JAMES TOWNSEND: Princess P can do 20 straight pull ups.
JAMES TOWNSEND: She could do 60 straight push ups and she did that at four years old.
So I am pretty sure her number is higher now.
INTERVIEWER: Do you like being an athlete? PRISAIS: Yes.
PRISAIS: I am Prisais and I do gymnastics and crossfit.
PRISAIS: A workout.
JAMES TOWNSEND: Her first workout was when she was 10 months.
JAMES TOWNSEND: And she picked up a two and a half pound dumbbell and started doing dumbbell snatches -
never showed her.
JAMES TOWNSEND: I have been a trainer for eight years. I found CrossFit in 2014 and
I fell in love with CrossFit.
JAMES TOWNSEND: Prisais got into crossfit by just being in the gym. You know, mimicking what her father is
doing and what the grown-ups are doing around the gym. The gym was her playground.
PRISAIS: Like 10.
PRISAIS: 60.
MADDY ESPINOZA: Her being five years old, being able to do what she does; it’s impressive.
Makes you push more. It’s like, she can do it, I can do it too.
JAMES TOWNSEND: She is a hard working kid man, very hard working.
JAMES TOWNSEND: She balances crossfit and gymnastics with school-work and playtime by, you know,
right now she is ready to go to Kindergarten. So it’s a bit of a challenge, you know.
JAMES TOWNSEND: 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.
JAMES TOWNSEND: I’m teaching her that 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 all about muscle and everything.
JAMES TOWNSEND: I always try to stress to her that like, you know, you don’t want to burn out.
You just came back from two, two and a half hours of gymnastics. Why you still want to keep going?
And she does. I guess that’s just the fire and determination and empowerment.
JAMES TOWNSEND: I get a lot of criticism, 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 lifting’s
fault, it’s the coach’s fault. It’s the programmer's fault. It makes her bones stronger. It creates a better long-term
athletic development, but 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: I like doing my bar routine, like this.
JAMES TOWNSEND: She is on level two right now, JO at her present gymnastics gym and she is the youngest out
of eight, seven year olds and she is the strongest.
NOUR NAMO: Crossfit, it’s a great sport, very great sport and then a lot of ex-gymnasts do crossfit.
NOUR NAMO: Compared to other girls, she is the strongest one in my group, my level two group.
I can see she is going far and she can really pursue her gymnastics career.
JAMES TOWNSEND: I see her making the Olympics around, I think 15-16 is the Olympic age, so yeah.
You know, if she wants to do it, I know she could do it.
JAMES TOWNSEND: I never want her to feel that pressure. I want to support anything that she wants
to do. And that’s what is being the number one fan, the number one parent.
If Princess P decided to say, “Dad I don’t want to do, you know, CrossFit or gymnastic anymore,” I am fine with it.
If she wants to be a doctor, whatever she wants to do.
PRISAIS: I am going to be a doctor and a nurse.
JAMES TOWNSEND: People’s reaction to Prisais’s videos online is, ‘Wow! Oh my god, she’s inspiring, like,
wow look at her, like, what am I doing with my life?’
It inspires people to be active with their kids. This country is riddled with childhood obesity.
She is empowering other women because other people, other young girls and other women see the fight
and see the determination in her.