When I was growing up, I had a million excuses for skipping gym class. Now that I'm older, I've come to grudgingly accept the importance of regular exercise, but I stick strictly to the slow-but-steady school of thought.
That's why I'm always amazed by people with the wherewithal and endurance to compete in truly next level competitions like this former rugby player who beat paralysis to complete an Ironman competition.
Of course, it's even more impressive when the person winning the competition and leaving everyone else in the dust is just a kid!
That's exactly the case with Milla Bizzotto, a youthful competitor who recently completed the BattleFrog Race BFX24.
If this competition doesn't sound familiar to you, you're not the only one. It's not your standard issue 5k or half-marathon; it's a 24-hour competition inspired by the notoriously crushing training of the U.S. Navy SEALs.
According to the Washington Post, competitors, including 9-year-old Bizzotto, had to conquer a 36-mile race course and an 8 km swim, with 25 challenging obstacles interspersed between.
[Photo Credit: Facebook/BattleFrog]
Little Bizzotto might like wearing tutus as much as any other 9-year-old, but she is one tough cookie.
It's no coincidence that she pairs her floaty ballet skirt with a pair of boxing gloves. The elementary-schooler trains 5 days a week to maintain her impressive physical fitness.
Her father owns a gym, the Focused Movement Academy in Miami, where Bizzotto trains Monday through Friday.
She works with a handful of different coaches, including her dad, and sees a sports medicine doctor regularly to keep her from overdoing it.
Bizzotto's commitment to physical fitness might seem unusual in someone so young, but she has a very good reason for her iron discipline.
According to ABC News, the petite athlete made the gym a regular part of her routine after she started to get bullied by other kids at school.
She wanted to prove that, regardless of what the mean kids tried to tell her, she could do anything she set her mind to.
Well, despite her diminutive size, we would say that Bizzotto has definitely proved the bullies wrong already.
She weighs in at just 53 lbs., but she can hold her whole body weight over her head in a perfect headstand!
Competing in the most recent, SEAL-based BattleFrog was just the latest competition that Bizzotto checked the box on. Running and training hard are far from new for the grade-schooler.
She competed in a (slightly) easier BattleFrog last year, and, in addition to gym training, also preps by running in the sand at the local beach.
And Bizzotto has a message for other kids dealing with bullies who want to make them feel like they aren't good enough, leaving the following in her Instagram bio: "I hope to inspire kids like me to stand up against bullies. I did it by believing in myself and being active!"
She then caps off that pronouncement with the hashtag #InspirationForTheIPadGeneration. We like it already!
If this tiny-but-tough cookie is your new inspiration, at the gym and in life, spread her powerful anti-bullying message and SHARE on Facebook!
