A badass kid is breaking into the CrossFit world at just five-years-old – and she can already do 60 push ups at a time and deadlift 65lb.
Prisais Brooklyn Townsend did her first CrossFit workout at just 10 months old when she started copying her dad’s moves in the gym.
The tiny spitfire has been hooked ever since and practices with her trainer and father James at every opportunity.
Strong: Prisais Brooklyn Townsend has made her mark as a five-year-old CrossFitter
Adorable: The little girl first started CrossFit when she was 10 months old because she saw her dad, James, doing the workouts
Tough: Her dad said the little girl sometimes will workout up to 10 times per week
James told Barcroft TV: ‘Her first workout when she was 10 months and she picked up two and a half pound dumbbell and started doing snatches – [I] never showed her [how]!
‘People’s reactions to Prisais’ videos online are like: “Wow, oh my god, she’s inspiring! Look at her, what am I doing with my life?”
‘It inspires people to be active with their kids. This country is riddled with childhood obesity, you know.
‘She is empowering other women because other people, other young girls, other women see the fight and see the determination in her.’
Prisais’ promising career in CrossFit began when she started copying her father’s moves after he discovered the sport in 2014.
An average workout for Prisais includes gymnastics routine on floor, beam sandbar, push-ups, handstand push-ups, pull-ups, burps, box jumps, and air squats.
The tiny strong woman can also perform barbell back squats, deadlifts and full cleans, as well as 20 straight pull-ups, lift a 50lb back squat and a 65lb deadlift.
James said: ‘I had found CrossFit in 2014 and I fell in love. Prisais got into CrossFit by just being in a gym. You know, mimicking what her father is doing, what grown-ups are doing around the gym.
‘The gym was her playground!’
Incredible: Besides doing CrossFit, the little girl is also passionate about gymnastics
Phenomenal: Prisais can do 20 pull-ups, lift a 50lb back squat and a 65lb deadlift
Powerful: ‘She is empowering other women because other people, other young girls, other women see the fight and see the determination in her,’ James said
Determined: James describes his daughter as having a ‘fire’ and passion for working hard
Even though James is careful not to push Prisais too hard, she loves working out any chance she gets, sometimes even doing 10 workouts a week.
James said: ‘I always try to stress her with that – “you don’t want to burn out. You just came back from two and a half hours of gymnastics. Why you still want to keep going?”
‘But she does. I guess that’s just the fire and determination. She is a hard working kid, very hard working.
‘She balances CrossFit and gymnastics with schoolwork and playtime. Right now she’s ready to go to kindergarten, so it’s a bit of a challenge.’
Prisais often works out with James’ clients, including Maddy Espinoza, who says the little gym bunny pushes her to be her best.
She said: ‘Her being five-years-old and be able to do what she does, it’s impressive and makes you push more because she can do what I can do too.’
James believes that by developing a strong athletic foundation Prisais will be able to do anything she sets her mind to.
He said: ‘It’s a great feeling for a dad to see their kids doing something that they love and me being her first role model, to show her that she could empower herself but more importantly, empower others to be strong.
‘I’m teaching her to be strong at whatever you put your mind to. Strong could be intelligent, strong could be confident, strong could be determination, your will.
‘That’s what strong means, strong is not about muscle.’
Cute: The main thing James wants to teach his daughter is she is strong enough to do or be whatever she likes
All smiles: ‘Strong could be intelligent, strong could be confident, strong could be determination, your will,’ James said
Controversy: James admits he has received criticism for letting his daughter start CrossFit at such a young age
Impressive: Despite the criticism, James said he focuses on what his daughter’s body can handle in terms of lifting and working out
Although James has received some criticism online for allowing Prisais to start CrossFit so young, he believes that the only way it could impact her negatively is if her training regime was wrong.
He explained: ‘A lot of people always say, “hey – it’s going to stunt their growth”. The only way it could really stunt her growth is if I allow her to do a 200-pound back squat.
‘But it’s not liftings fault. It’s the coach’s fault. It’s a programming fault. It makes her bones stronger. It creates better long-term athletic development.
‘It comes down to doing it right, adding the weights on that’s appropriate for the kid’s size, proper programming, and strict supervision.’
Prisais also has her eyes set on a gymnastics career and she’s already achieved Level Two and outranks all the kids in her group.
Active: ‘It makes her bones stronger,’ he said. ‘It creates better long-term athletic development’
Passionate: Some days, Prisais will go from a two-and-a-half hour gymnastics practice to working out at a CrossFit gym
Flexible: Although James has invested a lot of time in Prisais’ training, he would not be upset if she ever decided to move onto another activity
Proud dad James said: ‘She’s on Level Two right now, at her present gymnastics gym, and she is the youngest out of eight to seven-year-olds and she is the strongest.
‘I see her making it into the Olympics around, I think 15-16 is the Olympic age. If she wants to do it, I know she could.’
Although James has invested a lot of time into Prisais’ training, he would not be disappointed if she decided to give it all up one day.
He said: ‘I’d never want her to feel that pressure. I want to support anything that she wants to do.
‘If Prisais decides, “hey dad, I don’t want to do CrossFit or gymnastics anymore,” I am fine with that.
‘She wants to be a doctor, whatever she wants to do because I was that type of kid.’
Prisais said: ‘I am going to be a doctor and a nurse.’