Namita Nayyar:
Making it to the Guinness book involves out of the box performance. What led you to become the Guinness WR Holder by chopping the most Christmas trees in two minutes.? How did you feel in that special moment?
Erin LaVoie:
This event was brought to my attention. I didn’t know about it prior. I had an invitation to Cologne, Germany for a chance to break the current record of 7 trees chopped down in two minutes. It was an awesome challenge! Robert Groce is a logger and friend who lives 45 minutes north of me. I’ve traveled to a couple competitions with his family when I first started. He helped me with gear, and getting wood, so he had to come with me. When we got to Germany we got to test my axes in the wood, he would work on them (change the file) to make them match the wood as best as possible. I just focused on my game plan and how I would approach each tree with the precise angle to chop it down as efficiently as possible. My competitor beat the old record with 9 trees, then it was my turn, and I laid down 27 for the win! I remember being so focused that the number of trees falling didn’t faze me. I had no idea, I just kept going. One after one they fell. It was so cold that by the end of the two minutes, my teeth and lungs were burning from breathing so hard. With my preparation, and having been able to bring my coach/axe filer I had a good feeling I was going to beat the record, but I had no idea by how much. The crowd and the hosts were shocked and I think that was my favorite part.
Namita Nayyar:
You are also a CrossFit Athlete, share with us what your workout routine looks like?
Erin LaVoie:
CrossFit is a perfect mix of Gymnastic (Body) movements/skills, Weightlifting, and Metabolic conditioning. I stick to the CrossFit ideology of General Physical Preparedness. There aren’t any movements I do where I try to mimic my specific sport. I own Predation CrossFit, and do all of the programming for the gym. So I just do that programming as well. However…. I do try to build my strength more in the off season, then let off and just maintain that strength during season while mixing in a lot more mobility and rehab, and focusing on fast light weight movements. The better workout formats for my sport are intervals. I like the “Tabata” clock. 8 Rounds of :20 work, 10: rest. or sometimes :30 work, 1:00 rest. It allows me to go from Zero to 100 instantly, just like the Underhand chop, and Single buck.
Namita Nayyar:
As the owner of Predation CrossFit, how do you train your female clients, especially with some health challenge?
Erin LaVoie:
The first thing I do with any new member is to make sure they feel comfortable with the environment – The other members, the movements, their surroundings, and with me/or the other coaches. I find people have better success when they are comfortable. Its a big step for somebody new to walk through the door and not feel intimidated. More so for women I have noticed. Once they find comfort, then they find confidence, and success. I look at all health challenges closely, and work on finding the best line of action with that member. There is always a way.
