Jess has always been a great member at the box and she has been a member for 4 yrs. Her back ground is music and teaching, teaching is a real skill and this has made her a great coach. She loves coaching crossfit and has a real thirst for knowledge and to develop as a coach. She has helped us a great deal while Jamie was recovering & we have had a lot of great feedback about her coaching. So we are doing a quick interview so you can get to know her better.

What sports and activities do you like?

I love open water swimming! I grew up swimming competitively, and swimming outside in a lake or a lido reminds me of summertime when I was younger. I’ve done triathlons, but I much prefer training with other people in the box! I also quite enjoy a good walk, though it’s been a while since I’ve been up a mountain!

What’s a typical training week like for you?

I like to start the week with a barbell class—I love my lifting—and then I’ll do CrossFit classes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and I round out my week with an accessory session on a Saturday; during the open water swim season, I will try to fit in a short swim around my teaching.

You recently did an Olympic lifting course, can you tell us more about this and what you learned?

I really enjoyed the course! I love Olympic lifting, but there’s definitely a difference between knowing what you’re doing when executing the lifts yourself and being able to recognise what someone else is doing when they’re executing the lifts, and the course was good for working on the fundamental aspects of the lifts. We spent a lot of time working on positions, and I picked up some helpful drills. It was really helpful for getting me started coaching other people on their lifts—I also got to hang out with Coach Luke and Coach Charlotte for the day!

We would love to hear more about your music, can you tell us more?

I’m a classically trained singer, and in addition to teaching, I also do a bit of performing. I give solo recitals, and I love geeking out when I’m putting together the programmes. I sometimes get to perform with choirs in larger scale choral works as a soloist; one of my favourite things has been to work with composers and premiere new works. Like coaching, I find teaching really rewarding, and I’ve worked with students of lots of different ages.

You can find out more about Jess’s music and listen to her here:

http://www.jessicalawrencehares.com/

What classes do you currently coach?

I’ve been helping cover 6:30 classes, mostly Wednesdays and some Thursdays. I’ve also been helping cover when coaches have been away.

Jess is a fantastic coach, she brings a real positive energy and is a very intelligent and good teacher who loves to help members progress and enjoy their workouts and you might even get a sticker from her if you do well in one of her classes.