“Fitness just isn’t for me. I’ve never felt included...!"

After 25+ years coaching in the fitness industry, you’d think I’d seen it all.

But one of my biggest lightbulb moments came not from inside the gym… but outside, over a casual conversation with a friend.

She said something that stopped me in my tracks:

“Fitness just isn’t for me. I’ve never felt included. I wouldn’t feel confident walking into a gym.”

She wasn’t lazy. She wasn’t unmotivated.

She just didn’t see herself in the world I’d been immersed in for over two decades.

And it made me ask myself:

Why haven’t we made more space for people like her?

Why couldn’t I create something where fitness felt approachable, inclusive, and empowering?

That night, over a bottle of wine and great food, a new idea took shape with my partner.

We called it Couch to CrossFit.

A six-week, beginner-friendly program designed for people who feel like fitness “isn’t for them.”

People who don’t yet feel confident walking into a gym.

People who want to move, but have no idea where to begin.

From Day 1, it challenged me in all the right ways.

Movements I thought were “basic”—burpees, lunges, rowing—were suddenly not so simple.

How do you design for someone who’s never exercised?

What if someone can’t get down to the floor—or back up?

What if a warm-up movement you’ve used for years is intimidating, even unsafe?

It pushed me to become a better coach. To think more compassionately. More creatively.

To see fitness not as performance—but as possibility.

And that’s what CrossFit has always had the power to be.

Every movement we do is scalable. Modifiable. Adaptable.

Which means someone fresh out of Couch to CrossFit can share the same space—and the same stimulus—as someone training for the CrossFit Games.

They’ll both leave the gym tired. Proud. Supported.

They’ll both be inspired—for very different reasons.

And more often than not, they’ll be cheering each other on.

That’s the stuff that fuels me.

That’s what makes the 4:50am alarm worth it.

Because this isn’t just about fitness.

It’s about confidence.

It’s about connection.

It’s about learning you’re capable of far more than you believed—inside and outside the gym.

When someone says, “I never thought I could…” and then they do—

That’s everything.

Thank you to the person who reminded me of my why today.

You know who you are.