Meet Angelo Pendergrast

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Angelo Pendergrast a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Angelo with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

I get my work ethic from my mother, she was always inspiration in the work place. I remember in the 90s her showing my brother and sisters the many different award she won for outstanding customer service skills. My mother was very punctual and made sure like her we were always on time to future obligations.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Currently i have my sights set on more of a fitness journey for those with disabilities. I was to show many other is similar situations that the sky is the limit. I am currently training for the 2025 Adaptive Crossfit Games which begins at the end of February and will not end until September. During this time I will be on a strict diet and workout regiment. This will consist of training twice a day ranging from 2 -4 hours with proper rest in between. I am very excited to start my sophomore year with the games and hopefully take home the first place for 2025. During this time I will also participate in numerous fitness clinic such as wheelchair rugby and maybe competing on an Olympic level one day.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The first skills for which i can seem to shake is the ability to never quit. This helps greatly in my crossfit journey when we are require to complete AMREPS style workouts. AMREPS means as many reps as possible within a specific time frame. Another skill which had carried me a long way is the ability to have an open mind. This helps when working with others on group projects to achieve a goal. People are much easier to work with and unite when you have an open mind. Last but not least is my ability to learn things quickly. This was very useful during my military career when policies and procedures would rapidly change to meet the needs of the mission.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

A challenge that is very unfamiliar that I’m currently struggling with is fully putting myself out there. Whether it’s networking or just trying to make new friends, since my injury it has been very difficult. Becoming paralyzed at 30 it was hard learning how to live again, but the hardest part was getting used to how everyone else reacts to your injury. I’m an trying to defeat this weakness by doing things that make me uncomfortable, such as global competitions and public speaking.