Short in stature, big into fitness

Cade Ingelse grew up loving sports, but he wasn’t really into working out.

Now, he has qualified for a worldwide fitness competition just a few years into his latest passion.

Ingelse will be lifting weights and doing cardio at the Adaptive Games in San Antonio next month. He is ranked eighth in the world in the Short Stature category.

Ingelse, a 2024 Cedar Grove-Belgium High School graduate who has dwarfism, found the high-intensity fitness program during a time when most of the world was stuck at home not doing much.

“Covid,” Ingelse said of what got him to the gym.

His mother Julia had done CrossFit for a few years at Sandra Large’s gym in Belgium, and one day Cade came along to class.

Now he works out five days a week at CrossFit Inspiring Fitness in Belgium.

Ingelse also works out with coach Jess Schneider three times a week, and he recently started Schneider’s nutrition program, changing his diet “to a point.”

CrossFit has provided Ingelse with an avenue to compete while staying in shape.

“It’s your own thing. You’re not necessarily with a team. No one’s relying on you to do anything. You’re just going at your own pace,” he said.

“High school sports weren’t my thing, and I didn’t want to sit around the house.”

His mother said it has benefited her son in other ways after he struggled to keep up with others in school athletics.

“Mental health-wise, when he first started he was like, Ugh, I can’t do what my friends are doing,” Julia said.

“He was struggling with a 35-pound dumbbell and now he uses a 50. He’s come a long way.”

“It’s just been really cool to watch,” Large said. “From day one he’s never been an ‘I can’t.’ He always gives his best. Sometimes, I forget he does have limitations and he has to remind me.”

CrossFit also helps Ingelse follow his doctor’s recommendation that he stay in shape. “Basically, it’s already hard enough for me. Not being fit doesn’t help,” Ingelse said.

Ingelse prefers lifting weights over cardio, and he tracks his progress. He can squat 350 pounds, deadlift 250 and clean and jerk 135.

Ingelse qualified after ranking in the top 20 in open competition, then cracking the top 10 in the semifinals. Those workouts were filmed and sent in. He learned he qualified for the world competition via email.

“It was exciting. I was pumped,” he said.

He will be competing against seven other Americans, one German and one Austrian. He knows some of his competitors from social media and has met one.

Fourteen family members and friends will be going along to cheer Ingelse on in the multiple-day competition.

Ingelse plans his training schedule around his career aspirations.

“I would like to be a pilot,” he said.

He has already logged nearly 10 of his required 40 hours of flight training to get a private pilot’s license.

“Everyone went off to college and here I am going to my local airport,” he said.

Ingelse trains on a four-seat Piper Cherokee 180 at the Sheboygan County Memorial Airport. After he gets his license, he can try to earn his instrument rating, then a multi-engine rating and finally his commercial license.

He already passed the Federal Aviation Administration’s physical and is now waiting for another FAA approval since he can’t reach the rudder pedals.

He appreciates the wide openness of the skies. “There’s no traffic up there,” Ingelse said.

He said the only thing that “scares me is watching the bill they’re going to send me.”

Ingelse’s initial plan was the ground transportation industry. His father Jamon is a truck driver and a full-time firefighter for the City of Sheboygan.

“That’s what I wanted to do since everybody wants to be like their dad,” Ingelse said.

He may eventually do all three. Ingelse plans to earn his commercial driver’s license after the fitness competition. He will attend a six-week program at Fox Valley Technical College.

He already joined the Belgium Fire Department, where his father started as a volunteer, and helped respond to one of the most notable blazes in department history.

“Lake Church (Inn) was my first fire,” he said.

Ingelse wasn’t 18 during the May 2023 fire that destroyed the longtime restaurant and bar, so he couldn’t actually fight the flames, but he helped where he could.

Ingelse has since turned 18 and earned the state’s Firefighter 1 certification.

It was Ingelse’s grandfather Dan Miller who got him interested in planes. Miller has camped at the Environmental Aircraft Association AirVenture in Oshkosh since the mid-1970s and has been taking his grandson since Cade was 2.

His great-grandfather on his father’s side of the family, George Lanser, provided the truck driving intrigue. He founded Lanser Garage and Towing in 1975 and later passed it down to his son-in-law Randy Inglese, who was also a longtime Belgium fire chief. Jamon later owned the truck and towing business for a while and suggested his son take to the air for a career instead.

Regardless of his possible careers, Ingelse’s perspiration has served as motivation at CrossFit.

“He inspires everyone in the gym on a daily basis,” Large said.

For more information on the CrossFit Adaptive Games, visit https://www.wheelwodgames.com.