CLEVELAND — Six years ago, northeast Ohio resident, Henry Jaros, was suffering from knee problems and losing mobility.
“My knees bent at what the doctor would call 40 degrees because they were so arthritic,” Jaros said. “I probability would have been in a wheelchair, maybe. I mean, my knees were that bad.”
During this time, he was also battling a rare blood cancer.
“I had something called hairy cell leukemia, and I had a-fib at the same time,” he said. “While all that was going on, I had pneumonia for the second year, and I couldn’t shake it.”
A few months after beating the cancer, Jaros joined the CrossFit Mentality gym in Mentor to help increase his mobility.
The 62 year old said he’s able to do things he never dreamed of and attends classes at his game three to four days per week.
“The motto around here is ‘1% better every day,’ that’s kind of a cross-fitters motto,” Jaros said. “They try to make that happen to the best of their ability.”
Scott Panchik, the owner of CrossFit Mentality, hopes Jaros will inspire more seniors to try out the gym and said the workouts can be changed for any skill level.
“It’s just so functional to what we need to be able to do to stay out of nursing homes and to be able to improve our quality of life,” Panchik said.
Jaros said he plans to continue doing CrossFit for as long as he can.
“You got to be dedicated,” he said. “If you’re going to get somewhere, you got to be dedicated.”
