CrossFit is one of the world’s largest participation fitness programs, with over 15,000 affiliated CrossFit gyms globally. 400,000 people compete in the CrossFit open, the biggest sporting participatory event in the world. One such athlete is Mathew Fraser, the Fittest Man on Earth — the most successful and dominant CrossFit athlete in history. Mat is a 5 time CrossFit Games Champion (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020) and the only 6 time individual podium finisher.
Mat Fraser’s new book, Hard Work Pays Off, details for the first time his revolutionary methods for staying motivated and building peak strength, endurance, and speed. Read an extract from Mat’s new book below!
Mat Fraser
Mentality 101
I like to say that the best thing to ever happen to me in CrossFit was losing the 2015 Games.
I’d done practically nothing to get ready for Regionals, and if I’d been rewarded with a ticket to the Games, I probably would’ve trained even less and shown up totally unprepared. Then I would’ve packed it in as soon as I hit an event where I couldn’t just impress everyone with my brute strength. I barely rowed 1 kilometre at Regionals without stopping, and on the very first day at the Games, I would’ve had to row 21,097 meters? Yeah, that would’ve been a hard pass from me.
It took me years — and a few very public humiliations — to decide that I wanted to be the Fittest on Earth. So what I want you to do right now is evaluate how seriously you want to take this sport. Be honest with yourself. Maybe you don’t want to be the absolute best athlete you can be. That’s okay. Believe me, I know how much work it takes.
In the last few weeks leading up to the Games, my entire life — and Sammy’s — would revolve around my health and safety. I’d stop riding my motorcycle, even just around our neighbourhood. I’d refuse to go to the beach in case there was broken glass I could step on. I’d even stop using a steak knife because what if this was the one time in a million that I cut my hand?
‘What I want you to do right now is evaluate how seriously you want to take this sport. Be honest with yourself. Maybe you don’t want to be the absolute best athlete you can be. That’s okay. Believe me, I know how much work it takes.’
So what’re your goals? Maybe you want to be number one at your gym but never compete. Maybe you want to get a specific skill, like a ring muscle- up or a bodyweight snatch. Maybe you just like going to the gym every day, breaking a sweat, and hang- ing out with your buddies, and you’d be happy maintaining where you’re at. Those are great goals, and you can always change them as you get more experience, just like I did. So decide what your personal podium is and work toward it.
Where you’ll run into problems is if your expectations don’t align with the amount of work you’re willing to invest, and so many CrossFit athletes assume they’ve got what it takes to focus on nothing but eating, sleeping, and training. Before you down- load your 12- week strength plan, meal prep for the next month, and buy every supplement that’s advertised to you on Instagram, you have to ask yourself: That thing I hate doing, am I willing to do it every day for a year?
That’s what I did with rowing, and then sprinting, then dead- lifting, and then swimming, and the list goes on and on. To be a true competitor, you have to accept that you’ll always be working most on the thing you like least. No matter how many times you win the Games, there’s an endless list of weaknesses to improve — and that should scare you.
—This is an edited extract from Hard Work Pays Off by Mat Fraser (Penguin Books Australia), out on the 18th of January.
Hard Work Pays Off
Transform Your Body and Mind with CrossFit's Five-Time Fittest Man on Earth
Hard Work Pays Off. This is the mantra of Mat Fraser, the five-time CrossFit super athlete who is currently the World's Fittest Man.
In this ground-breaking book, Mat details for the first time his revolutionary methods for staying motivated and building peak strength, endurance, and speed. Mat reveals the training methods and workouts he has used to help edge out all competitors, so that you can rapidly improve your own physical and mental fitness...
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