Time for a brand new Wildheart of the Month (WOM)! Every month we interview one of our Wildhearts. We ask them about their Crossfit journey, their day job, their favorite movements and about some other goofy stuff. This month our WOM is Stefan Riemens (31), by day a Treasurer and by 'night' a Wildheart who fell in love with the sport after being a witness of fitness.
No nickels and dimes
I work at a global trader in commodities, where we mainly trade Nickel, to supply the stainless steel industry. In my job as Treasurer I am responsible for managing the relationship with the financial institutions, managing the cash-, currency- and interest positions and financing all trades. The most interesting part of my job is that I am in the centre of the organization and semi-involved in each part of the business. And most importantly work in the most beautiful city in the world, Rotterdam
Life after football
I have been playing soccer for many years together with a group of friends and at some point our group slowly fell apart due to work, kids, relocations etc. So when that fell apart I’ve started working out at the regular globo gym (pumping some old school iron...;)) and started to hit the streets for some running. It was hard to stay motivated and I realized that what I missed the most about soccer is the social aspect of it, which kept me motivated.
Witness of Fitness
I got introduced to CrossFit by my girlfriend Julia and sister Guusje, who are also part of the Wildheart family, because they where participating with the CrossFit open at the box. So for five weekends I saw Julia and Guusje working their asses off and challenging themselves together all the other Wildheart who where participating. I saw the camaraderie and felt the atmosphere which reminded me of my days with my old soccer team. So that basically made me try CrossFit and eventually fall in love with it.
Love the feeling of getting better every single day
Personal growth
What made CrossFit so intriguing to me is the fact that I performed very technical movements which I never thought I was capable of doing and that I eventually even liked doing them. Everyone who starts CrossFit feels like they suck at everything, which in fact most of the times they probably do, but it's not about that... it's about the growth you're experiencing when exposed to new movements and techniques. I've never thought that I would ever be able to lift a barbell over my head and in fact it kind of scared me as well. Look at me now... loving weightlifting and the feeling of getting better every single day when I come to the box and enjoy a workout.
Stay tuned, our next Wildhearts of the Month will be announced very soon!