Koen has recently been a member of CrossFit Moves for a year and has already completed more than 100 workouts. He has achieved one goal after another in a short time and he continues to go for it. Read Koen’s story here.

In the past, I mainly did individual fitness with a few friends. The knowledge about exercises was mainly passed on orally and there was little real coaching. It was mainly about lifting as much weight as possible without paying much attention to combined exercises or more complex series. At some point I stopped and never really picked up the thread again. Still, I started to get the itch to seriously exercise again and some friends of mine do CrossFit. That also appealed to me. Especially the combination of strength, technique and fitness and the variation in exercises. I decided to take a trial class at CrossFit Moves and have stuck around ever since.

The combination of strength, technique, fitness and the variety of exercises really appealed to me about CrossFit.

At CrossFit, each small group session is led by a coach. Precisely because the groups are not too large, everyone still receives sufficient individual attention. This ensures that exercises are performed correctly and that there is more balance in training different muscle groups. The higher intensity of CrossFit also ensures better calorie burning.

My initial goals were to get active again and live a healthier lifestyle. To lose some weight and improve my fitness. In the beginning I didn’t make many changes in terms of nutrition, but after following The Hunk Project, an 8-week boot camp, through CrossFit Moves, I learned a lot about healthy nutrition and the right nutritional supplements. I noticed that by paying more attention to this, I made faster progress and became fitter. It is therefore certainly important to pay attention to your diet when you exercise, with sufficient variety, lots of vegetables and, above all, lots of proteins.

In the meantime, after a year of CrossFit, I have already achieved many of the goals that I initially set for myself. But my biggest challenge so far is technology and mobility. Technique requires a lot of practice, but I notice that it is getting better every day. I always try to stretch extra after classes. My goal now is to be able to perform all workouts at RX level.

In the meantime, after a year of CrossFit, I have already achieved many of the goals I initially set and now I try to perform all workouts at RX level.

I will soon be participating in the CrossFit Open for the first time. This is the highlight of the year for every CrossFit athlete because it is seen as the start of the CrossFit sports season. The Open lasts 3 weeks and consists of one workout per week. Anyone can participate and this is a fun way to get in touch with competitions. My goal is to be able to do the exercises as well as possible and to have to scale as little as possible.

I find the other members at CrossFit Moves to be very friendly and always open to questions. They are passionate about the sport and are happy to offer advice and assistance where necessary. It is a fun group with room for fun besides the training. This is how I also managed to master double-unders, toes to bar and snatches.

If I had to pick a favorite workout or exercise, I would say I like bench presses and deadlifts. These are relatively simple exercises that allow you to lift a lot of weight. I also have experience with this from my previous fitness routine, so I was able to quickly follow along. In any case, I would say: don’t be afraid to get started, book your trial lesson and know that there is an adapted version for each exercise, so that you can still join in with the rest.