These ladies are deadlifting while they're going through chemo, and it's amazing.
Jennifer Manzo, full-time coach and athlete at CrossFit Spotsy in Fredericksburg, Va., is using her background in teaching and special education to expand the reach of CrossFit. Manzo’s adaptive fitness program, started in May 2012, uses scaled and adapted workouts to assist disabled and injured adults in reaching their fitness goals. Anyone can participate, but the class structure is unique.
Through Manzo’s creative programming, injured veterans, oncology patients and clients with minor sprains and tears are able to enjoy a “true CrossFit experience.” Classes are held twice a week and will grow to three times a week in September. “From a coaching standpoint, it’s tough,” Manzo says. “You’ve got to be really aware of the needs and abilities of each individual.”
When asked to think back on the start of her program and some of her most inspiring clients, Manzo described an athlete with a left leg prosthetic. “He’d stopped coming to Spotsy for a while, and then came in a month later. When he walked through the door, my window of opportunity opened up,” she says. “I’d known about him for a while, so after that first time, we started working together a couple times a week, in one on one sessions. He’s made great improvements.”
Manzo also works with a number of patients from the Fredericksburg Oncology Clinic. “These ladies are deadlifting while they’re going through chemo, and it’s amazing,” Manzo says.
Manzo uses textured medicine balls and other tools to create multi-sensory workouts for the clients. “Some have lost sensation in their arms and fingers and some are still receiving therapy,” Manzo says. “They will talk with each other about what they feel in their arms after a WOD.”
The ladies and one man from the oncology unit really look forward to coming, Manzo says. “When they start, they’ll have some basic form faults and working together helps them self correct. After a few workouts, they feel better and say, ‘It must be CrossFit.’ The accomplishments they walk away with are unbelievable. They always try to sneak in a WOD before their next treatment.”
Many of the oncology patients in Manzo’s class were referred to the program by Dr. Fredrick Tucker, fellow CrossFit Spotsy athlete. Tucker encourages his patients, especially those with worsened conditions or receiving experimental treatment, to exercise. He believes it gives people hope, enjoyment, a sense of support and community and helps clear up some of the fogginess associated with “chemo brain.” In a recent interview in a Fredericksburg Healthy Living blog, Tucker said, “My motto has always been, if you don’t feel sick, you shouldn’t act sick.”
Tucker tells Manzo he’s definitely seen improvements in patients who try CrossFit. CrossFit has helped them maintain flexibility, range of motion and better physical condition during their treatment. Tucker is so convinced of the benefits of CrossFit, he pays Spotsy for the adaptive programming and provides gym memberships for his patients, free of charge.
Every client has improved, Manzo says. “They all stand out in my mind.”
When describing her approach to programming, Manzo explains, “Workouts are just intensive enough.”
Clients see the workout, think it won’t be too much, and at the end they are all sweating. They tell Manzo, ‘I didn’t think a five minute workout could be so hard.’
“At one time, there were like three people in our gym wearing boots, all hurt by doing something non-CrossFit. Ninety-eight percent of their bodies still worked,” she says. “They could still squat, row. Even though they thought, mentally, ‘I’m injured, I can’t work out,’ the truth is, they could.”
And with Manzo’s programming, they did.
Manzo holds a degree in Special Education from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. She’s always enjoyed working with people with disabilities and has never questioned her career path. “I was always a fitness industry kind of girl, so to combine the two is great,” she says.
A regular volunteer at sports events, like the National Veterans Wheel Chair Games hosted in July in Tampa, Fla., Manzo loves what she does and sends regular updates on her classes and efforts to CrossFit Spotsy members and coaches.
When Manzo found CrossFit in 2011, she knew the programming would work well with special needs populations. “It’s all scalable and functional. It’s this functionality, the natural movements that make CrossFit so great,” she says.
Since the program’s start, Manzo has used only traditional CrossFit equipment for her workouts – medicine balls, barbells and jump ropes. “I haven’t purchased any specialized equipment yet, but it may be necessary down the road,” she says.
Manzo say the success of her program comes from the continued support of her fellow CrossFit Spotsy coaches and athletes. The CrossFit community’s awareness of adaptive fitness is “not great,” Manzo says, “but it’s growing.”
Manzo sees this lack of awareness as the greatest challenge to the expansion of her programming. “We’ve got to be ready for the unknown and unknowable, instead of being fearful,” Manzo explains. “I’d love to see a CrossFit certification for adaptive fitness.”