26 Oct They’re Just As Human As You

While in the States on holidays I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of the top dogs within CrossFit from both ends of the spectrum. Those high up in HQ, as well as some of the best athletes from around the world. Multiple years games athletes, from both female and male categories.

I tell you what… They look bigger on the screen then what they are in real person. For some reason I had pictured them to be ridiculously thick little nuggets. I always knew they were vertically challenged, however I thought they’d be absolute monsters in size.

After reading certain articles and seeing drug test busts on the Games website I assumed most of them at the higher level were on some form of steroids… I was humbled and corrected.

One of many big wake ups for me was seeing Paul Tremblay from the East regional. Tremblay boasts a 515lb (233kg) back squat and if any of you watched the invitational from last year he made the clean and jerk of 365lbs (165.5kg) look easy. Paul is a “smallish dude”, obviously he is strong as an ox and can grind the house down but he wasn’t ridiculously big and bulky like your perceived ‘roid takers that you find at the local ‘globo’ gym.

With their shirts on, the top guys in the world just look like fit dudes. Once the kit comes off and they pump the muscles, obviously they look the part but I couldn’t pick any of them to be taking steroids.

The ladies were exactly the same. They looked no different to the fittest girl within your Box. A lot of them are smaller than you’d think, hence why their muscle mass may look bulky, and they were all incredibly happy and friendly people.

This made me come to the reality that they just grind their arses off day after day, year after year to get to the Games. Some of them may be genetically gifted, however at the end of the day when you break it down they are not that different to you or I. The biggest difference is they want it more. They’ll train through the horrid shit; they’ll hit the strength and accessory pieces even when they don’t feel like it.

If you really want it, you can have it! You just need to want it more then everyone else. You need to be willing to put in the hard yards and hours of work. Don’t be so fast to discount professionals as gifted beings or drug takers because at the end of the day, they’re just human.