Between Bostik and burpees: Cyrielle Kolbecher's muscular journey
An International Vosgienne
She grew up in the Vosges region of eastern France and lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States. Cyrielle Kolbecher is no stranger to change. “Before arriving in Épinal, I lived in several countries, from the Netherlands to Norway, via Canada.” Her parents, both teachers, taught abroad for many years and undoubtedly passed on to her their love of travel.
Cyrielle has been living near Lake Michigan for eight years, “this huge lake, as big as the sea.” Of course, the somewhat flat landscape of Wisconsin is a far cry from the Vosges and Alps, where she enjoyed skiing in her younger years. Although she returns once or twice a year to visit Épinal and her parents, she has adapted to her American life and greatly appreciates Milwaukee.
Having grown up close to nature, she loves the lake beaches and walks along the shore, the hiking trails, and camping in the great outdoors.
Cyrielle also visits the East Coast of the United States and sometimes travels to Canada to see a friend. She now plans to discover the West Coast.
Always very active as a child, she was less interested in sports but more into playing the violin intensively. “I spent most of my time playing. It's very time-consuming. But since then, I've completely lost interest. I still have my violin, which came with me to the United States, but I don't play it much anymore, if at all.”
From Violin to Action
In addition to playing the violin, Cyrielle was also a good student. Not sure what to do after graduating from high school, she went with the flow, took preparatory classes for engineering schools, and was accepted into Chimie Paris Tech. "It took me a long time to find my path. That's why I liked Chimie ParisTech. It's a very general chemistry school, where you study a little bit of everything in chemistry, from biochemistry to polymers and even marketing. “
But she needed something more concrete. ”The academic teaching was still very abstract. I needed to be in the thick of things to get a feel for things. It was during an internship at Arkema that I realized what attracted me to this profession: the contact with customers and putting my knowledge into practice. “
It seems that Cyrielle has found her calling—”You're always discovering yourself,“ she explains wisely—after two years in technical service in Milwaukee, she was appointed product manager. She loves it. ”Being a product manager means being the focal point of a process that connects various players, including R&D, production, and marketing.
You have to understand everyone's limitations and manage conflicts of interest. You're at the heart of everything, which requires a lot of coordination. The product manager plays a pivotal role in the business.“ That's how she fell in love with the sites and production lines. ”Product managers have to visit regularly to see how the product is manufactured, and it's always very interesting to go to the site."
Indeed, among the processes for the products in the ranges for which she is responsible, produced in film, web, or powder form, she has to describe how the products are manufactured. “I'm lucky with my products. If the products are manufactured in a reactor, you don't see much. But with films, for example, seeing that big bubble form before your eyes before it inflates is really fun and has a poetic side to it.”
When the day is over, it's time to go to the club or the gym to lift weights or do pull-ups. Cyrielle discovered weightlifting and CrossFit during lockdown, and she's really into it.
From Crossfit to Weightlifting
"I started going to the gym at the end of my studies because I was running quite a lot, and since there were weights there too, I tried them out and enjoyed it. But it was in the United States that I really started training seriously. During lockdown, I did a lot of cardio at home, setting myself goals. It was as much a form of meditation as it was a way to relieve stress. At the end of lockdown, I took up CrossFit."
Competing against herself, she gives it her all. Two years later, to improve her CrossFit, she turned to weightlifting for specific exercises. Cyrielle now has two passions, which she practices two to three times a week.
“I ended up participating in a weightlifting competition, and I loved it. Today, I do both 50/50, alternating between competitions.” “
And with success, as she triumphed in a local weightlifting competition last April, qualifying for a national competition in Texas this summer. In CrossFit, she appreciates the community spirit, ”in competition, the whole club comes out to cheer, even if there are only three or four competitors."
CrossFit has also helped her make a lot of friends, which is a challenge in this city, where “a lot of people are locals or from the surrounding area with their lives and connections.” In fact, her friends are American, but also Brazilian and from other places, like a “melting pot.”
In weightlifting, she likes the technical side of the discipline. "It's about stringing together movements that are not at all natural. The snatch is a sequence of several movements that require a lot of flexibility.
The important thing is to warm up properly. I spend at least 20 minutes on this at each session and so far I've never injured myself. “Attentive to her body, she regularly visits a physical therapist as a preventive measure. ”Contrary to what one might think, it's not such a dangerous activity for the back or shoulders."
With such dedication, let's hope she brings home a victory in September when she comes for her annual stay in France.
Good luck, Cyrielle.
