At the sight of this beautiful and friendly girl, you will never guess right away that she is the most powerful woman in Russia. However, this is the case. Earlier we wrote that in March of this year Larisa Zaitsevskaya received a certificate from the organizers of the tournament at the end of the CrossFit Open 2017, confirming her status.
Today Larisa (@larisa_zla) has kindly agreed to give an exclusive interview for the Cross.expert website and tell our readers about her sports life and how she managed to achieve such impressive results, having absolutely no sports experience behind her before joining CrossFit.
The beginning of a crossfit career
- Larissa, there is very little information about you on the Internet. I would like to know your history of joining CrossFit. In one of your interviews, you said that initially you just wanted to get in shape. What made you stay in this sport?
I really started doing CrossFit in order to get in shape, become more resilient, establish a healthy lifestyle. Over time, I was very interested in training. At first, I just tried to master the basic skills, but after successfully participating in amateur competitions, sports interest began to grow. I had a goal - to get into the All-Russian tournament, and then successfully compete in it. In short, appetite comes with eating.
- A bit of an abstract question. Based on the information in the Internet resources, you are a graduate of the Faculty of Philology. Has your education influenced your career? Do you plan to work in your specialty, in addition to coaching?
Coaching is not my main professional activity and my main source of income. Basically, I work in my specialty.
Tournament Preparation Methods
- Larissa, this year can be considered a landmark for you, because for the first time you became the "most prepared woman" among Russian athletes according to the results of the Open 2017. Have you applied any new method of preparation for these competitions? Are you planning to raise the bar and reach the CrossFit Games level?
Since the goal was to get to regional competitions, all preparation during that period was aimed at getting and dragging into the Open. I myself do not write a program for myself, my preparation was on the conscience of the coach 🙂 Then it was Andrei Ganin. I don't know if he used the new method or not, but the method worked. I plan to raise the bar, we will drag the whole Soyuz Team.
- Many athletes combine crossfit with other sports. Do you think there are any advantages for those athletes who came to CrossFit from the weightlifting direction, or does everyone have equal chances?
Before, I was very worried that I did not have a sports past. My then coach Alexander Salmanov and my husband said that all these are excuses, there is no need to look for an excuse for yourself and dwell on this. There is a goal, there is a plan - work. You can't jump above your head, but you can do everything that depends on you. And if your insecurity interferes with your training, you may not show the result you are capable of. I agree with them now, after I stood on the same competition site with candidates for masters, masters of sports and even international masters of sports in various sports. CrossFit is interesting in that there is no obsession in only one direction: if you drag on power, your endurance and gymnastics can sag. As a rule, the winner is the one who sags less than others.
Plans for the future
- There is an opinion that the peak of a CrossFit athlete's career falls on the age of 30 years. Do you agree with this statement? Do you plan to conquer the heights of sports in 3-5 years or limit yourself to training the next generation of athletes?
I will train, but I am not sure whether I will be engaged in competitive activity. I devote a lot of time and energy to my training. When I have children, all this time and effort will be spent on raising them. Family will come first. Besides, my range of interests is not limited to CrossFit. Perhaps I will choose a different direction for my self-realization.
- Recently you and your team went to the Siberian Showdown 2017. What are your impressions of the latest competitions. Do you think that somewhere you could have performed better, or, on the contrary, the team did everything they could to achieve the set goal?
I am definitely unhappy with my result in the power complex. For myself, I decided that the complex did not come in, because the day before I gave it all out on a chipper with a slam ball. Never before had this projectile come across to me in competitions on the strength complex, and never in competitions was there a requirement to fix the slambol on the shoulder before the transfer, so I could not predict the consequences.
Crossfit in Russia: what are the prospects?
- How developed is this sport in Russia, in your opinion? Are there any chances to achieve the same popularity as in powerlifting, and can our athletes compete for the main titles in the next 2-3 years?
I don't know much about powerlifting and how popular the sport is. I don't know much about CrossFit outside of Russia, so I can't compare. But, given that our athletes still cannot get through the regional stage to the Crossfit Games, it is unlikely that a champion from Russia will appear in 2-3 years. In the category of 35+ masters I'm waiting for Erast Palkin and Andrey Ganin on the podium. I also look forward to successful performances from our teenagers.
If we talk about “non-competitive” CrossFit, then, in my opinion, CrossFit in Russia lacks rationality: most of them train in unsuitable premises with unsuitable equipment according to an incomprehensible program, often with a technique of performing movements that is dangerous to health. And this is not even because the coach is bad, because the athletes themselves train without realizing that their neglect of technique and rules of conduct in the gym can have negative consequences.
- Is there any support from foreign companies (not in terms of financing performances), perhaps refresher courses, etc.?
I don't quite understand the question. Initially, only those who have completed official courses, received a Level, etc. can carry out coaching activities in CrossFit. Also, now there are many seminars on the technique of performing movements, rehabilitation, recovery, nutrition, in a word - whatever. There are many resources on the net, paid and free, for example, like your site cross.expert or crossfit.ru. A popular direction now is the organization of a sports camp with famous coaches and top athletes. For example, I often receive a newsletter from Crossfit Invictus with an offer to visit such a camp, to train with Christine Holte On the basis of our SOYUZ Crossfit gym, such events will also be organized, the nearest camp will start in January. Participants will be able to work on the technique of movements, learn about the training and recovery of Soyuz Team athletes, make a training wod with us.
Coaching activities
- You are a coach of one of the best crossfit gyms in the Russian Federation. Please tell us a little about your coaching work? What kind of people come to you? Are they getting serious results, and are there any students on your roster that could be the next champions?
Anyone who listens to the coach and maintains discipline can become champions. The question is what constitutes a championship. They come with different ambitions - someone just wants to keep themselves in shape, someone - to successfully compete. I have little experience in leading athletes. It's nice to work with a person who has outlined a goal and is diligently moving towards it, even despite weighty circumstances such as the main professional activity, family, etc. You spend time on a person, but you see the result of your work, even if the person was able to allocate only 1-2 hours for training, but at this time he carefully and clearly followed the program.
There is also a negative experience when you are waiting for a person to train, and he decided to go to the movies instead. And then it turns out that programming, training exercises, technique setting, and so on are not particularly important to him. He'll be happy just to be praised by his coach, even if he didn't put any effort into it. I am considered a strict coach, because I myself trained with strict coaches, because my positive assessment must be earned. But if I praise a person, you can be sure that the person worked, gave it all, and became closer to his goal. And I am grateful to him for that, since my time was not wasted.
A little about personal
- In one of the interviews for the youtube-channel “Soyuzcrossfit”, you said that you started doing crossfit thanks to your husband. How are things today, does he help you in training, does he support you in competitions?
My husband “kicked” me out of my native Chelyabinsk so that I could train in Moscow in one of the best gyms 🙂 He supports and helps, however, he doesn't go to competitions with me anymore - he watches the broadcast at home in warmth and comfort
- Well, the last question. What advice would you give to Cross.expert readers who want to achieve great heights in CrossFit?
I advise you to enjoy what they do If you work without pleasure - what's the point?
