After closing her beloved Ardmore boxing studio, Havertown’s Jen Crompton bounces back with a new book.

by Melissa Jacobs

To Jen Crompton, her boxing and spin studio was more than a fitness center. It was a community. “Wonderful people came to work out with us,” Crompton said of Fuel Cycle Fitness, the Ardmore business she owned with her husband, Jeff Crompton.

The Cromptons, who live in Havertown, transformed their studio into an award-winning fitness destination that attracted clients from throughout the region. Pedal And Punch was Jen’s signature spin-and-boxing class while Jeff concentrated on boxing and strength training. “And it was about more than working out,” Jen said. “It was about working towards goals, making friends and creating positive  changes in our lives.”

Jen Crompton led by example, becoming a Wonder Woman role model to many people. Boxing teacher, spin instructor, wife, mother, entrepreneur, wellness advocate, empowerment coach; Crompton’s superpowers seemed endless. But COVID proved to be the Cromptons’ kryptonite.

Throughout the spring and summer of 2020, Jen held classes virtually and outdoors in Ardmore’s Linwood Park. That wasn’t a viable long-term solution, and paying rent on the empty studio became unfeasible. In October 2020, with the Omicron variant on the rise and their lease about to expire, the Cromptons decided to close Fuel Cycle Fitness.

The news broke the hearts of Fuel Cycle Fitness devotees. “It was a difficult decision to close that chapter,” Jen said. “I didn’t want to lose this community that we’d worked so hard to build.”

Closing Fuel Cycle Fitness was emotional for Jen. “But then, I had interesting realizations,” she said. “It doesn’t mean the community no longer exists. It means that it doesn’t exist in the four walls of that building. But, we didn’t build this building. We built this community. And that was not disappearing.”

When Jen went to lock the door for the last time, she sat on the bench outside the studio with a friend. “I hate to sound so cheesy,” she said, “but it is about the journey, not the destination. The destination is that we closed our business. But the journey was the entire point.”

She is continuing that journey with her new book, Fueling Your Best: The 90-Day Challenge. Presented in workbook style, Fueling Your Best expands a program that Jen launched at her studio in 2017. “It’s not really about losing weight or inches, although that may happen,” Jen said. “It’s about taking small steps towards becoming your best self.”

The 229-page workbook is divided into categories: Fuel, Sweat, Live, Give, Laugh. “Fuel” covers food and nutrition; “Sweat” is about movement and exercise; “Give” encourages acts of kindness and generosity; “Laugh” suggests ways for readers to find joy; and “Live” encourages personal growth through challenges. “That section says, ‘Do something that scares you,’ with a description of the act,” Jen explained. “Then, there is a reflection on it.”

Play a game, make a phone call to someone you haven’t spoken to in a while, walk one mile; all of these small actions can create big changes, Jen said. “Making those big changes and setting those big goals can be overwhelming,” she said. “Can you make a few changes a day for 90 days? Yes, you can.”

Jen continues to embrace change in her own life. A digital marketing specialist by day, she has personal training clients. Her husband Jeff left his financial services job in March 2022 and is now a full-time personal trainer. And of course, their son Jeffy continues to grow and thrive. “We get to tell our son that we had a dream, worked hard and accomplished it,” Jen said. “And now, we are pursuing different dreams.”

Order Fueling Your Best: The 90-Day Challenge here.

Want other life-changing books? Read about Mainlining Philly and Aftershocks.

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