Crossfit Athlete Danielle Sidell Talks With TheAthleticBuild.com

Were you an athlete growing up?

Yes I have always been involved in sports. My mom pushed me pretty hard to be the best at everything I participated in, whether it was running, basketball, or volleyball. I started competing in sports when I was in the 4^th grade; pee wee basketball. In high school I spent most of my summers going from camp to camp, mostly basketball and volleyball camps, all over Ohio. I had the opportunity to be invited to the Tennessee Volunteer Basketball Camp in the summer of 2006; Pat Summit is a huge role model in my life. If I wasn’t away at camps you could find me in the weight room. My mom would drop me off at the school’s weight room on her way to work, around 7:30am, and my oldest brother would pick me up whenever he would wake up, around 10am. I kept myself busy, I would workout with the football team a lot.

How did you get started in crossfit?

I got started in Crossfit during the open last year, lol. Clete Weigel, Joe Weigel’s father, was my supervisor during my internship at Summa Akron City Hospital and we would always talk about working out and he would always tell me about Crossfit and how active 3 of his sons were in it. At the time I thought the “idea” of Crossfit was silly and pointless, I was in to bodybuilding and getting BIG. One day Clete invited me to SPC Crossfit in Kent to workout. I gave in and said yes, figured it would make me look good to my supervisor by showing that I am willing to try new things. I did the 12.1, 7 minutes of Burpees, was my very FIRST Crossfit workout EVER! Oh it was horrible. The members of SPC were showing me what a burpee was before I actually performed the workout, I had no clue. After that it just took off….. Joe Weigel started sending me workouts and I would google the movements and youtube a lot and then perform them on my own. Because of my hectic schedule with school, internship, and work I wasn’t able to work out with Joe in order for him to show me the movements, so youtube was my new best friend.

How has the way you train for Crossfit changed over the years?

Well I have only been doing it for a little over a year and it hasn’t changed too much. I just know what I am doing now rather than before! I am able to perform movements I wasn’t able to at first, so I can now add those in my workouts. I am also a lot stronger, so my programming now is a lot “heavier” than what it was last year! Starting today, 9/23/13, I am going to start being on a very structured program, which is something I’ve really never had before until now. Nate Schrader is taking over my programing; I am really excited about that. In that past I would find out what my workout was while I was changing at the gym, which wasn’t good for mentally preparing myself to have a good workout. Nate is giving me my programming a week in advance which always me to get prepared and just kill it every day!

Do you do more than one CrossFit workout per day?

It depends on what the day is. I would say 90% of the time I do.

What kind of music do you listen to when you are working out?

It varies. One day it will be 90’s party mix , Rap Strength and Hip Hop, or some Country station on Pandora.

We all have at least one, what is the most embarrassing song on your iPod?

I don’t own a iPod… that’s sad lol.

What is the biggest misconception about CrossFit?

That it’s all “random” so let’s just do a random workout. Most box owners don’t know how to program because of that, they feel it’s meant to be random so they just throw a random workout up on the board, rather than thinking it out and programming their clients. I hate that.

What does your diet look?

My diet is 100% focused on recovery. My goal is to stay anabolic throughout the entire day to allow my body to fully recover for tomorrow’s workout. I use certain foods at certain time of the day to maximize hormone balance and recovery. I’m sitting around 3,500 calories per day. All my meals are timed up specifically and geared towards my workout regimen. I time up my fats, carbs, protein source all based on what time of day I will be working out.

What are the top 10 foods we would find in our kitchen?

Chicken breast
Tilapia
Tuna
Raw oats
Eggs
Lean ground beef
Sweet potatoes
Rice
Protein powder
Apples

That is literally all the food I have in my house, I just went through my cabinets. I don’t buy “snacks” because then I will drift away from my diet.

What are your favorite and least favorite CrossFit exercises?

Favorite is CLEANS J and my least favorite is HSPU! My worst enemy….

If you could give somebody starting in CrossFit some advice what would it be?

NEVER carry a water bottle during your workouts. It is an excuse to stop and take a break. You should be hydrated enough to get through a workout without having to stop and take a drink.

Tell us about your biggest CrossFit influence?

Would probably be my training partners at SPC; Julianne, Bret, Toby, Kyle, Craig, Joe, Sam and Courtney. Because they put in so much of their time to teach me and train me. I was a mess when I first started and each of them took time out of their hectic schedule to help me improve, which was awesome!