MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: JENNY GRABMEIER

At age 47, I decided to give CrossFit a try at CrossFit Clintonville after getting bored with group classes and lifting solo at a “regular” gym for years. I’d gotten totally out of shape and wanted something new, structured and interesting. The warm-ups alone for the 101 classes kicked my butt, the intro to Olympic lifts blew my mind, and the coaches were great. I was hooked. Today, more than five years later and 40 pounds lighter, I still am.

My gainz have been as much mental as physical. Early on, I was thrilled but also self-conscious to find myself working out among recent college athletes—rowers, gymnasts, track stars. Even in shape I’d never considered myself athletic, and I was 20 years older than most of the people in class. At CFC, though, I’ve learned I don’t have to be as fast or as strong as anyone else to be legit. Doing what I can do is legit.

At one point, I spent a year doing coach-prescribed modifications and substitutions for certain moves while I rehabbed an injured meniscus, and I got fist bumps from folks at the top of the leaderboard who had their own rehab experiences. On top of that, when my knee finally healed enough to do a back squat without a box, I got a 15# PR and broke 200. In 2019, on vacation in Iceland, I managed to get up the nerve to work out at CrossFit Reykjavik, where some of CrossFit’s biggest stars train. It was a PR for overcoming nerves. I went, I scaled, it rocked.

Most recently, I’ve gained a new appreciation for how working out with others at CFC pushes me mentally. When the pandemic first shut everything down, Patrick and Brian let members take equipment home while the gym was closed, and doing CFC workouts remotely in my garage kept me sane and fit for more than a year. Now, since I’ve been able to return, working out in person as part of a group has the effect of a tailwind. I suspect it always will.