1) Who is Synne Krokstad? (where are you from, what do you do, a bit about yourself (hobbies, etc)
I'm a 26 year old girl from Trondheim, a town in "the middle" of Norway. I currently live with my boyfriend just a few minutes from the capital, Oslo, over 32 miles from my hometown. I’m studying to become a teacher in sports and I currently work as a crossfit coach at the box I now train at, Crossfit Sandvika.
2) How many years have you been training?
I've been training my whole life actually, playing handball my childhood, and then track and field when I was around 17 years (competing in 100m, 200m and 400m). I started crossfit four years ago, so this is actually my fith crossfit games open season!!! Feeling so old now, haha!
3) Whats been the most challenging/hardest part of your journey so far? and how have you overcome them (set backs, rejections, injuries, basically anything difficult that you have had to overcome)
In the start of my crossfit career I struggeled with some injuries. I got a prolapse in my lower back and had to fight trough that one for a couple of months. With good rehab and help from my physiotherapist we managed to stregthen my core, which was very weak and most likely one of the main factors for the injury.
Just a year later, during French Throwdown in 2016 I got injured again. This time it was during a snatch event where I failed the lift and fell backwards and landed on my but. I managed to tear some of my glute muscles and I actually could not stand on my right foot. The pain was unreal and it was so hard physicaly and also to ruin the whole weekend for my teammates as well was devastating.
Injuries behind me I managed to come back in 2017 with it becaming a dream come true qualifying for both regionals and the games!
4) What does your typical workout/diet routine look like?
A typical training day for me wold start with getting up around 08-09 am, making some breakfast, walk the dog and then head over to the box around 10-11 am. Then I have my first workout which usually consists of stregth training. After I head home for some lunch and relax, do some schoolwork before I head back for session number two around 5 pm. Then I do my cardio workouts, working on my core and accesory work. I then usually have classes from 7pm till 10pm, Then after its time to go home, eat some more food and hit the bed.
I don't follow any diet, just try to eat clean, but I have a tendency to have a lot of cheat meals. I guess my diet is one of the parts in mye life as an athlete I have the most development to do! haha. I'm sucker for chocolate, pepsi max, pizza and burgers! Eating too much of all of them I guess!
5) What new knowledge have you learned over this past year regarding training, lifestyle and nutrition?
You allways learn new things during crossfit, not just how to train but about yourself and the people around you. I've had the chance to meet up with so many incredible athletes here in Norway and I have made friendships that are going to last forever. I am always learn new things about myself, and I think crossfit, at this level is really good for your mental health. You develop the capacity to never quit untill your done, and never to settle before you have reached your goals. I think that it are these qualities that are an advantage in daily life as well (Stubborn and wanting to reach your goals).
I've learnt that nothing is impossible. When we (Crossfit Maxpuls) qualified for the games we had not even dreamt about it, because we thought we were not even good enough but then we stood there, at the floor in madrid at the meridian regionals and earned ourself a ticket to the games. and we did not end up last either. We ended up as the 16th fittest team on the earth! and that is soooooo amazing to think about. So, nothing is impossible, you just have to work hard!
6) Whats your favourite cheat/Treat meal?
haha, think I said it earlier in the interview. My favorite treat must be any kind of chocolate, pepsi max, burgers and pizza!
7) Whats one supplement that you could not live without?
hmm.. Think that must be fuel5 from Xendurance!
8) If you had to start your Journey from scratch with your health & physique what would you do differently and why?
I guess that would have been my nurtrition. Just to be more aware of what I eat every day and make sure I get all the macros that I need for my recovery and just my overall fitness level. I think that it would have made me a better athlete.
9) Who do you look upto in the fitness industry and why?
Awwwww, there are soooo many amazing athletes, but I guess the ones that impresses me the most are those games athlets who have a fulltime job/student or parents, like Brooke Wells and Brent Fikowski. I struggle my self to get enough time for school when I train that much, and I'm not even close to be at their level in crossfit.
10) If you had to give one bit of advice to people starting out what would that be?
Be patient!!! I see so many rookies in crossfit that rush through the basics to learn the butterfly pullup before the regular kip, or coming in at week two aiming for their first muscle up. It's good to have goal and want to achieve something, but you can't rush yourself to success, it takes time.
11) What new goals do you have on the horizon?
I hope to qualify for the Europe regionals this year, but our north region is really hard, so I'm crossing my fingers and I'll do my best at every open workout. I also hope to finish school so I can start teaching sports soon!
12) Where can people find you? (website, social media accounts)
You can find my at Instagram: Synnekorkstad, yeah I know, really creative.. hahaha
