Athlete of the Month - June 2026
We are very proud of Joanie Cash through her first year at Island Park Fitness. She is our June Athlete of the Month but she could easily have been selected early. Joanie is a rare find. Selfishly, I was excited to have a D1 athlete in the gym fresh out of college. The youth, work ethic and mentality is coming you don’t get to coach too often in a group fitness environment. Don’t get me wrong, we have plenty of members in here who possess those qualities. Joanie constantly hears how young she is in the gym, but she carries herself very well and is so respectful. The discipline she’s had through her swimming and gymnastics days has given her a great base for the rest of her life. There are some things you’ll read about in her Q&A that you will relate to and some that are completely unique to her. It’s interesting to learn that a workout name “kachow” that I made up is a memorable one. It’s a fast paced one and apparently one that Joanie wants to beat her brothers in. I’d like to see that. So they’re invited next time it’s in the program. It’s great that Joanie found her place with a good group of girls in the gym. They look out for each other, hold each other accountable at the gym and encourage each other to have fun outside the gym too. I’m going to mention dealing with setbacks because Joanie did. I know how difficult it is to handle injuries or other setbacks. I’ve dealt with some personally and I’ve watched/coached athletes during some of their own. It took some time for Joanie to wrap her head around what was the best and smartest things for her to do to recover and get to a healthy place for her. I am thankful for the trust she’s had in our team and Nikki’s treatment as well. Joanie is a great person who will remarkable things and she is always a pleasure to coach. I get to coach her similarly to how I would coach myself. Keep working hard.
Written by: Coach Rob Moloney
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Q&A
What’s your background? (Athletic)
Growing up, I did both swimming and gymnastics on a competitive level till high school when injuries and talent level led me to pursue swimming only. I then swam D1 at UCLA till about a year and a half ago which was beyond my wildest dreams.
How long have you been a member?
Coincidentally my first class was one year ago to the week that Rob told me I was AOTM! So I’ve been a member for around a year now.
Why did you start coming to IP Fitness?
I grew up in Lido and have been driving by the gym forever (through all the different names and phases of it) and I was always intrigued. I remember my senior year of college, I was home over winter break and drove by IPF again. At this point in my life, post swim career fitness was top of mind. I knew I wanted a break from swimming but I didn’t really want to be too new at anything and have too steep of a learning curve. At UCLA, we used to do “Champ Camp” every Friday. It was basically a six-minute EMOM or chipper where all of UCLA athletics would compete and be scored. I always did really well, and my teammates and weights coach would tell me I needed to try CrossFit. So when I kept seeing IPF, it felt like exactly what I was looking for once I was done swimming. I honestly started at IPF thinking that I would do it for a couple months to get back into fitness and then go try something new, but after a few months, I couldn’t imagine leaving.
What makes you keep coming back?
The straightforward answer is the people but it’s definitely a multifaceted answer. From the very beginning the gym was filled with a community of friendly faces and it didn’t take long for those friendly faces to become genuine friends. The gym is filled with the best people who have really made an impact on my life in all the best ways. No matter the kind of day I’m having, coming to the gym always has a way of making my day better. I’m genuinely always looking forward to the next time I get to go to the gym and see my friends and it’s not lost on me how special it is to have that. The other part of my answer are the coaches. For starters, they put so much thought and intention into each class and programming that choosing the gym as my workout for the day becomes a no brainer. Day to day and week to week, you know that the workouts have been thought through and have purpose. On the personal side, they show genuine interest in everyone’s life and goals and just have everyone’s best interest in mind and that shows in everything they do; so trusting IPF is the right place for my fitness is so easy and keeps me coming back.
What is the biggest challenge you have overcome since joining the gym?
My biggest challenge since joining the gym has been managing my Lyme disease symptoms. I’ve always had a hard time taking breaks or prioritizing recovery, and that mindset, combined with Lyme, was honestly knocking the $h!t out of me in a lot of ways. That has been a big challenge.
However, there is a bright side of this thanks to the gym! When acupuncture was recommended to help with my symptoms, it felt like fate that Rob had mentioned Nikki does acupuncture right next door. Starting treatment with her has given me so much of myself back it has honestly been miraculous. Everything really happens for a reason because I genuinely don’t know where I’d be without her help.
What is the biggest change you have made over the years working out here?
Piggybacking off my previous answer, the biggest change I’ve made is learning to accept and even prioritize rest. For a long time, I struggled with taking breaks, even when my body clearly needed it. It always had ways of telling me to slow down, I just didn’t listen. Dealing with Lyme, along with Nikki and the coaches at IPF looking out for me, it kind of forced me to start paying attention and respect the signs. It’s made a huge difference and has really paid off.
What is one or two favorite moments at the gym?
One thing I’ll never forget is that for my first ~4 months I was super shy and probably averaged 4 words a week at the gym. Then, during the December Fitmas challenge, Jackie and Jenny pulled me into one of the videos. I was hesitant to do it, but if you know Jenny, you know she wasn’t having that. They got me to do the video for step ups and my part was to literally step up on Jackie and Danni’s legs. For someone who was shy and didn’t talk to anyone, I was so nervous to literally step on people I have never talked to BUT the rest is history! It was the start of some of the best friendships I’ve gotten to make at the gym.
My other favorite is my first Murph workout this year. I vividly remember “Cindy” (Murph prep workout) was one of my first classes at the gym and I remember thinking “that was so hard, I did so bad, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do a Murph”. And just around a year later, I did my first Murph (no weighted vest yet). Afterwards, Arthur came up to me and commended the quality of my reps throughout the whole workout which meant a lot. So remembering how far I’d come in that year since Cindy, and getting that compliment, it was super special.
What's your favorite "cheat" food?
Honestly, I know this isn’t a food but my favorite cheat thing is a yummy latte. I’ll be craving a yummy coffee all day everyday. But if I had to choose a food, a CONSTANT no brainer for me is French fries/ sweet potato fries or pizza.
What’s your go to meal to cook?
I’m a creature of habit and one meal I have down is my breakfast. I make the same thing everyday and don’t have to think about it. I’m not super versatile in the kitchen so it helps that it’s easy and repeatable.
What do you say to someone who is thinking about starting?
For someone who is thinking about starting, I would say 1. Be ready to never have to look for another gym again and 2. be communicative! The coaches genuinely want what is best for you so if you have a question, need advice, have a goal that you want to reach, open the lines of communication with the coaches and they will meet you where you’re at and support you with all of their expertise.
What drives you?
After retiring from swimming I quickly got back into working out because I felt like I had to. So originally, when I joined the gym, what drove me was the idea that I had to stay fit, I had to keep my aerobic base, I had to keep up with the high level I’d been at my whole life. When you feel like you “have to” do something it becomes a chore and that’s what working out felt like for me until I joined IPF. When I joined IPF, working out rapidly switched to the thing I most look forward to everyday. So instead of going to the gym because I have to, now what drives me to go to the gym is getting to go see my friends, coaches and see what my body/mind can still do! Also what drives me is that while everyone chirps how young I am, they’re also always talking about all the things that suck about getting older so trying to postpone that as best as possible.
What is your biggest fitness goal right now?
To be able to run without pain! That’s step one to then maybe open doors to some other goals.
Who are 3 influential people (alive) who you would want to have dinner with?
Honestly, I don’t have specific “influential” people I’ve always dreamed of meeting. Usually my favorite people to hang out with are my friends. Right now, I’m in a phase where I’m stressed about figuring out next steps career-wise, so I think I’d choose three people who see potential in me, believe in what I bring to the table, and could help open the door to a really meaningful job opportunity.
If you could call anyone 3 people out to do a workout with you, who would it be and what workout?
I’m the oldest of 4 so I think it would be so fun to call my three younger brothers; James, Joe, and Brian! We are all pretty strong and athletic but it would be a fun new environment and experience to do a workout at the gym together.
The workout would definitely be a chipper, I LOVE a chipper. Kachow stands out to me from my memory. It was 100m Sled Push, 500m Ski, 400m Run, 500m Row, 1k Echo Bike so basically just sprint machines but I genuinely enjoy almost any chipper.