Jennifer Muir has accomplished a great deal in a short period. After finding CrossFit in 2021, she rose through the ranks quickly, earning the title of Fittest in the UK by 2023.
She has gained more experience over the years, not only by competing in the CrossFit season but also in off-season events such as FitFest and TYR Wodapalooza.
- As Muir racks up more and more competition experience around the globe, she gets closer to her ultimate goal: qualifying for the CrossFit Games.
Some Background
Muir began competitive sports as a swimmer at 9 years old. She excelled there for five years, and soon discovered she also had a natural talent for running.
She decided to try out for the Scotland Triathlon team, using a bike bought specifically for the occasion from Gumtree, the UK’s equivalent of Craigslist. She made the team at 14 years old.
After two years of competing in triathlons, Muir found it challenging to balance a heavy academic load with her training, so she stepped away from the sport. However, she was able to transition into something different.
- “When I started University, I went to the gym to keep fit, and there was a powerlifting group there, who said, ‘Hey, you’re really strong, you should start powerlifting,’” Muir told Morning Chalk Up.
She competed in powerlifting for a year and a half, which extended into 2020 and the COVID-19 lockdown.
- “Because powerlifting training is so different than triathlon, where you only train four, maybe five times a week, and maybe one session, I was bored. I had all this time, so I started running, cycling again, and swimming out in the lochs,” Muir said.
At that time, a friend made a suggestion that changed the direction of her life.
- “It was my best friend; she said, ‘You’d actually be really good at CrossFit – you’ve got this endurance base and a strength base.’ I had it all just beside the gymnastics. But at that time, I had no social media, so I had never even heard of CrossFit. I didn’t even know it existed,” Muir said.
A Turning Point
Once the lockdown was lifted in 2021, Muir joined the local CrossFit box, which was only 400 meters from her mom’s house. She had just never noticed it before.
During her first week at CrossFit Kirkintilloch in Glasgow, her class tackled Open Workout 20.1, which consisted of 10 rounds of eight ground-to-overhead lifts and 10 burpees over the bar. After completing the workout, she and her coach reviewed her score and compared it to scores from 2020. They realized her score would have ranked among the top in the world.
After that, she was hooked. When she left the triathlon team, she missed the competition and felt aimless, lacking purpose.
- “I studied sport at university, but still, I didn’t know what I wanted to do and everything like that. So I knew that when I joined CrossFit, the competition side was always the element that I wanted – it was never a keep fit thing for me. I wanted to compete,” Muir said.
From that point, she started setting goals. In the 2022 season, she finished the Quarterfinals in 95th place. From there, she realized that with another year of training, she could break into the top 60 in her region, which she accomplished by a wide margin.
- She went on to compete in Semifinals in both 2023 and 2024, just barely missing a qualifying spot but edging closer each time (she finished 15th in 2022 and 12th in 2023).
In September 2024, she signed a contract with Adidas, a decision that provided her with security and confidence.
- “I just have so much respect for the brand. I’m not a CrossFit Games athlete, and still, they’re taking me on,” she said. “It just speaks volumes about them as a brand and how supportive they are.
This partnership feels very full circle for Muir as well.
- “I’ve been using their products my whole training career – in triathlon, I wore their spikes, in powerlifting, I wore their lifters, and now this… I’m so grateful,” Muir said.
What’s Next
She finished the Open in 57th place worldwide, plans to participate in the In-Affiliate Semifinals, and is also committed to the Wodland Fest, one of the two European In-Person Qualifying Events. Additionally, she completed the World Fitness Project qualifiers, where she currently ranks unofficially in 23rd place.
- “So I have some good opportunities to compete in a short bit of time,” Muir said.
In addition to qualifying for and competing in the 2025 CrossFit Games, Muir has a significant goal of participating in the Rogue Invitational. Last year, she finished 8th in the qualifiers, and the thought of competing on her home turf as the fittest in Scotland, surrounded by friends and family, is a dream she hopes to realize.
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Featured Image: Scott Freymond
