01/22/2024
Fitness influencer Wells’s inspiring debut memoir recounts the debilitating injury she suffered during the 2021 CrossFit Games and her subsequent recovery. Wells begins the narrative shortly after she was diagnosed with tendonitis of the elbows in 2018, four years into her participation in the annual CrossFit Games. Rest, physical therapy, and stem cell procedures provided short-term relief, but after dislocating her right elbow on the final night of the 2021 competition, Wells was told she required surgery and near-total abstinence from physical activity to recover. With the support of family and friends, she began to heal, cautiously resumed training, and registered for the 2022 games despite being “nowhere near Open ready.” From sections highlighting how the blow to her confidence was every bit as staggering as her physical pain, to in-depth details about competition events, Wells provides an intimate play-by-play that will appeal to exercise buffs without alienating those outside the CrossFit orbit. While her prose is more serviceable than noteworthy, she often opts for appealingly small-scale advice over juiced-up motivational platitudes (“Nine times out of ten, achievement is the result of consistency, not fireworks”). The results will satisfy fitness-minded readers. (Jan.)
