May 16, 2014
Julie Foucher: Medical Training

It’s three weeks before the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games Regionals begin, and Julie Foucher is dividing her time between medical school and the gym.

She trains in the morning, focuses on school during the day and then trains again in the evening.

And since her last time competing in the Games, in 2012, Foucher has been improving her gymnastics technique by working with two gymnasts: Mike Canales, formerly of Ohio State University, and his spouse, 1996 Olympic gold medalist Dominique Moceanu.

“One of the areas that we thought we could improve upon is getting a little bit more of that killer instinct in Julie because she’s just a kind, compassionate person, and so we wanted to make sure she could get that ‘smell-blood mentality,’” Canales says.

Foucher, 25, did not compete last year because of medical school. In 2012, she placed second at the Games.

“She has all the goods, and our guidance in the gymnastics portion is what’s gonna—hopefully—help her put all the little pieces of the puzzle even more together and get her stronger to be atop that podium,” Moceanu says.

Foucher explains she will begin training to be a doctor full time after 2015.

“Right now, when it’s like three weeks before Regionals and I’m really beat up and I’m, like, sick of being in the gym all day, you realize how good you feel and how good it feels to be, like, the fittest you’ve ever been,” she says.

Foucher will compete at the Central East Regional from May 16 to 18. Watch it at Games.CrossFit.com.

Video by Mike Koslap.