Molly Mogren Katt is a writer, entrepreneur and mom who launched HeyEleanor! on Substack to document facing her fears. She is a regular contributor and lives in the Wedge.
Is the internet trolling you with nonstop messages telling you to lift heavy weights and eat a gazillion grams of protein or your body will turn into dust? How annoying, especially because all the science says it is true. If the idea of picking up a barbell scares the ever-loving crap out of you, yet you are weightlifting curious, let’s talk.
In the fall of 2009, my then-boyfriend, now husband, Josh, joined TwinTown Fitness, a small gym in the Wedge specializing in something called CrossFit. The only time I had heard the word CrossFit was at my big box gym, where signs reading “Please no CrossFit workouts” wallpapered the weight area. Josh would proclaim, “It’s great. I almost puked today. You should come.”
Oh yes, let’s add nausea to something that is already hard enough to prioritize. I politely declined.
“The girl who felt systematically humiliated during every Presidential Physical Fitness Test suddenly doing a pull-up?”
Fast forward four years and I am still dating this Josh fellow. He mentioned the gym had launched a summer workout program at Kenwood Park. Just bodyweight workouts, none of that clanging barbell stuff I had seen and heard through the gym’s open garage door. What the hell. I gave it a whirl and I loved it.
Eventually, I graduated to workouts inside the regular gym at the corner of 26th and Aldrich, clanging weights and all. TwinTown Fitness, which has not been associated with the CrossFit brand since 2020, offers hour-long group fitness classes capped at 14 participants.
“Workouts are rarely the same, which is perfect for my ADHD brain.”
Classes begin with mobility work, followed by a warmup and then the main workout. Maybe it is 20 minutes building up to a heavy set of squats followed by a six-minute high-intensity cardio burner. Or it could be 30 minutes of a dozen different strength and conditioning movements. Workouts are rarely the same, which is perfect for my ADHD brain.
While I hobbled around like an arthritic flamingo for the first few weeks, my body adapted quickly. I started feeling genuinely strong, something I thought I already was thanks to my big box gym workouts. After a few months, I could do a pull-up. Just one, but still. Me?
The girl who felt systematically humiliated during every Presidential Physical Fitness Test suddenly doing a pull-up? The only time I ever came close to barfing was during my first pregnancy, which I am fairly confident had more to do with morning sickness than burpees.
TwinTown co-owners Peter Bekke and Brock Harling coached classes at the gym before purchasing it from the founder in 2015. Since then, TwinTown has evolved from a place known for intense workouts into one known for meeting members where they are. “We work hard to make sure each person gets the workout that is right for them every time they are here,” Bekke says. “Sometimes a tough challenge is perfect, but sometimes something lighter is what we need. There is no pressure to perform or keep up with the person next to you. The goal is to leave feeling accomplished.”
When I started at TwinTown, my priorities were mostly about physical appearance. Over the past dozen years, I have experienced marriage, miscarriage, two pregnancies followed by two C-sections, postpartum depression and significant hormonal changes. This place supported me through all of it. When I returned after my second child, in a body that felt weaker than church basement coffee, I never felt judged. I felt supported.
If you are looking to “win” at exercise, you can certainly do that here. But most TwinTown members are not competitive or judgmental. They are people like me who want to build strength, maintain mobility and enjoy that sweet blast of endorphins.
Many of us are in it for the long haul, knowing that living independently at 90 means working on strength and stability now. And you are never too old to start. Two of the most beloved members of our community are a couple in their 70s.
If that sounds like you, come hang with me at TwinTown. I will even hold your hand through your first workout, even if it is sweaty.
