LINDSAY HILTON: It’s not weird that I go
to the gym. Like that’s what I’m trying to do is show people like this is normal.
COMM: 31-year-old Lindsay Hilton was born
without limbs, but she is not letting that stop her from competing in one of the world’s
most extreme fitness competitions.
LINDSAY HILTON: CrossFit is like that. It’s
a very encouraging atmosphere, even though it’s a very competitive atmosphere.
COMM: CrossFit contests are the notoriously
gruelling. But Lindsay just ranked 2nd in her division in the Wodapalooza tournament
after completing demanding training sets.
JENNY JEFFREY: So we’re going to do some
cleans, some squats, do a little bit of muscle up work, handstand work, parallette holds.
COMM: The high intensity exercise involves
elements from several disciplines that even the fittest athletes find gruelling.
JENNY JEFFREY: I think it takes a lot of guts.
Lindsay’s achievements have been really really great so far. She started a CrossFit
just over a year ago. Over the last year, she has gone from not even having a way to
do pulls-ups to now busting out pull-ups one after the other. Hand stands, cleans, Olympic weightlifting.
MATT MELANSEN: She always sort of thought
skipping or something is never going to do, because she’ll be disappointed and now she
learned how to skip so…
COMM: Overcoming challenges is something Lindsay
has thrived on for her entire life.
LINDSAY HILTON: I can’t wallow in the fact
that I don’t have arms and legs because there is nothing that I could ever do to change
the outcome. My parents found out that I was going to be missing all of my limbs once I
was born. I have two older siblings and I can remember, you know, playing outside in
the backyard or we have a cottage in Chester and I always, you know, we swam there, we
boated, we did all sorts of stuff. And I’m sure it maybe looked unique to people but
for me, it was normal and it was the way I always did things so… When I was really
young, I wore prosthetics arms and prosthetic legs. I no longer wear prosthetic arms for
everyday use, I stopped wearing them because I had a pair once that just kept like breaking,
so I started doing stuff without them and realised that I could do a lot of things faster
or easier, so just kind of got used to it.
COMM: The CrossFit training regime is notoriously tough.
JENNY JEFFREY: In terms of her attitude, same
as any other athlete, she comes in and whines and complains about whatever workout is up
on the board, mopes around a little bit, doesn’t want to get into the warm up, just
like anyone else.
LINDSAY HILTON: Right now, I’m really trying
to get to the gym at least five times a week. So, I am trying to step up my game.
COMM: And Lindsay is adamant that she doesn’t
need to give more thought to safety than anyone else.
LINDSAY HILTON: I don’t think I take extra
precaution. I think I would take the same precaution as anybody else.
MATT MELANSEN: You always have to kind of
gauge as she is struggling, because it’s a challenging thing that she is doing or she’s
struggling for any other reason and should I help.
LINDSAY HILTON: There is no sense like being
scared. If I have been scared or thought, “Oh it’s not for me, there is no way I
can do this”, honestly my life would be so different. I do post videos of me doing
things, because it’s like, “Well, I’m going to try this and maybe that will motivate
somebody in a similar situation to try something.”
LINDSAY HILTON: Back in March, a video of
me doing a workout kind of went viral, I’ll say. So the CrossFit main sites, CrossFit
headquarters posted a video of me on their Facebook page and got like 7 million views
or something like that, which was crazy. I still did get like a lot of positive responses from that.
COMM: And Lindsay hopes that her videos will
inspire people from all walks of life for years to come.
LINDSAY HILTON: I guess my main message that
I’m trying to kind of share with people is to just try. I always think that like, you
shouldn’t let the fear of the unknown hold you back. So, I always say like just try.
Try!