May Female Athlete Spotlight - Jamie Pent

When did you start CrossFitting? Who/what got you started?Technically, my very first CrossFit workout was in 2009 or 2010 and taken straight from crossfit.com. One of my co-workers and I were doing P90X every day after work and one day she suggested we switch it up. Her husband was trying this new “functional fitness” workout and she wanted to try it. We did it in the park and I remember there being a lot of sprints and park bench (box) jumps and possibly pushups? It’s a blur and I was sucking wind. Back then I thought healthy meant restricting myself to 1000-1200 calories (definitely not replenishing after a workout) and lifting light dumbbells for 3 sets of 12. It wasn’t until 2017, after years of my weight and confidence going up and down in perfect alignment with my yo-yo dieting that I finally took a fundamentals class at my first box in Brooklyn, NY. I was hooked after that.Though my job disrupted any sort of consistent attendance, I went as often as I could. Thankfully I have been able to be more consistent since moving back to KS and joining 913. What is your favorite/least favorite WOD?I’m going to answer this a little differently than most, I think. I don’t like WOD’s that are “for time” because I’m not very good at pacing or understanding realistic time goals for myself (especially if it’s cardio heavy). I like EMOMs & AMRAPs (though I run into pacing/goal issues there too) because it feels more structured. I know what I have to do within this window to be “successful.” What is your favorite/least favorite movement?My favorite movements… I kinda love odd object days. They feel like mini challenges which are fun. And depending on what it’s coupled with I kinda love burpee box jump overs as well. Yeah, I know-WEIRDO! Turkish get ups are fun. I think I really like clean & jerks. Mmm… I’m into pretty much everything except the movements below. hahaThe temptation to SKIP a workout runs a bit higher when there are double unders involved. Not gonna lie. I KNOW that means I should be practicing them every day, but that is the movement that gets me probably the most frustrated. I’m in my head a bit with handstand movements as well. I psych myself out being upside down, but as my upper body strength increases, I think that fear will become less and less. Wall balls make my heart sink a little bit… but I’m feeling a little less animosity of late. There’s probably more, but let’s stay positive!

Tell us a little bit about yourself (family, job, sports, interests, etc.)While Kansas is home now, I’ve actually lived in 7 states. I have a goal of visiting all 50 (maybe live in a few more) and I’m 64% there. I’ve also been to 18 countries (mostly for work) and have a goal to do a bit more traveling in 2020/2021! I recently moved back to KS after living in Brooklyn, NY for the last 6 years. I was working at a nonprofit company called, charity: water as their filmmaker. I decided to try freelancing this year- mostly video editing gigs so far which has been a lot of fun and challenging getting to work with new creatives. My immediate family all live here so it’s been great getting to see more of my parents, little sister & her kiddos after a decade of not living here. Outside of CrossFit and work, I enjoy reading (usually have 5+ going at once..I know, I’m the worst!), swimming, park hangs, trail walks, movies (NERD!), games, baking, nature escapes, beach days. I can be a bit of a homebody, but when coaxed out, I really enjoy being active and trying new things. What was your workout routine before CrossFit?My typical m.o. was to start running when I wanted to workout. Naturally, I never eased into it so without fail, I’d get injured and have to quit. I’d do one off classes like kickboxing (when a friend needed extra motivation to get moving) or spin (when another friend wanted to try it) but I was not self motivated enough to do any of these things consistently or on my own. In fact, the idea of doing any sort of class where I had to actually move in front of other humans was anxiety inducing. I was extremely self conscious about my lack of fitness, or if my face would get red when I was hot, or if I sweat more than the other women (that actually happened in a barre class where I was shaking holding these poses and just dripping sweat looking around at the Upper East Siders who had delicate beads of sweat on their foreheads as if they were trained not to sweat profusely). Geez, Jamie, couldn’t you have just said, “I didn’t have a routine before CrossFit?” Yes, yes, I could have. Moving on to chapter 5 of this novel. What did you think after your first CrossFit workout?2009/10--- “I thought P90X was making me fitter! Why am I dying right now? I never want to feel this way again!” 2016/17--- (women’s challenge/fundamentals) “I have to do more than one of these workouts in a week? How am I even going to move tomorrow after these 75 wall balls?” But then after Oly was introduced, I was hooked!

What were your goals when joining CrossFit? Have you achieved any of those goals?I think initially, my goals were to find some form of exercise that I could stick with and maybe lose some weight. I’ve always been kind of extreme or nothing. So I’d not be working out at all and sign up for a half marathon or tough mudders to try to get myself motivated or zero to hero it by doing hour long workouts 6 days a week for 90 day challenges. I’ve never been good at easing myself in which is probably why I had trouble sticking with any routine. If the motivation left or it was the day after a race, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have a why.After trying CrossFit, I kept saying, wow, this is something I can stick with. It’s so measurable. You can see your progress across time whether it’s by repeating a workout and seeing your time improve, or scaling less and less on challenging movements, or lifting more weight. It can so easily be something that I do for life because I will always be learning and growing! So, find a form of exercise I can stick with? CHECK! Because I wanted to grow and improve in CF, I decided to take my nutrition seriously and signed up for Working Against Gravity in 2018. I knew what to eat to eat well, but nailing down my macros, having accountability, and changing my mindset was a huge win last year. After 9 months of WAG, I lost 20lbs and felt so much better! So indirectly, CF also helped me with that goal as well. Now I’d like to get stronger and keep chipping away at the skills I’d like to master. Has CrossFit affected your life outside the gym?Yes, definitely. As soon as I started CrossFit, I became kind of enamoured with this feeling of empowerment I would get after each workout. I felt so good after, that my whole demeanor changed. I was more positive, patient, happier, confident. It’s crazy, but it’s true. My co-workers would comment on it and say I seemed different. And I was! I had spent a decade as a workaholic and CrossFit was the first thing that pulled me out of that rhythm and gave me back some life and made me start thinking about other ways I could invest in my own life outside of a career. It woke me up to my own life!Do you have any other special memories/ achievements during your time here?I’m so grateful to all the coaches we have at 913. Each brings something different and I appreciate the different styles and strengths of each. I think I’ve learned more here in the last 7 months than I had in the previous year+ in New York. My weight PRs have done down drastically, but my form and understanding has gone up. Because of the stellar/patient/smart coaching and awesome community I was able to get my first kipping pull-up during the open. That was pretty sweet and stands out. :) I’m sure there will be a ton more to celebrate as the year goes on. Ever upward!What advice would you give to a newbie just joining CrossFit 913?If an extremely self-conscious, out of shape, non-athlete like myself can step into CrossFit 913 and find home, you can too. Don’t worry so much about what you’re lifting, how you look, or what level you’re at. We all have strengths and weaknesses. Some of these moves take years to master so don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Just enjoy the journey! (I’m preaching to myself here too! ;) Something you might not know about me is?I have two instagram accounts (one that’s pretty and one that’s fitnessy)- let’s be instagram friends (& friends in real life)! @jamie_crossfit