Hobby becomes way of life
Gymnastics coach Nielsen to compete in CrossFit Games
For local gymnastics coach Laura Nielsen, a one-time plan to get in shape for the summer quickly became so much more as she discovered CrossFit.
Six years ago, Nielsen, who coaches at World Class Gymnastics in Newport News, began hearing about CrossFit from some of her athletes’ parents at work, and finally decided to try it out with her boss.
“We started going and it became an obsession after that,” said Nielsen, who grew up in Idaho, but lives in Yorktown with her husband and kids.
What started as a hobby quickly became a way of life for Nielsen, who is preparing to compete in the 2021 CrossFit Games.
She will travel to Madison, Wisconsin, at the end of July to take part in the Games, which will be held from July 27-August 1. The event will be televised by CBS and streamed on the CrossFit website.
As a longtime athlete who was a cross country and track runner in high school as well as a cheerleader, Nielsen is no stranger to competition. CrossFit’s unique format appealed to her.
CrossFit is a global program described as a “lifestyle” on the company website. Each day has its own specific workout, with additional beginner and intermediate options tailored to suit athletes at every stage of proficiency. After a workout, participants enter their score at the gym and see where they end up on the day’s leaderboard.
“It becomes competitive,” Nielsen said. “For me, I was just always like, ‘Why are these older women beating me at running?’ And it kind of became a goal of mine to step it up and eventually beat some of them. You watch yourself get stronger ... and that kind of pushed me and excited me.”
Though CrossFit for Nielsen was initially just a method to get in shape for the summer, she found herself quickly improving and advancing, at first taking part in local and regional competitions with her gym and then evolving to competing as an individual.
To qualify for the CrossFit Games, athletes competed in three weeks of the CrossFit Open, with one workout per week. This year, in the 40-44 age group for women, Nielsen placed 10th among more than 14,000 entrants. The top 10% of finishers advanced to the online qualifier, and then the top 20 finishers go on to compete in the Games.
Nielsen has prepared for the Games at her gym, CrossFit Stimulus in Hampton, as well as with Ben Smith, who won the CrossFit Games in 2015, and Adam Klink at CrossFit Krypton in Chesapeake.
“A lot of prep goes into competing,” said Nielsen, who gets up at 5 a.m. every day for the first of her twice-a-day workouts. “Just mentally, the mental toughness side of it. You have to eat as much as you can so you have the energy to train.”
As a working mother, balancing training for CrossFit on top of everything else can be a tall order. Despite the challenges, Nielsen is having the time of her life.
“I love the process,” she said. “All the hard work that goes into it. You learn about yourself, you learn how strong you can be, you stop worrying about how you look and instead you get excited about what your body can do and the progress that you make.
“It’s been awesome. It was fast, it took off real fast, and it’s just been a fun, awesome journey.”