Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica McClain.
Hi Jessica, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Trip after trip up and down the wellness continuum in my adult life, I finally decided to try the going fad CrossFit in April 2012. It is safe to say it clicked. It checked all the boxes that kept me engaged and craving progress. After about a year and a half I left my full-time teaching position and became a full-time coach and general manager of the gym I attended and it’s sister gym. By the end of 2015, the owner of the gyms was ready to sell one and I jumped at the opportunity. So on January 1, 2016 I officially opened the doors of CrossFit 29-95 down on Westhiemer. In 2017, we found a warehouse up in Spring Branch and made the move to a much bigger space. We stayed there and grew our community to about 100 members and I returned to teaching full time AND coaching 90% of the classes. Days were long and until the pandemic hit I didn’t realize how tired I was. We, like all other gyms closed from March – May. We lent out our equipment and kept training our members via remote classes. When it came time to reopen, I had come to the decision that I needed to give up one of my careers. I decided to keep the gym open as a Co-op set up. We dropped our CrossFit affiliation and operated informally as “the box”. No classes, just programming with open-gym hours for people to come in and workout with our equipment and facility. Understandably so, most folks chose to pursue other gyms to get the coaching, so we downsized quite a bit. We moved into a smaller space in the same set of warehouses and operated this way until June of 2021. I missed coaching adults and the reward that comes with seeing people thrive and excel when they train consistently. So I resigned from my teaching position and offered a free month of coached classes to all of our former members to test out if they wanted to come back. I was fortunate we had enough members who wanted classes and chose to return. We officially reopened as The Box HTX with classes in July of 2021. We have been cruising along since then. We hover around 40-50 members. We offer 4-5 classes a day. We are small and personal. I coach all of the classes and still write the programming to tailor it toward OUR community. We are not of the CrossFit mindset anymore. We are much more inclusive and longevity focus. We are a fitness community for everyone. No matter where someone is on their wellness journey, we meet them where they are and help them move toward a more capable brighter future.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think my members would say it has been smooth-ish. However, as the owner of the business, there have been sleepless nights and a great deal of worry about how to keep this community together, keep it affordable, and also make a living at the same time. There have been seasons of change, with long time members leaving for a variety of reasons but the beauty is that we have been fortunate that soon after we have had new beautiful spirits join and have a wonderful impact on our community. Good people attract good people, and I am so grateful to the kind, supportive, inclusive humans that make up our community.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am the owner and head coach at The Box HTX. We specialize in training humans for the long haul. We work with adults who are looking to improve their health, in particular their fitness level. We are not a CrossFit gym as many have described us. While our roots do come from that style of training, we have evolved into a more sustainable and long term livelihood focused community. Our workouts vary with purpose throughout a week. We will have heavy strength days, VO2 Max days, and Zone 2 long grinders. We even have simple cardio days as they are needed.
I am most proud of the supportive and inclusive community that represents The Box HTX. This is a small gym filled with really good humans who support one another and help keep each other accountable.
I think what sets us apart from other gyms is our community and the programming that is written for OUR MEMBERSHIP. We don’t use outside programming. I write our workouts and cycles knowing what our community is capable of and needs are. We are… more life experienced 😉 than most other gyms and I love this. We are looking at our senior years and getting our bodies to live our best life in them.
How do you think about happiness?
So many things make me happy. In my career, I would have to say, watching and being a part of someone’s transition to a healthier lifestyle is incredibly gratifying. Knowing they see the big picture and care enough about themselves to invest the time, energy, and let’s be honest… finances, to pursue a better version of themselves is so rewarding.
Outside of my career, the outdoors and movement in general make me very happy. I absolutely LOVE spending time with friends and loved ones.
Pricing:
- Unlimited Classes = $215/Month
- 3-Classes/Week = $175/Month
- Two Free Trial Classes
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.theboxhtx.com
- Instagram: the_box_htx
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/TheBoxHTX
- Youtube: @theboxhtx
