New Brunswick Entrepreneur Competing to Be ‘Fittest on Earth’
ROTHESAY– A New Brunswick entrepreneur is getting ready for the 2018 international CrossFit Games this August in Wisconsin, where she’ll compete to be one of the “Fittest on Earth.”
Colleen McQuaid is a co-owner and physiotherapist at Complete Balance Physiotherapy in Rothesay and is a mother of three. Always interested in fitness, she started training at the Quispamsis CrossFit centre four years ago after her third child was born.
“Heather Wood was the owner of Crossfit Quispamsis. I played ball hockey with her years ago when I was 19-20, and she was big into fitness. My sister had started doing it when I was pregnant with my third,” says McQuaid. “So I had my third baby, and eight weeks later I decided to get in shape for post-baby and to get in shape for ball hockey for that summer. I did one workout and fell in love with it.”
CrossFit is a high-intensity fitness program incorporating elements from several sports and types of exercise. McQuaid has found her profession as a physiotherapist has helped.
“Being a physio, my body awareness is very good. I try to stay on top of injuries and I know how to work my core better and my movements may be good because I’m a physio. Whenever somebody is injured in the gym, I can go over and correct them,” she says.
“I’m also a Level One coach, so I can help people with exercises to help with their injuries or prevent injuries. I treat a lot of CrossFitters as well. I also think being strong now from CrossFit really helps me with my job.”
She says CrossFit’s planned workouts and group support are also beneficial.
“I’m in physio, so I tell people what to do all day. It’s nice to just come in and have the workouts already programmed. Everything is directed. We have a coach that goes over the warmups, we do stretches together, we do strength together, we do core together and we do the workout together,” says McQuaid.
“You have a group of people that are pushing you and you just do things you just didn’t think you could do.”
At the CrossFit Games, McQuaid will be required to complete challenging workouts among the world’s best CrossFitters in her division.
“You don’t have to be amazing at everything, but you have to be good at everything. You have to climb ropes, sometimes without your legs. You have to be able to flip tires and carry heavy objects from point A to point B. You have to be able to sprint,” says McQuaid. “The thing about CrossFit is I never get bored. There’s always so many variations of the movements they add to make it interesting.”
One of McQuaid’s competitors will be Samantha Briggs, a CrossFit athlete she looks up to.
“She’s always top 10 in the world,” she says. “I named my dog after her. My dog’s name is Briggs because I love Sam Briggs.”
The thought of competing against one of your idols is daunting for most, but McQuaid says she is excited to compete.
“For me, I’m honoured to be there. It’s going to be an experience. I’m going to learn lots from it,” says McQuaid. “It will probably light a fire under me to train even harder and do even better next year.”