Raising the Bar: Charles Felx Leduc

March 14, 2013

Lisa Zane

"To be able to compete in the CrossFit Games and go head-to-head with the best in the world — that's what motivates me. I love CrossFit."
Photos by: Patrick Labelle

Charles Felx Leduc just repeated as an Open event winner. Sorta.

Felx Leduc finished first in Canada East in Open Workout 12.2 after only two months of CrossFit. Now, after a year of training, he’s on top of the Leaderboard again.

The former Strongman successfully completed 188 reps in the 13.1 burpee/snatch workout to top the men’s side of the competition for the Canada East Region.

“My goal was 192, since I got 92 in the snatch event in 12.2,” he says. “The combination of burpees and snatches made this (workout) harder. I wasn’t expecting the burpee to have as much of an effect on me as it did.”

In his first attempt on Saturday, he reached 185 reps. A day later, he went at it again.

“I went too hard on the burpees (on Saturday),” he says. “When I did it again, I paced myself more and was able to get a better score of 188.”

A friend introduced Felx Leduc to CrossFit a little over a year ago.

“I was looking for another challenge since I was to small for the Strongman competition,” he says.

His first workout was Isabel, which he completed in four minutes.

“It introduced me to the fire-breathing sensation,” he says. “Since then I was hooked.”

The 25-year-old trains out of CrossFit YUL in Montreal’s West Island. The gym has more than 200 athletes competing in the Open and is among the top four gyms worldwide in terms of number of members participating.

“He is like a pitbull — he will bite and won’t let go of his goal,” says Mike Deboever, Felx Leduc’s coach and owner of YUL. “I'm there to help him do that.”

As a former Strongman, his strength is his strength. Last November, he was invited to CompWOD’s Best of the Best competition and wowed the crowd, completing Grace in 1:16 and doing eight push-presses with 315 lb. in 30 seconds on the same day.

In terms of weaknesses, he has been working hard on correcting his technique, skills, and mobility. At Regionals last year, Felx Leduc was unable to complete the required number of handstand push-ups to finish Diane and ended up with a DNF. In the last year, he’s drastically improved on HSPU, although he still has a love/hate relationship with double-unders.

As the Open continues, Felx Leduc says he is looking forward to the surprises and challenges that are to come.

“My goal is to go to Regionals and win,” he says, adding that his ultimate objective is to qualify for the Games.

“To be able to compete in the CrossFit Games and go head-to-head with the best in the world — that’s what motivates me. I love CrossFit.”