Crossed Paths with CrossFit | Katrina Leone

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Imagine walking down the streets of LA and boom you pass a crossfit gym. Well that’s where the journey began for Katrina Leone and now crossfit has become a part of her everyday life. “I’ve been an athlete in the CrossFit community for the past 8 years. I was actually just walking by a crossfit gym in downtown Los Angeles. I thought they were doing some kind of MMA training because of all the tires and the gritty look. I did their intro workout and was hooked,” Katrina exclaims!

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Fitness Meets Fashion

Katrina has a love for fitness, but she did not want to leave behind her second passion of fashion. “I wanted to find a way to merge my loves of fitness and fashion. I felt there wasn’t enough options for serious female athletes who also wanted to look good and feel comfortable in their training,” Katrina says.

This lead Katrina to put some thought into how she could change that. And that’s how Vull Sport was born. “ I started this line because I personally was having a hard time finding pieces that I felt completely comfortable training in. Everything I make is high impact and made for dynamic training. Before I launched the line, I was finding myself section off my training clothes by what movements I could or could not do in them. I had this tiny stack of bras and bottoms that I felt comfortable enough in to do absolutely anything. If I wanted to meet up with friends and join in on their programming, I would go to these clothing items. I wanted to be covered for full range of motion and not be worrying about my clothes at ALL while training. So I started Vull with that concept. We don’t do anything low-impact, no plunging necklines, do thin bottom bands, no questionable sheer areas, no plastic hardware or zippers. You can wear the pieces for yoga, but they’re made for high intensity workouts,” Katrina explains.

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Obstacles

Crossfit is a very demanding practice both physically and mentally. So, it’s expected that Katrina has had a few hoops to jump through. “I’ve been through my fair share of injuries and mentally challenging training. I’ve gone through the loss of a parent, parting with significant others and legal stuff with businesses I own. I am not a full time coach or gym owner so I do need to really manage my time between work and training. To be competitive in this sport pretty much requires constant juggling of priorities and setbacks. Anytime you are doing something that is body AND mind connected, you’re going to have points when those 2 things don’t always match up. And you’re going to need to be resilient during times when general life makes it even harder to get those 2 things in line. There’s no getting around obstacles. You have to move right through them. And you need to do that while still being incredibly consistent with your training, nutrition and recovery,” Katrina says.

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Rewards

Despite the obstacles, Katrina has had a very rewarding experience. She had learned so much from her training and that’s the biggest reward of all! “Being a competitive athlete has really taught me about perseverance, dedication and basically that nothing is going to go to plan. The journey is going to be messy and twisted, but if you keep moving forward, you will keep moving forward. It’s not always perfect. When you’re on a good one, ride that wave as far as it will take you. When you’re struggling, just keep putting on foot in front of the other and believe it will be enough.

Sport has taught me so much about myself and the characteristics I admire in others. Anything you love is worth trying for. Even if you ‘fail’ it will still take you to the place you’re meant to be.

Oh and all the amazing people I now have in my life as a direct result of CrossFit is also pretty amazing 🙂 I have a great group of friends and fellow business owners that are incredibly supportive,” Katrina shares.

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What advice would you give to a young person today who wanted to ditch a sedentary lifestyle and become more fit and healthy?

I’d say do it! Right now, right this moment. Just do ANYTHING. You don’t need to ‘losse weight’ before you start. And you certainly don’t need to ‘get fit’ before you make your way into a CrossFit gym. Whatever is calling to you, go, sign up, show up. We ALL started somewhere.

Where should they focus most of their energy to get the most bang for their proverbial buck?

Focus on performance. Set performance goals. Decide what barbell and dumbell weights you want to be able to use for certain exercises. Set goals of how many reps you want to be able to do in each workout. And don’t even look at the scale. First you move your body. Then you can figure out diet. Once you start using your body, you’ll actually want to fuel it in a better way. If you focus on diet first, it’s really easy to go back to old habits. Start new physical habits and let the rest follow.    

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Think about the 80/20 rule: If you get 80% of your impact from 20% of what you do, what is that 20% for someone just starting?

Be intense in your 20%. Whether it fitness, work, friends, whatever! Give all of yourself when you have the opportunity to. Try hard. I hate that ‘I don’t even care’ mentality. I care so much about all the things that I do. Because I do things that are worth it to me.

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Katrina Leone

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