1) Who is Lindsay Broekel? (where are you from, what do you do, a bit about yourself (hobbies, etc.)
Hey, Hi, Hello! I am a 32 year old competitive weightlifter (53kg class) and I live in New Bedford, Massachusetts. I live there with my boyfriend Tyler and our 3 dogs. We have 2 Siberian huskies named Ghost and Tala who are brother and sister and a Pitbull/Cane Corso mix named Odin. I currently work at my family's natural food store that we have owned and operated for the last 41 years. I've also worked as a professional makeup artist for MAC Cosmetics and a bike taxi driver in the city of Boston for Boston Pedicab. My Hobbies include petting all of the dogs, weightlifting, training, food (eating it, not cooking it), and anything to do with Vikings. I love leather smithing (I'm still a novice but I can make a mean leather wrapped mason jar coffee mug or a drinking horn) and would also love to get into blacksmithing at some point.
2) How many years have you been training?
I started doing crossfit in January of 2013. I quit crossfit in 2017 to focus on the sport of weightlifting.
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)
A few months after nationals in 2017 I injured my rotator cuff pretty badly. I'm actually still in the process of rehabbing the injury and am unable to compete at nationals this year because of it. This is by far the hardest thing I have had to deal with on my journey. I have never had an injury great enough to keep me from competition in my entire life. I had such a fire in me after nationals and I really wanted to get after it. Then BOOM, I almost couldn't even use my arm at all. My doctor also decided that I have something called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. TOS is basically compression of the nerves and blood supply in the space between your collarbone and first rib. This is probably due to a bicycle accident I was in many years prior where I was struck by a car door that opened into traffic and launched me over my handle bars and onto my back. This accident left me with a separated shoulder and some pretty severe whiplash but it wasn't really an issue then because I wasn't doing crossfit or weightlifting at the time. My shoulder is almost back to being able to do everything again but its been a slow and difficult process. Fortunately I have the best doctor and coach a girl could ask for. I have complete and total confidence in their abilities and I know that as long as I put in the work I'll be back and better than ever!!! That's honestly what keeps me going on those days in the gym that are harder than others. Hard work pays.
4) What does your typical workout/diet routine look like?
I train weightlifting 4 days a week. My coach Chad Vaughn (@olychad) determines my programming for those days. On my off days from weightlifting I do physical therapy for my shoulder Prescribed to me by my Phycial Therapist Dave Tilley (@shift_movementscience).
As far as nutrition goes I count macros and I consume almost 2,300 calories a day, mostly in carbs. Mike Malloy from M2Performance Nutrition (@m2performancenutrition) is my coach in the food department.
5) What new knowledge have you learned over this past year regarding training, lifestyle and nutrition?
Training: Having to start all over again due to an injury isn't always a bad thing. Being forced to bring it back to the basics and rebuild is only going to make you better in the long run. Especially if poor movement and technique is one of the things that contributed to the injury in the first place. Technique work is key!
Lifestyle: My lifestyle is pretty focused around fitness. The only thing I would say that I'm always trying to improve upon is stress management. I have an autoimmune illness of the thyroid called Grave's Disease that I choose to not take medication for. Stress management is a huge part of staying healthy with this condition and sometimes it means saying no to a training day and taking some extra time to recover.
Nutrition: NUTRTION COACH. I think everyone should have one! I mean I don't need someone to tell me exactly what to eat. just how much because I'm a bottomless pit. I've used nutrition templates in the past with some ok results but having an actual nutrition coach has made all difference in my recovery, strength and just over all health in general.
6) Whats your favourite cheat/Treat meal?
Burgers and fries.... Always “Burgers and Fries”.
7) Whats one supplement that you could not live without?
I could not live without a good dairy free protein powder. I find it difficult to get all the protein that I need through food alone. No real reason except that its just a lot of food to eat honestly. Sometimes I just get sick of chewing. Some of my favorites are Garden of Life's grain free Sport plant based protein or Ancient Nutrition's Bone Broth protein.
8) If you had to start your Journey from scratch with your health & physique what would you do differently and why?
This one is tricky. I'm not sure I would want to start over. I believe that everything happens for a reason and all of the things that I've gone through have shaped and molded me into the person I am today. I used to suffer from severe body dysmorphia and anorexia. From my early teen years up to my mid 20's all I wanted was to be as skinny as possible no matter the cost. It took many years of hard work but I was eventually able to develop a better relationship with food and to see beyond the number on the scale. But it wasn't until I found crossfit that I was able to fully let all those feelings and bad habits go. It made me want to be big and strong, not skinny and weak. If I wanted to get strong that meant I had to eat. You have to feed the booty! I no longer have any negative thoughts about my weight or my physical appearance and I have an amazing relationship with food. I am literally the polar opposite of what I used to be and I thank crossfit for that! Now if I lose a few pounds my first thoughts are "oh no my back squat is going to go down!". The only thing I would do differently would be to be kinder to myself and have more self love. Be kind to yourself people! Life really isn't that serious!!
9) Who do you look upto in the fitness industry and why?
In crossfit: I love Lindsey Valenzuela. She was one of the first female crossfitters that I was exposed to and one of the reasons I started. I love how passionate and aggressive she is. It gets me fired up! I admire her so much that I almost have her same Instagram handle. We spell our names differently so I thought it was cute little spin on it. I threw a 53kg on the end. I also love the Dottir's. Mainly because I would kill to be an Icelandic Viking like them. They are all so strong! In weightlifting: I've only been in the sport for a little less than 2 years and can't say that I know a whole lot about its history and the people that have competed in it. Not yet anyways. I do want to say that I admire all of my peers in this sport that I have met so far. I look up to all of you!
10) If you had to give one bit of advice to people starting out what would that be?
Just start. What are you waiting for? Unless its Olympic weightlifting... then get a coach first. That way you don't have to undo all the bad habits you learned before you had one, hahaha.
11) What new goals do you have on the horizon?
The big picture is to crush it in weightlifting before I turn 35 in a few years and become a masters athlete. But the current short term goal is to get my shoulder healthy enough to compete at the USA Weightlifting American Open Finals in December of this year.
12) Where can people find you? (website, social media accounts)
Instagram @liftlikelindsay53kg
