The coaching team are stoked to announce our September Member of the Month as Eleanor Perllman!
Els joined us in May this year having been following the CrossFit methodology on social media for a few months whilst training in a conventional gym. Since making the leap to CrossFit she hasn’t looked back! Easy to coach and a fast learner Els has progressed rapidly in her lifting technique, her strength numbers and her gymnastics ability. Whilst sound coaching helps it is Els dedication and consistency that has helped her improve so much.
Eleanor got our vote for member of the month for her work towards demolishing her weaknesses. A massive fan of the barbell Els quickly realised her engine and her gymnastics didn’t match up to her lifting game. Rather than ignore her weaknesses Els got herself down to open gym and stayed after classes to work on rowing intervals and assistance work to help her gymnastics. Her engine is now building and we anticipate a solid pull up in the next few weeks!!
Combine this work ethic with Els relatively good level of banter and you’ve got a solid member we are proud to have as part of our community!
We asked Els:
What bought you to Saxon CrossFit?
I have been really interested and slightly addicted to watching CrossFit related videos for the last 6 months to a year now and I would say to myself ‘why can’t I do that? It could be something I’m good at’. So I was getting really bored of my regular body building kind of routine with a designated day for each muscle group and one evening I was looking online and I just decided to take the plunge and apply for taster sessions with a couple CrossFit gyms in the area. I told myself if I didn’t like it or the people I just wouldn’t go back. Luckily I had the brains to google if there was any places nearer to me than Norwich and I found Saxon! I was really keen to get booked in straight away and Jess replied to me super quickly and here I am. I’m really glad I found Saxon.
What’s the biggest change Saxon CrossFit has had on your life?
There’s a few that all come hand in hand really. I have lost weight and a lot of body fat since coming to Saxon and that’s helped me with being so much more confident in how I look! I’m not a shy person but I had literally zero body confidence, whereas now I’m stacking on muscle and everything’s changing and I feel so much fitter. I also just love the energy I have in day to day activities! My laziness has gone, my mind is clearer and I always feel like can finally appreciate even the small things about being fitter (shaving my legs so much easier now I’m more mobile!!)
What’s your favourite thing about being a member at Saxon CrossFit?
I love the pride in the community. Everyone is so proud of who they are and what they achieve in classes and no matter what, people are always there to make you feel like you’re doing great.
If you achieve something, no matter what it is, but something you have been aiming for then your achievement is an achievement amongst everyone. People are always happy for you to be improving no matter what shape that improvement comes in. That mentality and that camaraderie is hard to find..plus there are some proper funny people so that’s a win. Nothing is better than walking into a place and feeling like you belong.
In a workout you want to see…..?
Heavy lifting!! I love anything heavy, especially front squats, squat cleans and power cleans. I’m the sweatiest person going so add some heavy weight to that and that’s a great workout for me. I also don’t mind seeing running, I know I’ll probably not get the best score but it means it forces me to improve on something I once hated and I’ve even started to learn to enjoy.
What movement do you shed a little tear at during a WOD?
Well I would have said running if you’d have asked me at the beginning..but then I did a burpee for the first time ever. I’m not the lightest or the most agile of people, so getting down to the ground and back up again whilst still trying to keep alive is hard work. But, to be good at CrossFit, you need to work on getting better at the things you know you suck at.
How would you describe Saxon CrossFit in 3 words?
Fit As Fuck. We show up, get our butts kicked around in a heart achingly painful WOD and still come back the next time to workout again (even if I do spend the warm ups thinking my legs will never be the same again, whilst lunging up and down the gym). There’s always people to push you to work harder in different aspects. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses and everyone is happy to share a few tips on things. Sometimes it’s just nice to not even share words, but to share sweat, tears and the occasional eye contact with a pained expression.
Tell us one thing about yourself the other members wont know?
Well there’s lots of weird stuff I’ve done but I want a career in the future so I’m not putting it out there online. So, I used to be really into rap music when I was younger (I still am into it actually) and I learnt to rap quickly. So yeah I can actually rap pretty fast to things like Eminem’s Rap God, Chris Brown’s Look at me now & a song by Tech Nine called Worldwide Choppers..I guess that’s a good party trick?