A year is a long time in sports. In 2024, Jennifer Muir reached the semifinals of the CrossFit Open for the second time and was finding her place as a full-time athlete, fulfilling a long-held dream.
January 2025 isn't even over and he's already crossed off another one, and this weekend, he'll fulfill another ambition when he travels to Miami, Florida, to compete in Wodapalooza, widely recognized as one of the largest CrossFit competitions in the world after the own Games. .
Although it is Muir's first time competing at the “world's leading functional fitness festival”, where the Scot, from Kirkintilloch, will compete both individually and as part of a team alongside Lucy Campbell, a 2022 Games athlete With two event wins under her belt, and Tayla Howe, who competed at the Rogue Invitational in Aberdeen last November, is showing no signs of fear about this weekend's workload, despite of suffering a shoulder injury since New Year's Day.
“It's a big deal in the season to qualify for Wodapalooza,” says Muir. 'The Rogue Invitational and Wodapalooza were always the two I wanted to do outside of the Games.
'It's an advantage that I'm in Miami. Obviously the semi-finals (for the Games) are exclusive to Europe, so at Wodapalooza I'll be on the court with athletes I've never competed with, like Americans and Australians, things like that.
'Unfortunately, my preparation has not been what we wanted. I woke up on New Year's Day with a really bad shoulder injury, so to be honest the last two weeks have been about rehabbing. I've still been conditioning the lower body on the C2 bike and the Echo bike. I haven't been able to ski or anything, I just reintroduced gymnastics last week and all I did was feet to the bar. And I've just now just started rope climbing again.
Muir is in Miami this weekend at Wodapalooza after reaching the semifinals of the CrossFit Games last summer.
The Scot has not had the easiest preparation, suffering a shoulder injury in recent weeks
“So it hasn't been the fun preparation I expected, but my coach has gone out of his way to make sure I'm healthy enough to compete. It's simply about managing the loads so that my shoulder doesn't get angry sooner.
“Even with the injury, I think I'll handle everything well. We've worked on managing the load and the rehab is the perfect amount. So, there will be 12 events that I'll be doing over the weekend, so maybe in the end my shoulder won't. be in the best of health, but we should be able to overcome and mark each event as it occurs.
Although last year didn't quite go to plan for Muir, she lost her title as the Fittest Woman in the UK and narrowly missed out on being invited to the Games final in the final hurdle for the second year in a row, more Dreams came true for the 24-year-old.
Having taken the risk of going full-time as an athlete, Muir spent as much time as possible competing and trying to grow her own brand, while seeking sponsors to help advance her career. It paid off and in December she was invited to the Adidas Athlete Summit in the UK.
“Since I was a child I wanted to be an athlete. I just didn't know what sport would be my calling. I did swimming, triathlon, a little bit of weightlifting and then when I got into CrossFit, brands like Adidas weren't really involved in the sport, so you weren't sure if you would ever have the opportunity to be an Adidas athlete.
“When I was lifting weights and running track, all my shoes were Adidas, so it's cool to represent a brand like that now.
'Having all my sponsors helps enormously. Frog Grips and ESN have helped with support for the competition. ESN has funded my entire trip to Wodapalooza so I couldn't do it without them and Frog Grips have some opportunities in Australia. Being able to travel, see the world and take advantage of these opportunities is thanks to them and a great help.”
Muir's fitness will be tested in a variety of different events.
Muir has not only seen her ability increase as a competitor, but she has also worked alongside other CrossFit athletes to provide seminars to introduce women to CrossFit and weightlifting in general.
Having seen more than his share of competitions in the UK throughout his young career, Muir admits that having something designed for the Scottish CrossFit (and fitness) community appealed to him, whilst also helping to empower women in the gym.
“The seminars with Ali (Crawford) came about out of Proving Grounds,” he reveals. 'We loved the community there was in Scotland. When you go to other competitions, around the UK, there aren't as many Scots there, so we wanted to do a women's only training day, where we got everyone back together.
'When competing you don't really have a lot of time to chat to people, you're just running between events and you don't have a lot of time to talk to people.
'We wanted it to be feminine just because of the stereotypical view. Unfortunately it can still be a bit daunting for women to lift weights, it still has that male stigma around it, so Ali and I lift a lot of weights, we are muscular and maybe role models so we can show how good it is for you. How fun it is specifically for women.
Former UK Fittest Woman to compete individually and as a team this weekend
“We hope this has removed all that embarrassment for beginners in particular as we opened it up to everyone, of any level, so we thought it might be a better environment to start your first day of training or introduction.
“Then Ella (Wilkinson) and I did one and she's also an Adidas athlete, so it was cool to do one alongside her and represent the brand there.”