When Joy isn’t practicing her midwifery magic or investing time with her family, she attends 2-3 classes a week at Maia CrossFit. “It really helps boost my energy and build the strength for all the bending involved with water births”.

Joy attended a midwifery conference in Rotorua which led her to visit her CrossFitting brother in Hamilton. Her brother told Joy all about CrossFit.

From that moment, Joy Googled ‘CrossFit in Miramar, Wellington’ and that’s when she discovered the Maia community in August 2018. “I was terrified when I first started Maia, it was 7 years ago since I did any exercise and I wanted to do something more hardcore”.

When asked to describe CrossFit, Joy says, “It’s like having a personal trainer but cheaper. You get the results. I just have to get myself there; the coaches and the community give me the motivation to get through a workout”.

Joy’s favourite exercises are ones that involve kettlebell swings. Although she loves kettlebells, she appreciates the variety that CrossFit can offer. “There are so many movements that I had never done before, all the olympic lifts - the deadlifts are really exciting”.

Overall, the culture at Maia has been a positive influence for Joy. “At Maia everyone is friendly and normal, no one is pretentious. People say hi and chat, it’s a really nice community that adds accountability. Plus, you got Pene in the background yelling ‘GOOO JOY!’”.

If you see Joy putting her shoes on right before class, make sure to say hello and give her a friendly slap bump.

Meet Joy!