Katsiaryna Ozkan is a warrior. Her weapons are motivation and discipline. She leads a group of fellow warriors in multiple exercise sessions each week at her home-based gym, which she calls her Arena.
Ozkan is a striking beauty, with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes – she radiates health and rightly so. She works hard at that health. Last year she competed in the Reebok CrossFit Games, a challenge sent out globally to all CrossFit enthusiasts to video yourself doing a series of pre-set workouts and post your results. This earned her the title of the “Fittest Woman on St. Maarten.”
She is deeply inspired to share her knowledge of fitness and nutrition with other women, to motivate them to live healthier, happier and more beautiful lives. To this end she has undertaken to teach healthful cooking techniques, following a style of eating that is called “Paleo,” meaning ancient. Through this lifestyle one avoids sugars, white flour and other processed foods, choosing instead fresh fruit, veggies, lean meat and nuts.
The mother of four has converted her children’s old play-yard into an impressive work-out space with sets of rowing machines, exercise bikes, barbells, climbing ropes and roman chairs. All this, overlooking a view of the Caribbean worthy of a glossy magazine spread. It’s a jaw-dropping set up worthy of a commercial gym, in fact better than most. And this is the space that the Arena Warriors call home base.
They meet to work out together, but they are more than just gym buddies, they are a full-fledged support group. A sisterhood of love, sweat and even a few tears. Acknowledged one woman, “We talk about everything, and I mean everything.”
They spend time daily online and on What’sApp giving each other encouragement to eat right or commiserating together on those sore muscles. They take pride in wearing coordinated outfits with an olive-drab camouflage motif to help them take on the persona of a warrior, and because it’s fun. “We all laugh, all the time, we give each other a hard time, we take the commitment seriously but we don’t take ourselves all that seriously.”
Practicing the CrossFit work-out routine means no routine. The daily set is posted by Ozkan, and the goal is to be unpredictable, so that the muscles are always outside of their comfort zone. A sign posted on the wall intones: “If you feel you must die, DIE!!! You will be picked up shortly by maintenance crew and a call will made to your family.” That dark humor is strangley motivational to these warriors, but they each emphasized the most important thing to Katsia is that no one is injured. For this reason, she watches closely to ensure the women’s form is correct on each exercise.
The women all pledge to take the program seriously, working out at least three times a week and following a healthy diet with strict portion control. “It’s actually a lot of food, but it’s more about what we eat and when we eat it,” one woman told WEEKender. “We are supposed to eat something every two hours, and drink a lot of water.”
Through the last 9 months or so, they have seen each other’s progress to get fit and shed pounds. They are doing things physically that they never thought possible, “I’ve never imagined I could lift big weights, or do a 24-inch box jump,” said Clau Peterson, one of Katsia’s warriors. “She’s made us into whole new people!”
The success of the program was evident to WEEKender during a visit last week to the Arena in Pelican Key. Each woman working out had a story to tell, of their weight loss, their general improvement in health, and their praise for Katsia’s tough-love style of coaching. Some of the women have known her for a long time, such as Helen Hart who has been teaching Katsia’s daughter to sing for many years, and Cherienne Bardfield who took a cooking class with Katsia a few years back.
Pamela Elferink, aka “SB,” began working out with the Arena Warriors in February of this year. Before that she says she was not at all athletic, she would join the gym but never go. When Katsia invited her to come for the program she didn’t want to and kept putting it off. “But once I came, I never left!” When asked why, she said, “it’s because of the support. There was no judgment, even if you don’t know what you want, I just knew wanted to get better, to feel better, and now I do!” Since then the mother of two has lost 32 pounds and has found the confidence to start her own online business.
Her friend Sandi Hodge has four children and has lost 45 pounds. She dropped from a jeans’ size 12 to a size 4 and says she doesn’t care who knows, she just wants to inspire other people to see what is possible. “I cut out sugar and simple carbs, I drink water and work out three times a week. I’m really happy!”
Helen Hart joined on April Fool’s Day this year, later than most of the others, and she is a bit older, so she has taken the program at a slower pace, but she is seeing great results, with reduced body fat and much more energy. “I’ve tried lots of gyms before and I never lasted three months, I even had a personal trainer but I never got this much personal attention, she’s just the best coach ever.”
The Arena Warriors are a diverse group of women, varying in age, cultures, history of fitness, eating issues, even some with medical conditions that require monitoring. They all exude positive emotions as they discuss what working out with Katsia has meant in their lives. “She’s the best coach in the world,” said one. “She really cares about us.” For Katsia, that is all the reward she needs. She feels it’s a joy to be surrounded by positive attitudes and strong bodies. “I want to help women feel healthy and sexy, to be happy and confident. I found my confidence very late,” she said, “but now I celebrate being me.”
Katsia’s sessions are by invitation only, but for those who would like more information on CrossFit, check out the Facebook page CrossFit SXM or the website www.crossfitsxm.com
