JANINE MISTRICK

CF-L1 | Coach

I dabbled in many sports growing up but never considered myself an athlete – I was mostly a band and theatre kid. It wasn’t until I started graduate school and went looking for a regular fitness habit that I found CrossFit. I fell in love with the challenge, the variety, and the camaraderie of a community of hard-working individuals. Fast-forward to today and Gifford Fitness has been my gym home now for over 5 years and I come to truly see myself as an athlete.

For me, that’s the most powerful thing about CrossFit: it’s a sport you can come to at any point in life and it’s a sport where anyone can be an athlete. I want to help others find that spark and the drive to try hard things and discover a new side of themself in this space. I love teaching and working with people who want to work hard, and coaching allows me to do all of this at once.

Outside of the gym, I’m a researcher at the University of Minnesota where I study wildlife diseases. When I’m not coaching or workout out, I can be found chasing rodents for my next research project, snuggling my pitbull, and experimenting with recipes I find on the internet.