Weekend in review

I was lucky enough to spend the weekend in the company of Coach Mike Burgener, his family ( daughter Sage, Son Casey and his daughter in law Natalie ) and a lot of friends old and new at CrossFit Northern Ireland at a CrossFit Olympic Lifting Certification.





I flew out from Glasgow Airport on Friday and after a 25min flight I was in Belfast. I got picked up by Colm and Will from CrossFit Ireland who gave me a lift to Johnny and Helens, where I had managed to get a room to sleep in for the weekend. Johnny and Helen are the owners of CrossFit Northern Ireland and also staying with them were Karl and Rachel Steadman from CrossFit Manchester.



An early start on Saturday morning was the order of the day to allow Johnny and Helen to get the box opened up and ready for the cert.

CrossFitters from all over Europe had made the journey to the box as well as non CrossFitters looking to improve their Olympic lifting.



We were in the company of 2 Olympic athletes who were part of the American team at last years Olympics - Casey Burgener and his wife Natalie Woolfolk. Also accompanying Coach Burgener was is daughter Sage, who herself is an accomplished Olympic Lifter.



The weekends coaching started with the snatch. Coach Burgerner has been a teacher for 30 years, teaching Olympic lifting in a high school in the states, and over the years he as managed to break the Olympic lifts down into easy to understand cues and coaching points that allow anyone to go through these very complex movements.

Saturday consisted of the snatch. Sunday started off with a recap of the snatch followed by front squats, cleans and jerks. We did a lot of stuff in these two days, too much to write up here so lets just say that I learned so much, not just in the Olympic lifts but also in myself ( my shocking flexibility for one!)



This weekend is why I love CrossFit- travelling to train with like minded people, to meet up with old friends, to make new friends, to meet people I only know through the internet but whom I consider friends.

If you get the chance to go to one of Coach Burgeners certs I highly recommend it.