Lainey Cohen-Barwick

I grew up in a small town in Maine, having moved there from Maryland with my family at age 8. I was a theater kid and a swimmer. I dropped into my first CrossFit workout at 16! My legs were so tired afterwards that I couldn’t drive myself home. I went on to swim competitively at Ithaca College as a butterflyer and sprint freestyler. I trained with our lifting coach in the off-season. He was also a CrossFit coach, so we often did CrossFit workouts and I loved it (except Karen- iykyk) Less than a month after graduation, I bought a Groupon for Foundations and my first month free at Lone Tree CrossFit in Colorado. I’ve since gotten my parents, sister, husband and friends to join CrossFit and we haven’t looked back! In and out of the gym, I’m passionate about supporting my community. I’m a huge animal lover and advocate and like to spend my free time volunteering. I truly believe that in supporting each other, we can bring out the best in ourselves.

I’ve spent most of my life being afraid of failure. I only pushed myself in things I knew I was good at so that I wouldn’t let myself or (and especially) anyone else down. My parents signed me up for the swim team when I was 8 and my social life quickly grew around it, so I stayed with the sport, but I wasn’t good at it and didn’t truly give it my all until I decided I wanted to swim in college. I was not good enough for the school of my choice. Despite multiple conversations with the head coach trying to convince her otherwise, she was adamant I would not have a spot on the team without a significant improvement in my times. For the first time in my life, I leaned into the fear of failure and bet on myself. I spent the next year, my senior year of high school and the summer before college, at the pool and in the weight room. I gave up extracurriculars, got to the pool an hour before my teammates and gave 110%. It paid off. I joined the college team as a walk on. I went on to become a scoring member for all 4 years, continuing to learn how far I could push myself mentally and physically. While that nagging fear of failure still haunts me sometimes, I’ve learned not to let it stop me from going after what I want, whether that be professionally, personally or at the gym.

As a coach, I love finding ways to show members that they can do things they never thought possible and seeing the impact that has on their lives. There’s no black and white method to get there; everyone is different and being able to recognize and coach with that mindset motivates me everyday.