Janae Kroc


Janae Marie Kroczaleski is an American who previously competed as a professional powerlifter and competitive bodybuilder.
In regard to combined 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, which at the time was also the fifth highest total for the 242 lb. male weight class. Matt no longer held the record as of August 21, 2010, when a 2,715 pound total was achieved by Shawn Frankl in Ohio. In 2015, Kroc came out as transgender and genderfluid, taking the name 'Janae' and adopting female pronouns. She uses the name 'Matt' and male pronouns when referring to the time before her transition.

Career

Military

Kroc served in the United States Marine Corps 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 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.

Powerlifting

Kroc began entering powerlifting contests after joining the Marines in 1991.
In 2002, he graduated from college and bought a home prior to the 2002 USAPL Nationals. Later he went to London, Ohio, to train at a compound with Dave Tate and Jim Wendler. Kroc also trained with Mountain Dog John Meadows, Branch Warren, and Johnnie O. Jackson.
Kroc developed what he called "kroc rows", or dumbbell rows performed with extremely heavy weight and many repetitions. He made a video showing 25 repetitions with 225 pounds, and has been known to perform kroc rows with 300-pound dumbbells. He 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. The 300x13 claim was verified at the 2010 Arnold Sports Festival.
In 2017, after 18 months on estrogen, Kroc's performance was reduced to 210 pounds for 10 repetitions and deadlifting 605 pounds.
Kroc is a world champion, a world record holding powerlifter, and a National Physique Committee bodybuilder.

Seminar speaking

In 2012, Kroc spoke at Learn To Train Seminar 4. Kroc then shared this online from December 2012 to March 2013.

Other

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. He joined YouTube in 2006.

Personal life

In interviews, Kroc has described growing up in a trailer in a rural conservative area. Kroc started working out with cement-filled Sears weights at 6 years old, including doing 100 reps on a 10-pound dumbbell, and at 8 years old constructed a weight bench out of a 2x4 or 2x12 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.
In 2004, Kroc was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Kroc had three children with a woman named Patty; they split up in 2006. Kroc also married a woman named Lauren.
Kroc says she was the "Manliest of the Manly Men", known as an "Ultimate Alpha Male" before transitioning. Kroc came out as transgender to friends and relatives around 2005. In April 2015, Kroc legally changed forenames from Matthew Raymond to Janae Marie, a name chosen by Kroc's mother. In July of that year, Kroc came out as both transgender and genderfluid. She is living as both genders, saying she often feels like two completely different people trying to share a body, fighting for control. Kroc goes by female pronouns, but uses male pronouns when referring to her life as Matt. In December 2015, Kroc's was the first featured among the top 63 most powerful comings-out of 2015.
People described an Instagram post where Kroc described undergoing facial feminization surgery more than one year before she publicly came out. Earlier articles state similarly. After an August interview by Dave Palumbo, in September Kroc announced the start of a full gender transition, starting both surgical and hormone treatments, and stopping career lifting. In an interview from October 2015, Janae mentioned being four weeks into estrogen therapy and taking a testosterone blocker. That same month, Kroc was mentioned on the cover of Muscle and Fitness which featured an interview and a photo shoot. Kroc was formerly on the advisory board for the magazine. This was the longest story published to date in Muscle & Fitness, and the first to feature a transgender athlete. A 2017 facial feminization surgery was delayed due to an infection from a cat bite.
Kroc is the subject of the 2017 documentary film Transformer.

Awards