Katharina Isele does functional fitness and lifts weights. With success! She has held the title of “Fittest Woman in Germany” since 2022. She not only told our author her tricks for combating muscle soreness, but also tips for effective training and explained why CrossFit is so much more than just burning muscles and burning calories and why she wants to get many more women interested in strength training.
Brigitte.de: You are the “Fittest Woman in Germany 2022”. How did you get into sports?
Katharina Isele: I never did sports during my childhood and adolescence and actually only started when I was 21 because I was overweight. A work colleague took me to CrossFit and said: “You always wanted to lose weight. There’s something new here now. Let’s do it.” And then I thought: yeah, okay, how bad is that supposed to be? – It was bad!
You could have chosen something more relaxing, why CrossFit and strength training?
I’ve already tried to lose weight somehow – by running, for example, or by eating less in the classic way. I’ve tried everything and I haven’t done anything because I just didn’t enjoy it. What I love about functional fitness is that the training is never the same and there are so many different elements. There’s the gymnastics component, the weightlifting, the strength training, a little bit of bodybuilding, a lot of endurance. I’ve never done the same workout twice. Rather, it depends on the composition. For example, squats alone are easy, but if I’ve run 800 meters beforehand, it’s no longer as relaxing. That makes the whole thing very, very varied. I’m not a specialist in anything, but I try to be a specialist in everything. And I think the level of fitness you achieve is incredibly cool.
If I want to start CrossFit, do I need certain requirements so that I don’t get laughed at?
Nobody has to worry about being laughed at. The CrossFit community is incredibly open, extremely diverse and very colorful; everyone is welcome, no matter what fitness level you have or what you look like. A very nice community is created there. It’s much more important to motivate people to get fitter, to become faster or stronger. CrossFit is so broad that almost anyone can do it.
One of the biggest hurdles is the issue of time in stressful everyday life. How often would you say you should exercise per week to achieve a healthy basic level of fitness?
A certain level of basic fitness is different for everyone. I don’t want to make any recommendations. Personally, I’m a fan of training twice a week and doing it regularly, rather than six times a week for six weeks and then never again. Especially as you get older, it is very important that you are fit and vital, for example to prevent injuries.
How often do you train per week?
I have twelve training sessions a week – twice a day, six days a week and one day off. This brings me to around 25 hours per week.
Do you still have sore muscles?
Yes, this week it was really bad. On Sunday we had sled pushing as part of our workout. My trainer Ben loves the tool. This allows you to train very intensively without putting too much strain on your joints. From that and various lunges I had the worst muscle soreness I’ve had in a long time. But I’m also happy about everyone who still comes, because of course it’s no longer the same as it was at the beginning. However, when he comes, he is really violent.
But is it true that you shouldn’t exercise if you have sore muscles?
That depends somewhat on the goal. If someone exercises three times a week recreationally and then has sore muscles, I would recommend not training the same muscle groups the next day. Then it’s better to go cycling or swimming, for example. But exercise itself is always good because it gets your blood circulation going and you usually feel better because everything isn’t sticky together. However, I don’t have much of a choice myself: what needs to be done has to be done when you’re training in the performance range.
Do you have an insider tip for sore muscles?
Sleep!
Sleep is important for regeneration, as is resting and eating well. Magnesium, zinc, omega three and something that replenishes the electrolyte balance is always good too.
What exercise would you recommend to people who want to get fit as quickly as possible?
To get someone fit as quickly as possible, I would recommend a combination of burpees and thrusters. Thruster is a squat with a barbell that ends overhead – i.e. uses the whole body – just like the burpee. But training should first and foremost be fun, so that you do it regularly and then the success will come naturally.
How do you overcome your inner weaker self if you’re a real sports enthusiast?
The first thing you need to do is find a sport that you enjoy. Then you’ll enjoy doing them too. If you don’t want to go running, then please don’t go running. If you enjoy strength training, do strength training. Also important: minimize excuses. This means: pack your sports bag in the car straight away, drive straight to training after work or do it beforehand. Put a real fat date and blockers in your calendar. And you take that seriously: No, I can’t do that, I’m doing sports. Maybe you can do this with a friend. And most importantly: Don’t see exercise as a compulsion to burn calories, but see it as a privilege that you have a healthy body and that you are able to do something for yourself.
© lululemon / PR
Strength training and muscles are still considered masculine. Do you often hear stupid sayings?
At the end of the day, it’s a certain body type and you have to like that. It’s the same with other things like hair color or something similar: If a man doesn’t like red hair, he won’t like me either. If you don’t find muscles on women beautiful, then it’s simply not good for you. It’s completely okay too. But personally, I’m of course happy about this development, which can be seen especially in social networks and in our society, that more and more different body types are being seen in advertisements and other role models are also getting media attention. Just because you weigh more doesn’t make you wrong. Being muscular doesn’t mean you’re masculine. I see myself as very feminine, I feel that way and I don’t think that you have to separate muscles from being a woman.
Are there stupid comments on social media?
Yes, just recently someone wrote to me again asking if I had ever looked at myself, whether that was really me in the pictures and that women shouldn’t look like that. That just wouldn’t fit… You can express your opinion very anonymously on the internet without any consequences.
You have to grow a thick skin. I’ve also gotten a lot of pushback for it, but both in one direction and the other. Then the question arose, why don’t I have a six-pack? That doesn’t fit into the image people have of the fittest woman in Germany in 2022, which is just how people imagine it. I don’t have a low body fat percentage, but I feel comfortable in my body and I can perform very well with it. But I’ve also come across people saying: She has a pretty high body fat percentage for doing so much sport. And if it were ten kilos lighter, wouldn’t it be efficient? So no, just because you have a six pack doesn’t mean you are fitter or healthier. And just because someone has big upper arms doesn’t mean they are efficient
But overall, the positive comments outweigh the negatives and I personally have built up a very nice community on Instagram.
What is particularly important to you to convey?
By often breaking the mold, my mission is to encourage women. Strength training is very important for us women. Of course, you don’t have to do this excessively, but simply so that your body is fit and healthy for a long time. If you don’t have core muscles, what holds you up when you sit at a desk all day? A good example is back pain: people start strength training and the back pain goes away. In addition, strength training is also prevention so that we are not as susceptible to injuries as we get older and so that the body can still function well into old age. Strength training is not only good and healthy when you’re young, it’s extremely important as you get older. Unfortunately, many people forget this.
Catherine Isele started CrossFit eight years ago because she wanted to change her life – now she is the Fittest Woman in Germany 2022 and one of the most popular German CrossFit athletes. But she doesn’t just do CrossFit, Katharina also takes part in the German Weightlifting Championships, which she won in 2022! She stands for body positivity and wants to inspire others to exercise – no matter what fitness level they are. Katharina has also been a brand ambassador for the sports brand Lululemon since this year, which stands for body positivity just like Katharina herself.