2021 Swole Sisters' Day Winner
Congratulations to the 2021 Swole Sisters’ Day Winner!
Heather Smith
Rockford, IL
Nominated by her Swole Sister, Jennifer
Why do you consider the nominee to be your "Swole Sister"?*
Heather is not only literally swole goals. But soul goals. She is the most sincere and amazing person around. While all the guys will have their "bro sesh" Heather and I will have our "swole sesh". We will share a bar and weights. She will hype me up when I need it and listen when I need someone to talk to. She is one of my soul sisters and honestly probably my "swole sister" now that I think of it. Heather was the only other girl that would consistently workout at 5am at our gym. The class always has more guys than girls in it. While she throws around way more weight than I can, she never makes me feel lesser that I can't do more. Instead she is right there helping me with technique and helping me get stronger. She helps me push my limits and is the first to fist bump me when a workout is done. Heather would message me during quarantine even to see how a workout went. We would compare scores and talk about what we could have done better for next time.
How does your Swole Sister make your life better?*
Heather doesn't know this but she saved my life. During quarantine I hit the lowest of lows mentally. I honestly haven't told many about this but I often had such bad panic attacks and anxiety that I wouldn't eat and honestly couldn't even move. I would lay on the couch sometimes for an entire weekend. I had horrible thoughts and didn't know my why. Why I existed or why I even mattered. My husband was amazing through it all. He helped me the most and got me the help I needed too. But Heather has no idea how much she had a roll in helping me as well. (I talk about it more below in the next question when I talk about FedRX .. I just don't want to be repetitive.)
She is constantly thinking of others first. She is a more advanced athlete and she often competes on a team with my husband. They competed at Wodapalooza in 2020 before the shutdown. He is much closer to her level and they push each other very well. But she makes sure that I feel welcomed and often encourages me to workout with them. Or has me jump in when they need another girl to help fill in a team. Even though it is intimidating, she will help me adjust the percentages of weight in a workout they are doing so that I can get the same stimulus and won't hurt myself. I never feel like I am holding her back when working out with her. Heather, my husband and I would workout at 5am together at our box everyday for over 2 years before her recent job change.
We would do the class WOD together then stay after and do open gym for a bit and do some add on work. However, now we don't get to see her as much. Her hours at her new job don't allow her to workout with us most mornings. But we just started doing swim workouts on what would have been our rest day with her. Heather helped teach my husband how to swim (he really didn't know how to) and is even helping perfect my technique without me asking. She seriously has the most caring soul I know.
She has helped me be the best version of myself physically and mentally. She honestly is who even introduced me to Wodbottom. We were at a local competition and she was grinning ear to ear when she saw the Wodbottom booth. I was pretty new to crossfit at the time and she instantly opened with the story behind the business and told me why she supports wodbottom. And honestly, the rest is history. I'm not sure who owns more wodbottom shorties at this rate!
How does your Swole Sister impact the lives of others?
Heather is one of the few coaches in class that coaches (not just a cheerleader but a genuine coach that makes sure you are doing movements correctly and can adjust on the fly to help those that need modifications to make movements safe but effective). She keeps the gym open extra hours for those that want to put in extra work after class. She is always on time and willing to help anyone that wants help. She makes anyone that walks through the doors feel welcomed. If we are limited on equipment she doesn't mind sharing or finding a way to make the equipment share work during a WOD. Not only is she a phenomenal coach at our Crossfit Gym but she recently just started her own nutrition company, FedRX.
Heather has an office at our gym for this side business. She held a competition at the beginning of the year and helped so many start the year on the right track, including myself and my husband. With quarantine I had put weight on, lost muscle and was struggling deeply mentally. Every week we weighed in we would have a great 1 on 1 talk. There were times that the scale would suggest I needed to adjust certain macros. But Heather would talk to me to find out what was going on to see if it truly needed adjusted. It was not a cookie cutter program. Heather put a lot of work into the program. My husband and I both lost 15+ lbs over the course of the challenge and got so much stronger. And I gained one hell of a friend. Heather doesn't realize her friendship saved my life. I was at one of the lowest parts of my life and she helped me get out of it.
Anything else we should know about your awesome Swole Sister?
Heather is a badass. She works hard for what she has. Unfortunately, right now she is going through a rough spot. Some people are jealous of what she's worked for. So she is getting the short end of the stick. She stays positive but my husband and I can see it's taking a toll on her. She previously was a dental assistant at a corporate dental office. She didn't agree with their way of business and knew she wanted to get into health more and helping others with their health.
She was invited to coach at our local box just part time. A few classes here and there throughout the week. They didn't require her to get her CFL1. But she went ahead and got it on her own so that she could be a good coach. She didn't want to teach something that she wasn't certified in and potentially hurt others. Heather doesn't half ass anything she does. She is one of the few at our box that has her CFL1. As things got worse at the dental office she started studying so that she could start her own nutrition business. She did this between training, working at the dental office and coaching at our box. She finished her program and is a PN-L1 and NASM-CPT.
She started her own business and does 1 on 1 coaching with individuals. She helps them with their macros. Even recently started cooking for her clients. Eventually she started interviewing with a few different business' in town. She spoke with the owner of our current box to get his thoughts and let him know she was doing this. He was very encouraging and let her know that she would still be allowed to coach at our box if anything worked out at the business' she was interviewing with. Long story short, she got an opportunity to work at a boot camp in town. Nothing like what we do at crossfit. She is making more money than the dental office and is doing something she is passionate about.
She's helping others with their health. She's even bringing those people over to try crossfit. Which is helping everyone. But some coaches at our box are clearly jealous of her. They took most of her hours away. And just kind of exiled her for a lack of better words. Heather is staying positive. But like I said, we can tell it's taking a toll on her. She never did any of this to harm anyone. In fact she wanted to do the opposite. She found what she was passionate about and found a way to move forward with that. I just wish others knew how hard she worked for what she got. Nothing was ever handed to her. She always puts others before herself.