Leaving The Netherlands – a fitness story

So how do you know if someone is into Crossfit? Don’t worry they will tell you!

Some say it is like a cult. People that get into Crossfit will tell you about their brutal workout, injuries and just plain crazy things they do.

Turn back 2 years and I am staring down the barrel of 40 and I freaked out a little. I was reasonably fit and have been for most of my adult life. But something was holding me back from the levels I could reach in my 20’s. Yes that is age, but I was determined to see what Crossfit was all about in order to see if I could reverse the clock. So I did classes in Dutch (my Dutch is terrible at best) and found out quickly, with considerable embarrassment, that this was a sport that would find me out. Looking back I find it hard to fathom why I kept going back. The group was very much closed, the teachers spoke mostly Dutch in the class. And really; who was I trying to fit in from a fitness and Dutch culture perspective? To be perfectly honest, I was also embarrassingly crap at it. After a few months I found a coach, Lotte, who was very softly spoken and just gave me the right tips and tricks. She didn’t know it, but for a long time I would only attend Crossfit while she was coaching until I built up enough confidence.

Sometime along the way I brought Belinda along and it became a nice thing to train together sometimes. We started to build some rapport with Lotte and then Nevin and even Ray (who used to love to give me a hard time).

This week is our last week in NL for a while, and that means we are also going to part ways with Crossfit Spaarne. Sad. But then today Lotte and Nevin have a card and farewell dutch treat to send us off! Nothing big but it was super special and in a broader way it represents so much about our life in Haarlem. People were very special to us, but it is really so nice to find out that even as ‘clients’ that we meant something to them. So as a couple this morning we knocked out some handstands, double-unders, wall walks and a push press or 20. And we can do this because we turn up, and people like Lotte and Nevin really care that we learn how to do it properly and get the best out of life. We also have fun. That is not what I thought I would get from Crossfit but I am pretty happy I found these people at Crossfit Spaarne.