Libby and Lexi Go Way Back — Like, Basketball-at-15 Way Back

Welcome back to the LJW Mini Pod! We are so happy you're here. Today Libby is back, and she has a story that most LJW members don't know — because she and Lexi didn't just meet through a job posting. They go back to age 15 on the same basketball team.

"We pull up the humble beginnings picture of when we were 15 playing basketball."

Middle school girls are beautiful these days. They were not so fortunate.

"We walked so y'all could run is all I got to say."

The Basketball Days

Libby and Lexi played together on the Rage basketball team before Libby tore her ACL just two games in. Then they spent the rest of high school playing against each other.

"To give Lexi a lot of credit, she was the main talk of the locker room. Like who's going to be guarding Lexi? And it was typically me. Unfortunately. But I tried my best. She's a stud. We all know that."

Watching LJW Start From the Beginning

When Lexi started LJW at the beginning of COVID, Libby had a front row seat. Her sister was one of the very first members to join.

At the time, Libby was deep in her bodybuilding era — spending an hour and a half to two hours in the gym every day.

"It's like a part-time job, genuinely."

But when she got pregnant with her first son, things started to shift.

"I wasn't very confident in the gym anymore. And I also knew that that wasn't going to be sustainable after I had baby."

Her husband, deployed overseas at the time, helped ship everything she needed to set up a home gym in their basement so that after the baby arrived, they could all be in it together as a family. She has the pictures to prove it — baby Cesson at one week old, the whole family in the gym.

The Skeptic Who Got Humbled Fast

Taking the leap to try LJW workouts was not an obvious decision for someone with Libby's training background.

"I'm not going to lie, I was so skeptical. I put that out there 100%."

But she tried it anyway — because she had watched Lexi lead by example on social media for years, and because she was a night shift nurse who didn't want to spend mental energy writing her own workout plan after having a baby.

"28 minutes, you're sweating. And if you're not, you're doing something wrong."

That was over three years ago. She's still doing them today.

"You get out what you put in. You can take them anywhere. I do them at home half the time. I go to the gym sometimes. My parents' house. Anytime, anywhere."

And she doesn't have to dedicate two hours of her day to look the way she wants to look.

The DM That Started It All

Once she was a few months into the workouts, Libby knew she wanted to be a bigger part of what LJW was building.

"I resonate with the community. So inspiring, of course — shout out to you guys."

She DM'd Lexi directly. There wasn't an open position at the time, but Lexi told her she'd keep her in mind. And eventually, she did.

The community also played a huge role in keeping her accountable from the very beginning.

"If you're in the Facebook group, you hop on there literally any time of the day. You see somebody — Mara's already posted about her workout and getting that done. I guess I have to do it as well. She did it. I can do it."

And working out with Lexi and Lexi on screen is its own kind of accountability.

"An accountability partner where you're like, okay, maybe I don't have a real life friend to work out with, but you're working out with your two buddies, Lexi and Lexi. They always have a way of saying exactly what you need to hear."

One Unorthodox Thing You're Grateful For

Libby came prepared this time — and delivered something no one saw coming.

When Leslie posted a screenshot of the team group call on her story announcing the podcast, she added a question box asking followers to guess what the news was. Someone replied: "Leslie's pregnant again."

"I'm thankful for a laugh. That is my unorthodox thing. Leslie would have had a stroke if she read this."

It was not a pregnancy. It was a podcast. But thank you for the laugh.

Don't forget — you can always drop your questions using the link below. We want to hear from you, answer your questions, and laugh with you.

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