Jump in the Deep End and Learn how to Swim

Here is a guest blog from our sponsored athlete Stephanie Knapp of CrossFit Swindon:

"This will be the first blog I’ve written about my journey so far so I think the right place to start would be right at the beginning.  I started CrossFit in January 2013 with my fiancé (now husband) and brother.  At the time I wanted to lose body fat for my upcoming wedding so the timing was perfect. After a while it became less about losing body fat and more about the next PB!

Last year, I entered a few online competitions and qualifiers (I use the term ‘a few’ loosely…) to really test myself and out of a curiosity to see where I would sit in the rankings.

My first competition was scrapping through to The Athlete Games qualifying in 104^th place (4 places out) and getting an invite due to dropouts. I was so excited to have such an opportunity so jumped at the chance… and I was also petrified! I don’t have a competition background in sports so walking out on the arena floor for the first time was one of the most nerve-racking things I’ve ever had to do.

Since then it’s been a whirlwind of competitions and achievements I would never have imagined happening a year ago. 9 months and 6 competitions later, I am finally finding my feet. Or (I should say) keeping with the metaphor in the title – swimming, keeping my head above the water! Although the nerves resulted in some sleepless nights and missed meals I would still take the chance to do it again. From these experiences I have learnt that stepping outside your comfort zone is the best thing you can do for confidence and progress! It was a massive learning curve and it has transformed me for the better. Which brings me to the sentiment of this post… If it scares you, DO IT! The reward is worth it!!

I’ll be finishing competing this year in the next 2 weeks with two final comps;

• The Super Team Cup with The CrossFit Swindon Silverbacks (3^rd-4^th Oct)
• Rep It Out UK with Freya Lees (11^th Oct).

Follow @sknappstar on Instagram for updates on competitions and training"

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