How to Join the Invictus Community and Change Your Life – Part 1

How to Join the Invictus Community and Change Your Life – Part 1
Written by Emily Hesse and introduced by Shane Farmer

The Invictus community has been quietly benefiting lately from the efforts of a behind-the-scenes rockstar who has joined the Invictus team. Emily Hesse is the social media intern at Invictus, and if you check our Facebook or twitter page regularly it’s most likely her you’ve seen posting.

The cool thing about Emily is that she had never done CrossFit. She jumped headfirst into our community with the commitment to learn everything there is to learn about the Invictus family, CrossFit, and Rowing (She’s working with me, so of course she’s going to learn about rowing).

You’ll probably be seeing her around more often as she starts jumping into group sessions, moving through fundamentals, and exploring everything Invictus has to offer. If you see her around I encourage you to give her your input. Help her learn something new, find out what makes Invictus special for you, and bring her into the fold.

Every week you’ll see a new post from her as she learns more and more about our community. Sit back, enjoy, and welcome Emily to the family. Take it away Emily:

As the newest social media intern at Invictus, I couldn’t be more excited to jump back into the fitness world and learn more about leading a healthy lifestyle. This is also a great opportunity to learn some valuable business tools that I can take with me in my future endeavors after I graduate from the University of San Diego.

I was definitely channeled by this positive energy that I felt from reading Shane’s ad for the internship. It was this type of energy that made me want to get up out of my chair and be a part of this environment immediately. After the interview, I knew that this was a place where I wanted to work. It’s always inspiring to be around people who love what they do and always strive for more. And what a boost of encouragement it is when employers welcome new ideas and will do anything to help you succeed.

I tend to find myself going in and out of workout trends. I have been out of the workout loop for a while too but I’ve heard so much about CrossFit and its incredible benefits. Being prior military and a military spouse I’ve heard great things about this growing trend since a lot of active duty personnel have found it beneficial in taking their physical fitness tests. I keep hearing from friends and others at Invictus that it is like no other workout I will ever do.

They were right. I completed my first week of fundamentals and after just two days, I can say that I have never been more sore in my entire life. It feels great. The class is small and Nichole, our coach, is awesome. She takes her time to explain the different workouts and makes sure all of us are on the same page before she moves on to other CrossFit fundamental movements.

She is more concerned with our form and doing the movement correctly than how many reps we can do or much weight we can lift. It makes such a difference in my confidence when I know that I am doing the workout correctly and I don’t have to feel intimidated by my level of progress because everyone in my group is doing the same thing.

Gyms that I had been to in the past just played loud music for an hour while I attempted to mimic the trainer’s moves in a mirror. Invictus is different in that they actually give me feedback and answer my questions. It’s great to get this opportunity to learn with others and not feel like I am behind the curve of everyone else in terms of my fitness level. There will be more to follow on my progress, and I am looking forward to taking this journey with everyone at Invictus.