Transitioning from Hockey to CrossFit

April 6, 2012

Kate Rose

Natalie Cormier has been a multi-sport athlete since she was 4. Her love was hockey, and she played it well.

Then, she had a concussion. This was her seventh. Her symptoms returned every time she stepped onto the ice, forcing her retirement. “It was literally like someone had punched me in the stomach. It felt like someone important in my life had died. I was very depressed,” she says.

But CrossFit was different. She could CrossFit without any concussion symptoms. And she could do it well. Cormier started to change the way she was thinking. “I decided not to be depressed for something I had no control over.,” she says.

She came to CrossFit through a friend, who, like most CrossFitters, couldn’t stop talking about it. She soon found a replacement for her hockey passion. “Without it, I would not be where I am today, not only physically, but mentally,” Cormier says. “I found a new passion that I really enjoy and have fun doing.”

At the start of the 2012 Open, Cormier was training hard at CrossFit Dieppe for the short period of 17 months. She's a quick learner. She’s ready for anything, “because with this programming, that’s what you get – anything!”

Her goal was to qualify for Regional competition this year, and her friends have helped her keep focus. She added running and biking to her schedule, and has been doing two workouts every other day, but she knows to rest. “I have really tried to listen to my body and take rest days when I need it,” she says. “I slowed down and took more days off so I wouldn’t be over exhausted and be at my full potential for the workouts.”

She's also been eating cleaner and resting well.

So far, her training plan has netted success. She finished 29th in the Region, and her 12.5 score put her among the top eight in Canada East. She started well, but she thought the Open planners were a little crazy with 12.1. She predicted it would be long and painful; she was half-right, at least. 

Workout 12.2 was even more intimidating. “I was not sure if I could get to 100 pounds since it was my max weight before for a snatch, but with all the encouragement, I was able to do 12 and was very happy with that,” she says. “That one was a lot of fun and very challenging for me.”

Cormier loves a good gasser, and 12.3 was just that. “I absolutely loved that workout even though I’ve never felt so awful,” she says. “Seeing spots and feeling sick. I loved the toes-to-bar. I found the push presses were the hardest.”

It was definitely better than 12.4, she says. “The wall balls were long and painful as I thought they would be, but it was a very fun workout once again. I could barely sit or walk.” She managed to achieve 248 reps on the workout, and place 17th in the region.

Cormier was thrilled when she saw last year’s final workout pop up again in Week 5.  She focused on beating her old score of 83, which she achieved with only 5 months of CrossFit experience. This year, Cormier got to 118 reps – a drastic improvement.

Looking forward to Regionals, Cormier isn’t going to change much. She wants to build on her strengths, and fine-tune her technique. She’s going to stick with what works for her.

When one door closed, another one opened. And she is taking full advantage. If Cormier does one thing well, it's compete.