Janae Kroc [1] | |
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![]() Kroczaleski | |
Born | Matthew Raymond Kroczaleski December 8, 1972 [2] Sterling, Michigan, U.S. |
Other names | Matt Kroczaleski [3] Matt Kroc [4] |
Occupation(s) | Marine, presidential security, powerlifter, bodybuilder, writer, pharmacist, model |
Employer | T-Nation |
Known for | Strength athletics |
Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) |
Spouse(s) | Patty Stoll (married 1996–2006) [8] Lauren Starkey (married 2010–2012) |
Children | Garrett John Kroczaleski (deceased) [9] |
Parents |
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Janae Marie Kroczaleski [10] (born Matthew Raymond Kroczaleski) is an American who previously competed as a professional powerlifter and competitive bodybuilder.
In combined (squat, bench press, and deadlift) equipped powerlifting total, on April 25, 2009, in Iowa, Kroc set the male world record in the 220 lb. weight class with 2,551 lbs (composed of 738 pound bench press, 810 pound deadlift and 1003 pound back squat), which at the time was also the fifth highest total for the 242 lb. male weight class. [11] [12] Kroczaleski no longer held the record as of August 21, 2010, when a 2,715 pound total was achieved by Shawn Frankl (the man who held the record prior to Kroczaleski) in Ohio. [13] [14]
In 2015, Kroc came out as transgender and genderfluid, taking the name 'Janae' and adopting she/her pronouns. Kroc uses the name 'Matt' and male pronouns when referring to the time before her transition.
Kroc served in the United States Marine Corps [15] from 1991 to 1995 and was selected for presidential security duty serving under President Bill Clinton. The tour of duty included time in Washington, D.C., providing security for military officers at the Pentagon and for some of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1992 to 1994. Assigned to security duty for Warren Christopher (then Secretary of State) during the United Nations conferences in 1993, Kroc was later assigned to the security force at the presidential retreat at Camp David from 1994 to 1995.
Kroc began entering powerlifting contests after joining the Marines in 1991. [16]
In 2002, Matt graduated from college and bought a home prior to the 2002 USAPL Nationals. Later, Matt went to London, Ohio, to train at a compound with Dave Tate and Jim Wendler. [17] Kroc also trained with Mountain Dog John Meadows, [18] Branch Warren, [19] and Johnnie O. Jackson. [20]
Kroc developed "kroc rows", or dumbbell rows performed with extremely heavy weight and many repetitions. [21] One video of Kroc Rows showed 25 repetitions with 225 pounds, [22] and has been known to perform kroc rows with 300-pound dumbbells. [23] Kroc also described lifting 300 pounds for 13 repetitions using straps; and both 205 pounds for 30 repetitions, and 175 pounds for 40 repetitions, neither with straps. [24] The 300x13 claim was verified at the 2010 Arnold Sports Festival. [25]
In 2017, after 18 months on estrogen, Kroc's performance was reduced to 210 pounds for 10 repetitions [26] and deadlifting 605 pounds. [27]
Kroc is a world champion, a world record holding powerlifter, and a National Physique Committee bodybuilder.
In 2012, Kroc spoke at Learn To Train Seminar 4. Kroc then shared this online from December 2012 to March 2013. [28]
Kroc graduated from Ferris State University in 2002 and is a registered pharmacist working in the specialty pharmacy division of Walgreens. Kroc had careers as a sponsored athlete under contract with both EliteFTS and MuscleTech, and as an author and model, having appeared in and published articles in many magazines including Men's Fitness, Powerlifting USA , MuscleMag , and Muscle & Fitness . Kroc is also a featured author for T-Nation. Kroc created a YouTube account in 2006. [29]
In interviews, Kroc has described growing up in a trailer in a rural conservative area. [6] Kroc started working out with cement-filled Sears weights at six years old, and at 8 years old constructed a weight bench out of a 2x4 or 2x12 [30] boards, on cement blocks, and made a barbell out of milk jugs filled with sand hung on a stick. Kroc weighed 118 pounds as a high school freshman, and, after graduating from high school at Standish-Sterling Central.
After marrying Patty Stoll in 1996, the couple had three children. In 2006 they divorced. Lauren Starky married Kroc in 2010 but they divorced in 2012. [31]
Kroc's son, Garrett, died on August 1, 2022, at 22 years of age. [9]
In 2004, Kroc was diagnosed with testicular cancer. [32]
Kroc self-described as "Manliest of the Manly Men", [6] known as an "Ultimate Alpha Male" [6] before transitioning. Kroc came out as transgender to friends and relatives (including three sons [6] ) around 2005. [6] In April 2015, Kroc legally changed forenames from Matthew Raymond to Janae Marie, a name chosen by Kroc's mother, a name she would have chosen for a biologically female daughter. [10] In July of that year, Kroc came out as both transgender and genderfluid. [33]
Kroc is living as both genders, [34] saying she often feels like two completely different people trying to share a body, fighting for control. [35] Kroc uses and prefers [15] female pronouns. [36] Kroc uses masculine pronouns when referring to the Matt era. [37] In December 2015, Kroc's was the first featured among the top 63 most powerful comings-out of 2015. [38]
People described an Instagram post where Kroc described undergoing facial feminization surgery more than one year before she publicly came out. [39] Earlier articles [40] [41] [42] [43] state similarly. After an August interview by Dave Palumbo, [44] in September Kroc announced the start of a full gender transition, starting both surgical and hormonal treatments, and stopping career lifting. [45] In an interview from October 2015, Janae mentioned being four weeks into estrogen therapy and taking a testosterone blocker. [46] That same month, Kroc was mentioned on the cover of Muscle & Fitness [47] which featured an interview [11] and a photo shoot. [7] Kroc was formerly on the advisory board for the magazine. This was the longest (highest word-count) story published to date in Muscle & Fitness, and the first to feature a transgender athlete. [48] A 2017 facial feminization surgery was delayed due to an infection from a cat bite. [49]
Kroc is the subject of the 2017 documentary film Transformer . [50]
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The power lifting and fitness community are still reeling from the news that Matt "Kroc" Kroczaleski has officially transitioned to being a woman. Now known as Janae Kroc, the power lifter addresses a few issues that have been brought up in the wake of his transformation on her official Facebook page.
Kroc is one of those dudes who can't just do something for fun; he has to do everything full-bore.
It was quite a shock, I'm sure, for everyone. I was known as this Ultimate Alpha Male, which is definitely an aspect of my personality. But for a lot of years I've been hiding a part of who I am. I've been out to my family and friends for about a decade now .. me being the Manliest of the Manly Men .. they've known since they were two, four and six(50 seconds in .. 16 minutes in)
Janae has granted only one photo shoot—for the October 2015 issue of Muscle & Fitness, on newsstands now.
she legally changed her name to Janae Marie Kroczaleski (it's what her mother would have named her had she been born biologically female) in April of this year
He didn't just survive these bizarre rituals, he got on the lifting platform the next day and decimated the rest of the field. In 2009, he set the powerlifting world record in the 220-pound weight class, squatting 1,003 pounds, deadlifting 810, and benching 738 for a staggering three-lift total of 2,551.
At the moment, she still looks a lot like Matt. The 240 pounds of lean muscle she amassed during several decades of powerlifting and bodybuilding aren't going away overnight.
Kroczaleski built in the basement of his suburban Michigan home in a cookie-cutter subdivision of Ypsilanti
Matt Kroczaleski (220) totalled 2,551 pounds today at the UPA Powerlifting Nationals in Dubuque, Iowa. The total breaks the previous all-time record held by Shawn Frankl of 2,540 pounds. Kroczaleski squatted 1,003 pounds, benched 738, and finished by deadlifting 810 pounds. Kroczaleski also holds the fifth highest total of all-time at 242.
220 (100) 2715.0 (1231.5) *12.57X Shawn Frankl (US/77) 8/21/10 (1060.0+875.0+780.0=2715.0 lb. @ 216.0 lb.) (Cincinnati, Ohio) (SPF)(the PDF author is specified at records overview page)
Shawn crushed the all-time total record in the 220 lb. class at the SPF Pro/Am Championships on Saturday, August 21, 2010 with a 2,715 lb. three-lift total! Shan finished with a 1060 squat, 875 bench press and 780 deadlift on his way to winning the meet, which was held in Fairfield, Ohio.
Kroc is sharing her story as someone who, while preferring female pronouns, says she feels both hyper-masculine and hyper-feminine
While I have done 175x40 and 205x30 without straps, there's no way I could've hit my PR of 300x13 without throwing the straps on.
registered 2 September 2006
Janae Kroc: The girl most people recognize as my wife is Lauren. She's not the mother of my children, that was Patty, and Patty and I split up 10 years ago. Lauren was the girl I was with at the peak of my career.
Janae Marie Kroc, who was formerly known as Matt 'Kroc' Kroczaleski, announced on her new Instagram page that she is both 'transgender and gender fluid', explaining that she is 'currently still living life in both genders'.
living as a transgender woman being honest about her situation is very difficult
I often feel like two completely different people trying to share one body with both fighting over who gets to be in control
Although she uses female pronouns, Janae identifies as gender fluid
"It's funny. Whenever I see pictures of Matt, I always thought he looked small," she says. "Whenever I see Janae, I think I look huge.
Kroc – who is the all-time world record holder in the 220-lb. class for her 1,003-lb. squat, 738-lb. bench press and 810-lb. deadlift – said on Instagram she underwent facial feminization surgery over a year ago
It seems she had some facial reconstructive surgery in the spring of 2014 as part of her transition.
Kroc has been open about her transition and has been sharing her experience with her 2,000 Instagram followers. The first picture she uploaded about a year ago was a picture of her soon after her facial feminization surgery.
Kroc may have had facial feminization in the spring of 2014
facial reconstructive surgery she underwent in 2014
World champion powerlifter Matt Kroczaleski came out as a transgender woman and rocked the fitness world.
For a while, he was a member of the advisory board at Muscle & Fitness and I would have to hit him up for contributions to different stories
it's the longest story M&F has ever published at over 5,000 words, and definitely the first story in the mag to feature a transgender athlete
When Matt Kroc was a member of our advisory board, I considered his expertise totally indispensable
as Janae she could provide a service that is infinitely greater than her technical know-how.
Before we left yesterday my cat Dawkins bit me when I grabbed him from behind trying to get him away from some other people. By the time we left for New York it was swelling and becoming painful. It worsened rapidly and by the time we were half way to New York I couldn't even hold the steering wheel. I was running a fever and my arm was in really severe pain. I went straight to the ER. They started IV antibiotics and admitted me right away. Today the fever is gone and the symptoms are improving.