Welcome!

Hello & thanks for checking out my blog! My name is Jenny LaCoss & I'm going to give you a brief glimpse at who I am & how I've gotten to this point in my life. I grew up involved in sports: volleyball, soccer, cross-country and mostly softball. Freshman year in high school I signed up for a weightlifting class. The teacher was the varsity football coach so most of what we did was bench, dead lift and squat. It definitely gave me a good foundation. Between the class and reading Muscle & Fitness magazine, I learned how to lift weights. About that same time a firefighter from the Tucson Fire Department came to our school to talk about the Cadet program. At this point in my life I had yet to choose a career path. I considered medicine, but also really enjoyed athletics. However, this Cadet program sounded really interesting to me. The summer of my freshman year I went through the TFD Cadet program & I was hooked! I knew I wanted to become a firefighter. I spent the rest of my high school years playing softball, working out & summers in the Cadet program. I ended up getting on the Fire Department when I was 19. I spent the next eight or so years staying in shape for the job with weights & cardio. I did the typical Monday- chest & tris, Tuesday- back & bis, Wednesday- legs etc...etc. Then would do 30-60min of cardio. During this time I also competed in power lifting and bodybuilding competitions. After over ten years of this my body was feeling it. I started spending less time in the “gym” and began doing more body weight exercises. In 2004 the Fire Dept. wanted to certify about 20 firefighters as personal trainers to help other firefighters stay in the best shape they can. I was fortunate enough to be chosen as one of these Peer Fitness Trainers or "PFT's". Another responsibility of a PFT was to organize & run P.T. for recruits & firefighters that were off shift in different certification classes. I really enjoyed being a trainer & organizing group workouts so I decided to also start training people on the side. In Sept of 08 the Fire Department decided to send two PFT's to the Level 1 CrossFit certification in Mesa. I was really excited because I had been doing CrossFit on my own for about six months. Mike Heinz & I were chosen to attend. We didn't realize at the time how lucky we were to be at this particular cert. There were probably 60-70 people in the class & they break you up into groups of about 8-10 to learn the exercises. Unless someone goes out of their way to talk to every person, more than likely you'll only get to know a few people. In my group was a lady by the name of Jennifer Higgins. At one point during the classroom portion she mentioned that she was opening an affiliate in Tucson. That was exciting because at this point there weren't any affiliates in Tucson. It wasn't till class was over on the second day did I first speak to Jen. I ran into her in the bathroom and asked her about her affiliate. We talked for a few minutes, exchanged numbers & parted ways. About a month later I got a call from Jen saying she was looking for trainers and the rest is history! I've been at CrossFitWorks over a year now & I couldn't be happier. It was meant to be that Mike and I were in that cert with Jen. CrossFitWorks is an amazing place to work & workout! Jen & Carl have created an affiliate that has the most positive, supportive & uplifting energy. I've never worked with better trainers or clients. I'm very fortunate to be where I am right now in my life & I look forward to sharing more of it with you!