: I can't peel a banana. Nope. I need to make a little slit with a knife to get it started. I've tried to learn, trust me, but a monkey in my past life I was NOT.