posted on April 20, 2023
Hi Everyone! My name is Jen Norton, and I am the newest addition to the team here at Union Fitness. Although I was born in Scottsdale, Arizona, I spent much of my childhood bouncing around between different parts of the country. By the time I was starting kindergarten, my family and I had lived in 4 different cities across 3 states. I spent most of my elementary school years growing up under the Arizona sun in the suburbs of Phoenix before my family relocated for a final time. This time to the sprawling suburbia of of North Texas where I graduated from high school alongside over 800 of my fellow classmates – a class so large I remember asking myself “who the heck is that?” on more than one occasion as names were read out at our graduation ceremony. After graduating high school, I moved across the country to attend the University of Pittsburgh. A Class of Covid graduate, I earned my B.A. in political science in 2020 and have been a proud resident of Pittsburgh’s North Side and member of Union Fitness ever since.
Growing up, my parents put my older brother and I in just about every sport under the sun. From soccer to gymnastics to ballet to swimming to karate, I tried pretty much anything I saw my brother doing. I fell in love with gymnastics and ended up dedicating 15 years of my life to the sport before an onslaught of poorly timed injuries ended my dreams of college gymnastics at age 18. As it would turn out, coming up short of my goal would be just the stroke of luck I needed to fall in love with a new sport. I discovered powerlifting during my freshman year in college, and now 6 years later, I am still proudly obsessed with picking up heavy circles.
Since competing in my first meet back in January of 2018, powerlifting has introduced me to a whole plethora of kind people from all over the country and even from around the world. It has helped me form a unique connection with my body and allowed me to cultivate a passion for inclusivity in fitness spaces. I truly can’t wait to meet even more friendly community members as a staff member here at Union Fitness!
Here are a few random fun facts about me that I couldn’t figure out how to neatly fit into this bio:
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