Outdoors & Sports
Meet Sweden’s Next Ninja Warrior: Fanny Ahlfors
If you spend your free time hitting the gym, or maybe just perusing #Fitspo (we’re guilty), then we have one athlete you should want to learn more about.
Casually scrolling through our Instagram feed, we stumbled across an Insider Fitness clip of Fanny Ahlfors, a Swedish cross-fit athlete who can do it all. Her sheer strength and athleticism is awe-inspiring.
She’s been profiled by Business Insider, SVT and Sportamore, a Swedish athlete gear retailer, and has more than 137,000 followers on Instagram and thousands of views on her YouTube videos.
We caught up with Ahlfors to see what life is like in her shoes. Now, excuse us while we go hit the gym.
Tell us about how you got involved with training, climbing, lifting and everything in between? Was this something you grew up doing or did you discover it later on?
I’ve always been training for something. Riding horses when I was younger. After that, kickboxing and boxing – I also competed in that. I saw Ninja Warrior some years ago and after that I felt that I have to do something like that. I started to climb in September 2015 and training ninja things in a gym called Extremfabriken in October 2015.
You seemingly are able to climb on any surface with a ledge. What are some of the more interesting places you’ve shown off your skills?
I’m really afraid of heights so I try to work it away. Maybe climbing on a balcony at a hotel. 🙂
You ran a Toughest race, which is an 8K/40 obstacle course. What was that like?
So much fun! Ran a lot of races last year and will run more this year. I always liked running so it’s fun to mix it with all the obstacles.
In the gym, you use everything from rings to tires to small children to get your workouts in. Do you have a favorite exercise to do in the gym?
Yes! Pegboard. Love all kind of pegboards!
There’s not much you can’t do, but are there any skills on your list left to master?
Handstand and one-arm pull up. Both need a lot of practice.
Are there any muscle groups that you don’t like to train, but know you have to?
Legs! All girls like to train legs. but I don’t really like it, but I have to do it because they need to be strong for running.
It looks like you used to do a fair amount of running. Do you still get to squeeze in runs outside in between sessions in the gym?
Yes! But it’s not so cool videos. I broke my foot in August so I have to do a slow progress back.
We like to run, but we also like to eat chocolate cake. Do you have any food guilty pleasures or do you have a pretty strict training regimen?
I just try to eat good food and love green juices. I don’t follow a plan or diet – just trying to keep it simple.
Are you training now for anything in particular?
The OCR World Championship in October.
What advice do you have for people who are looking to get off the couch and start training? We’re asking for a friend.
Just try to see the world as your playground. You don’t need to follow a strict plan. Just have fun and try to find what’s your motivation.
When you’re not in the gym, how do you like to spend your time?
In the stable, with friends, working or just relaxing. Also love to travel!
Anything else you’d like to share?
If you are in Sweden, come and visit Extremfabriken! 🙂
