Lauren

Coach

My fitness journey began on a field hockey field when I was twelve years old. I attended my first field hockey practice that day, and fell in love with the sport, as well as physical fitness. I worked hard from that day on to keep myself in the best physical shape, and be the best field hockey player I could be. My hard work paid off my senior year of high school when I was offered a Division I Field Hockey scholarship from Longwood University. During my freshmen year at Longwood, I discovered another passion – weightlifting. I was introduced to Olympic lifts, and immediately knew that this was something I wanted to pursue. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a summer in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as an intern in Wake Forest University’s Strength and Conditioning program, which is where I started my coaching career. I worked with every team on campus – from football to women’s golf. I loved having the opportunity to work closely with individuals, and help them in their own personal fitness journey. Upon college graduation, my coaching and playing career were taken overseas. I moved to London, England, where I played professional field hockey for 6 months, and coached field hockey at the high school level. I learned a lot about myself as a coach, and feel very fortunate to have had such a fulfilling experience. After a season in the U.K., I decided to return to the United States and join the field hockey staff at Virginia Commonwealth University as their assistant coach, where I had the opportunity to work for 4 great years. Shortly after joining VCU, my CrossFit career began. I took my first class in January 2013, and realized soon after that CrossFit was the perfect combination of every hobby I have ever had. It was competitive, I loved being part of a community, and I loved the weightlifting aspect of the sport. After being a member of my box for a year, I decided to pursue my Level 1 CrossFit Certification, and began coaching CrossFit.

My Training Philosophy:

I decided to start coaching CrossFit because I wanted to share my passion and my fitness journey with other people. Although my fitness goals may be different than the person next to me, I find happiness in helping members be the best version of themselves that they can be. I am a flexible, hard-working and caring coach, who has had the opportunity to work with all different kinds of athletes, and I look forward to working with members of the CrossFit Prelude community. As your coach, I promise to give you all my knowledge, effort, and passion, whether it is during class, or outside of gym hours. My training philosophy as an athlete and as a coach always circle back to hard work and work ethic. They are both two different aspects of training, even though they both contain the word “work”. Hard work involves sweat, tears, heart, and dedication. In order to improve a specific skill, increase your cardio capacity on met-cons, or simply improve your quality of life, hard work is necessary. However, a good training philosophy does not only involve putting in the time at the highest intensity possible. Work ethic is training smart. If the Workout of The Day has a running or rowing option, and you know that you need to improve your running, train smart and pick the run. If it is towards the end of the week, and your shoulders are really sore from the previous few days’ workouts, train smart and be willing to scale the pull-ups to a movement that is less demanding on that specific part of your body. The hard work is still present in those scenarios, but the work ethic is what stands out. As a coach at CrossFit Prelude, I look forward to sharing my passion for fitness and my training philosophy with you all!

Contact me to schedule a FREE one-on-one introductory session by clicking HERE.

EDUCATION:

  • Bachelor of Science, Kinesiology-Exercise Science Concentration, Longwood University, 2011
  • Master Degree, Sports Management, Virginia Commonwealth University, anticipated Summer 2017

TRAINING:

  • CrossFit Level 1 Trainer
  • CrossFit Certified Judge
  • USA Field Hockey Level 1 and Level 2 Coaching Certified
  • American Heart Association CPR/AED Certified

The Beginning of Something Better

What is your something?