Balancing a job with two young children can be tough enough. Add in a rigorous competitive workout schedule and you’re now in Heather Crippen’s world.
The Airdrie resident took part in the Canada West CrossFit Regionals in Vancouver, May 27-29, and finished in 14th spot among the final 60 athletes. She was invited to compete after placing 32nd from the top 250 women from Western Canada during a six-week precursor, where participants submitted their scores from a series of routines.
“I made the last-day cut and I did pretty good placing 14th overall,” Crippen said. “It’s an amazing way to train, as it helps your whole body. It gets you moving and functioning the way you’re supposed to.”
The mother of two, along with her husband Regan, operate a small home business, where she trains people with the CrossFit methods of building strength and endurance.
They converted their two-car garage into a home gym, complete with multiple weight sets, stationary bikes and a matted floor.
They began it seven months ago, with the occasional morning session and several evening classes between 5 and 8 p.m.
“It’s a small business and is mostly done through word of mouth,” Crippen said. “My husband is a big help, as when he gets home from work, he takes over the kids and I run out and take care of the people. I train people in the techniques that I learned in my CrossFit level one. We do flexibility, gymnastics, power lifting and roll endurance into that.”
She said people often come in with different expectations or fitness levels, but most have the ultimate goal of becoming healthier and stronger.
“Everyone starts at different levels,” Crippen said. “If someone can only do light weights, we start them out there. We work on technique a lot. When people come in, we do a warmup, then a series of skills and technique, then we’ll get into the weights.”
Balancing the business with the home life isn’t always easy, she said, as her four-year-old and 20-month-old boys provide her with a busy schedule.
“I get my workouts in during nap time, or basically anytime I can,” she said. “It’s not always easy, but it is manageable.”
Her ultimate goal with CrossFit is to train to compete in next year’s World Crossfit Games. She also trains with a coach once a week, in addition to her usual workouts and her class time.
“I’ve worked out for most of life and when I started CrossFit, I was a bit skeptical,” Crippen said. “But seeing what I can do in my everyday life now is amazing. I’m so much stronger. It took me awhile to get here, but it’s been amazing.”
