Testimonials
Jani's Story
13 August 2010
I found out about crossfit in April of 2009 from a friend who had recently tried it. After going to the local "Globo Gym" and running on the treadmill for the past two years and not seeing any results I was very interested. I was a gymnast most of my childhood and even taught gymnastics for a few years. I felt like there was a hole in my life, I was missing something.
When I started crossfit I was doing a boot camp class that was a scaled down version of the regular classes. I fell in love right away and quickly found myself wanting more of a challenge, boy did I get it! After about 6 weeks I was a full on crossfitter! I remember Ashley Bledsoe saying "Wow, you learned pull-ups in less than two months!"
I loved this place, it reminded me of the challenge and competition I used to know. This is such a positive working environment and everyone helps and cheers you on! After only a few months my body had completely changed and my confidence skyrocketed! Now all if the people in the gym are my best friends and almost family. The last few months I have competed in a couple powerlifting competitions and I am now focusing on Olympic lifting. I will never be able to go back to the way things were. The void is filled and I'm happier and healthier than ever!
Jani Joffre
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I never thought of myself as an athlete. In high school I played one week of tennis, and I wasn’t very good at it. When I got to college I realized that exercise was good for you so I enrolled in step aerobics, and that was all I did for four years. Sure, I could climb some stairs or do a few crunches, but that was the extent of it. During graduate school I rarely exercised and I kept my weight down simply through diet, i.e. I didn’t eat much. I know now that at many points in my life I was what you could call “skinny fat” a phrase I’ve heard thrown around at the box. This meant that while I looked ok in my clothes, and some people probably thought I was fit, I had very little muscle tone, strength, or endurance. In 2007 my husband (who was my boyfriend at the time) started CrossFit in Houston. He would come home with sore muscles daily, and when he shared stories about his workouts I thought he was crazy.
Sometimes I feel that I haven’t made much progress in the past two years, but when I think back to where I started the changes are vast. My list of accomplishments includes many new skills such as handstands and double-unders, but I’ve also become stronger. When I started I had trouble with a 75 lb back squat. I’m now comfortable with 3 reps at twice that weight. Two years ago I couldn’t complete one pull-up let alone the 45 required in Fran. I’m still slow at some workouts, but increasingly I find I can perform them Rx. I feel better inside and out, and the body image issues that used to concern me now seem petty and distant. When I hear someone criticize a woman for being heavy, I find myself thinking, “yeah, but I wonder what she could deadlift?” This summer I competed in my first CrossFit event, the Faction Games. I had an amazing time even though there were many women who finished ahead of me even in the beginner division. CrossFit has humbled me time and again yet left me craving more: more improvement, more discipline, more challenge. I’m not sure when I will compete again, but if the past is any prediction of the future I’ll be back for more! 