Last night at CrossFit, I spotted two new women in my class, so after the workout I went over to introduce myself.

The younger of the two had just front squatted 120# and benched 125#. The other woman front squatted 35# and benched 35#. Naturally, I assumed the younger had brought her friend or sister or whatever to try and get her into lifting.

Me: Hi! I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Brenna. Is this your first class?

J: Nice to meet you! I’m J, and this is M. This is our… second class!

Me: That’s nutty! M, you were throwing that weight around like it was nothing. Do you play sports? Perform voodoo muscle magic?

M: Well, I’m still in high school, and I take weightlifting 7th period. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it’s an hour and a half, and it’s hard to lift for that long.

J: I’m one of M’s teachers. I had heard about this gym from a friend, and I thought M could benefit from this type of community, so I told her that if she wanted to go, I would go with her. It seemed important.

Me: That is awesome! Well, I hope both had fun. Are you going to stay and do “Helen?” She’s a fun one! I’m opting out, because I did her on Monday, but if you have time, you should try it out. It’s much more “CrossFit-y” than finding your 1RM on the bench.

M: I want to! That sounds like fun. Can we?

J: You’re going to miss your train if we stay too long, and I have to get you home. I don’t want your mom to worry. But next time!

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I follow a lot of educators, and I know a bunch follow me. This just gave me the warm fuzzies.

J probably weighs 95lbs soaking wet, and I think it would be safe to assume that she has never considered strength training in her life. That said, she saw that one of her students loved it, but would be left high and dry when the school year ends without a facility to train in or any mentors/coaches. From what I understand, most people just take it to fulfil a physical education requirement, but M really excels at it, and she fell in love with it. J saw that it was important to M, stepped outside of her own comfort zone, and made an effort to engage M in her passion outside of school, build her confidence, and set her up for success.

M had the biggest, stupidest grin on her face the whole time. She was totally in her element. J was obviously a bit uncomfortable and out of her element, but you could tell she was happy for M, and it’s quite obvious that she will keep coming back for as long as M wants to come.

Slow clap for eternity. Educator doing it right.