Kate Sinclair: Unleashing Her Inner Athlete
Athlete of the Month: April 2020
By Ratih Sutrisno, originally published on The Foundry blog, April 26, 2020.
Kate Sinclair grew up as an active kid — a competitive figure skater from ages 5–15, a swimmer, and a lifelong skier. Sports gave her purpose. However, as graduate school and her career progressively took priority, Kate realized that she wasn’t feeling like herself.
“I hadn’t been taking very good care of myself, physically or mentally, for a few years.”
When Kate moved back to Chicago, she committed to finding something that would work, but she knew she needed support and some built-in accountability. It was time to revive her competitive streak and reveal her buried athleticism.
“When I walked in the gym, the first thing I saw was people from the class before dropping to the ground after a tough workout,” she says, “I wanted to walk right back out. It intimidated the hell out of me.”
Kate admits it was tough. But her inner athlete loved the challenge and she persisted. In addition to joining classes, Kate opted into personal training sessions with Coach Matt and nutrition coaching with Coach Fabio.
“I’ve lost weight, gotten stronger, become so much more disciplined about my diet. It’s helped me to find a better balance with work, and to learn that even small wins are worth celebrating.”
While the physical changes Kate noticed were motivating, joining the Foundry Fam meant more to Kate than she realized. Starting CrossFit helped her remember why she fell in love with sports as a young girl. To Kate, athletics means community. Kate is now supported and connected to other driven athletes, gets to see familiar faces every class, and knows she’ll always get a welcome and a high five (even virtually) from a coach.
Kate has also come to realize how inextricably linked fitness is with mental health, something she is personally dedicating a lot of time to these days.
“The Foundry has been especially helpful for me during this crazy time while we’ve been in quarantine! My lifestyle changes were still pretty new — then the world changed dramatically.”
Kate took the lockdown as an opportunity to nail down her routine. She joins Zoom workouts every night at 5:30 pm and even pops in for some lunch hour core and stretching sessions.
“Somehow, I’m MORE active now, and it’s keeping me sane and motivated. I’m so grateful for everything the team is doing for us. I’m still making progress even in isolation.”
Kate-from-a-year-ago wouldn’t believe it.
