Brittany Clark is a lifelong athlete who works to spread her love of fitness to her children and the children in her community. She grew up a track and field athlete and participated in varsity track at Houston High School. In college, she continued to run socially while completing her degree in special education at the University of Memphis.
Though she remained active in college through running and various exercise classes, she lost the fire she felt for athletic training as a younger athlete. That is until she tried a CrossFit class in 2015, and Brittany quickly felt she had found her edge again. “CrossFit was the perfect fit for me as an athlete. It’s exercising with a competitive flair. I was learning brand new skills while having the class and a coach keeping me accountable,” she says.
Brittany has been an avid CrossFit enthusiast for nearly ten years and now competes in USA lifting and CrossFit competitions about four times yearly. She has continued to run, but more for the mental benefits than for any competitive goals. She continued CrossFit during her pregnancy with her now 5-year-old son and found that the modifiable exercises kept her fit during pregnancy and eased her recovery postpartum. Now, her son and niece join in her passion through the CrossFit kids option offered at Memphis-area studios.
Brittany offers the following advice for her fellow working moms looking to make time for themselves. She says, “Get on a routine and plan it. If you just go randomly, it’s never going to happen.” Brittany’s routine is to arrive at the CrossFit gym at 5:00 a.m. and get right to work. At CrossFit, the workout is posted on the app for the gym the night before, so all she has to do is come in, warm up, do her workouts, and then cool down. Brittany appreciates that through her CrossFit community, she can follow the daily workout or modify the components and durations of her workouts based on her personal training goals and upcoming competitions.
In addition to her personal workout goals, Brittany gives back to her community by coaching track and field through the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program at Collierville High School. “I love seeing the students share the same passion I had for track, and getting to help bring that joy into their days means so much to me.”
In the future, Brittany has no plans to slow down her training for her multiple annual CrossFit and Weightlifting competitions. She also hopes to mix in some marathon training and continue to spread her love of fitness to her family and her students through both CrossFit and track.
By Zoe Harrison
Photo by Tindall Stephens
