Quinten, no stranger to physical activity has joined the CrossFit Heerlen coach team! Lucky for us, his interest shifted from the icehockey stick to the barbell three years ago. After attaining his level 1 certificate, Quinten was hooked and became passionate about coaching, Olympic lifting, and helping others achieve the success they want through fitness.
Quinten loves being the person that people come to with questions about health and fitness. For Quinten, helping someone improve and become a better version of themselves makes coaching so worthwhile and meaningful. We are very proud the introduce him to you as our new coach!
Get to know coach Quinten!
Age: 27
Can you tell us a bit about you and your sporting background?
As a kid I did some football and field hockey but my great passion has been icehockey, which I played untill 3 years ago. After this I focussed on strength training, bodybuilding and (olympic) weightlifting.
What made you want to try it in the beginning?
I always had an interest in weightlifting; powerlifting as wel as olympic style lifting, but I felt like my self-training reached a plateau and therefore I wanted to do something that challenged me. Additionally, my conditioning needed some attention as well, since I kind of neglected this after I stopped doing icehockey. So for me, CrossFit was the perfect combination of these elements.
What is your favorite aspect of being a CrossFit coach?
What I like most about being a CrossFit coach is helping people overcome their fears, gaining self-confidence and reaching their goals. It feels very rewarding when people in your class perform a movement for the first time! Additionally it feels great when you can increase an athlete’s awareness of movement, so they actually feel the muscles or stance when they workout. Then I know they are safe in making their progress.
When and how did you find out about CrossFit Heerlen?
I learned about CrossFit Heerlen through Nadesch when we started working together about 2 years ago. She told me about the great athmosphere and community within this box.
What made you apply?
Being a Open Gym enthusiast, already after a few months of doing CrossFit I started to help and motivate some of my fellow-athletes with reaching their goals. This was really motivating and rewarding for me, so I wanted to do something more than being an athlete and decided to continue this line by getting my Level-1 and applying for the coach position.
As a coach, what is the best advice you can give to early CrossFitters? And what advice would you give to some one who might be interested in trying CrossFit but is too nervous or feels like they need to get into better shape first?
My advice to early CrossFitters is: listen to your body, stay at your own level and don’t compare yourself to people who have way more experience. Be patient, work hard, the progress will follow. CrossFit is for everybody, all people have to start at zero, but everybody’s zero looks different!
What was your first CrossFit WOD ever?
Fight Gone Bad
What’s your favourite CrossFit WOD?
Murph
And what’s your favourite CrossFit movement/exercise?
Just a raw deadlift!
What’s your favourite workout music (genre and/or track)?
House and Rock music.
What are some of your favourite activities outside the box?
Eating, sleeping and getting back to the box as soon as possible!
Finally, what is your ultimate goal in CrossFit and/or at CrossFit Heerlen?
I want to expand my knowlegde as a coach as broadly as possible. I want to educate and motivate athletes so much, that they quit their jobs early to come to my class! My personal goals as an athlete, are to keep increasing my 1RMs and my capability to perform complex movements like the muscle-up.
