Throughout her years as a competitive CrossFit athlete, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet has proven time and again that she’s fitter than most. She’s competed at the CrossFit Games every year since 2010, and she earned the coveted title of Fittest Woman on Earth at the 2014 Games. Aside from getting derailed by a dislocated shoulder and torn labrum in 2017, Leblanc-Bazinet has done consistently well in a grueling sport for the better part of a decade and built a social media following of more than 1.3 million on Instagram alone. But she’s not done just yet.
Heading into the 2019 CrossFit Games this summer, the longtime athlete is at a transitional point in her career, swapping much of her CrossFit training for Olympic weightlifting with a goal of qualifying for the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo. She’s still competing at the CrossFit Games, albeit with a team as opposed to pushing her limits as an individual competitor.
“I really want to go to the Olympics,” Leblanc-Bazinet told M&F Hers, “so I feel like I would much rather do one thing really, really hard than do kind of well at the CrossFit Games and kind of well in Olympic weightlifting, but not great at either.”
No matter the sport she’s competing in, it would be impossible to call Leblanc-Bazinet mediocre. She’s put in countless hours of work over the years to get fit in a way that few people ever achieve. But these days, she’s also out to help others through endeavors like her online training program, Pumptown Express.
“When I hurt my shoulder a year and a half ago and I went to a club fitness gym, it really broke my heart that there were so many people there not knowing what to do,” Leblanc-Bazinet recalled. “I wanted to come up with a program for them—something easy to follow that makes them feel good about themselves, makes them feel like an athlete, and helps them finally get the results they want.”
Like everything else she’s ever done, Leblanc-Bazinet put effort into making sure her training program will deliver results and make people feel great. The workouts include prehab, strength training, and bodybuilding-style accessory work to deliver serious pumps by the time they’re over. She also hopes that helping people feel better about themselves will aid in a bigger cause.
“I realized through my fitness career that fit people work hard and happier people make better decisions for the world. So hopefully, we can build the whole community like that.”
Read on for some tips and insight from Leblanc-Bazinet, as told to M&F Hers.
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Dustin Snipes
On Getting CrossFit Games-ready
I think being ready for anything is a lot more mental than it’s physical, and it’s just figuring things out. Keep challenging yourself with new things. If you always do the same thing, your brain isn’t used to solving problems.
I don’t even know if this is something that people know, but one of the really awesome things about the CrossFit Games is that there are things we’ve never done before, and they didn’t allow us to practice. They make a machine for us, and we’ll have no idea how to use it. But amazingly, we always end up looking pretty good.
I just think that the more you challenge yourself with new movements, new sports, and just new things, it’s almost like your brain gets used to figuring things out. So when you get to the Games, instead of struggling with something and thinking, “Oh I can’t do this, I’ve never done this,” you’re like, “All right, let’s just figure this out.”
I had to change my training a ton. Now, it’s mostly weightlifting, and then I use gymnastics to keep my strength up. That way, I still have my gymnastics skills and everything, although I can’t really run anymore because it’s just too much on my knee. I tried to balance both [CrossFit and weightlifting] for a while, but to set priorities was just too much. With CrossFit, trying to be the Fittest on Earth is a lot of volume training. All that volume paired with all the weightlifting volume is kind of a double dip on your joints.
This year is most likely going be my last year of CrossFit, then I’m going to try to go to the 2020 Olympics in weightlifting, and then I’m going to start trying to make babies. When I was like 25, winning the Games was the most fulfilling thing. Now, I would rather help other people [with my online training plans] than have things be about me. Being a professional athlete gave me the opportunity that I have now to create things like my Pumptown Express and Feroce—which means fierce in French—online programs. I wanted to create a program that’s easy for people to follow and that makes them feel good about themselves, makes them feel like an athlete, and helps them get the results they want.
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Dustin Snipes
On Taking Prehab and Rehab Seriously
I spend a lot of time mobilizing, doing active stretching, and rolling out with a lacrosse ball. I don’t train that much, but when I do, I put everything I have into it. Many people try to train with high volume, but do everything sloppily. I’m obsessed with moving as well as possible.
I’ll spend a lot of time with a PVC pipe or doing 30 minutes of just footwork, or 30 minutes of pullup or handstand drills and things like that. It’s super boring, but it keeps my body healthy and gets me stronger.
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Dustin Snipes
On Starting Small
My advice [for beginners] would be don’t start with the barbell. Start learning how to squat clean with a fluffy pillow that looks more like something you’re going to clean in life, like your child or your dog.
I just made an e-book called Jumpstart to Health, a 30-day plan for people where we take your hand, and we just start with very simple workouts where you’re going to feel like a champ ’cause you can do it.
And I always say this: It just starts ugly. We all looked stupid when we started, but you just have to start.
The idea for my Pumptown Express online training program started after my shoulder surgery, because [my husband and I] had to find a way to rebuild my muscle mass after my arm got a lot smaller. We started to do a lot more bodybuilding, and we realized that we were so dumb not to do more of it. Bodybuilding is a great way to build strength without always loading your full body.
CrossFit is amazing, but I think we load our bodies a lot. If you’re just trying to gain strength with weightlifting through CrossFit, you’re always loading your spine. So bodybuilding is really great to just target your shoulder, or your calves, or just any specific region—especially to do rehabilitation and prehab. So that’s what Pumptown is. It’s prehab, rehab, and strength building, and you always feel quite a good pump when you’re done. It’s also just 30 minutes. That’s why it’s called Pumptown Express.
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Dustin Snipes
On the Fact That She Was Not Born This Way
People think that we [elite athletes] just woke up and were like, the most talented people with the best genetics ever, and that we don’t have any pushback from life. People think that you either have talent or you don’t, but it doesn’t matter where you start—the person who works hard is going to make it happen.
I know a lot of elite athletes now, and each one of us has a really rough background. Whether it’s the way we grew up or what we’ve had to face in our sports, every single person who became elite had it hard. We just went through, and when things are hard, you just believe that it’s going to make you better.
When I ripped my shoulder out two years ago, I was like, “Well that’s a new challenge.” We don’t feel like we’re victims or pity ourselves. If people could see how much it sucks, it might be harder for them to see that than just say that we were just talented. ‘Cause then you’re like, “Well, I should work harder ’cause Camille is just a girl like me.” And I am, and we’re just girls and boys like everyone else. We just work hard.
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Dustin Snipes
On Warming Up Right
Let’s be honest, most people know what they should do to warm up. Do some head circles, shoulder circles, knee circles, and swing your legs. I like the pigeon stretch. Everyone knows these moves, ’cause we all did them in gym class.
That would be a good place to start with literally any workout, just to get warm. ‘Cause I mean, I see it at the weightlifting gym all the time. People come in, they grab the barbell, and I’m like, “What are you doing?” and they’ll say, “Yeah normally I get warm at like halfway [to my working weight].” And I’m like, “Yeah, but halfway you’re already starting to lift a lot of weight.”
At least do five minutes of cardio and just whatever body part you’re going to work on. It shouldn’t take you more than five to 10 minutes.
