(^102) MH.CO.ZA/ August 2019
better at it.”
Fraser hasn’t always
been the best at CrossFit.
He came second on his
Games debut in 2014
to the legendary Rich
Froning, whose four
consecutive wins Fraser
will probably equal
this year. Froning then
retired from individual
competition, but Fraser
rested on his Rookie
of the Year Award: he
trained a lot, but cut
corners elsewhere. He ate
badly (including half a
litre of ice cream a night),
slept inadequately, didn’t
warm up or cool down.
The favourite to win
the 2015 Games, he
blew a 100-point lead
and came second again,
this time to Ben Smith.
Being the Second Fittest
Man on Earth two years in a row is nothing
to be ashamed of, but Fraser wasn’t proud of
the effort he’d put in. He’d lost first, not won
second. He hated his silver medals.
Fraser went away, licked his wounds
and regrouped. He sought the help of top
endurance coach Chris Hinshaw. He bought a
Pig, the aptly named 254kg block of concrete-
filled rubber that had contributed to his
downfall at the 2015 Games, where athletes
were required to f lip it for 30m before four
legless rope climbs and a 30m handstand
walk. He practised late every Sunday. He
sorted out his diet and recovery.
At the 2016 Games, Fraser, no gazelle,
produced a shock by winning the opening
7km trail run, then came second in the
“Suicide Sprint” shuttle run and the 85m
handstand walk. It was the most dominant
display seen at the Games – until his next
one, and the one after.
The only thing more habitual than his
wins is his daily routine. Two minutes after
waking from a “minimum nine hours” of
sleep, he eats breakfast, prepared by his
fiancée, Sammy Moniz, who posts their
hearty meals on the Instagram account
@feedingthefrasers. Fraser doesn’t count
macros. He has what he calls “100 points of
energy” to spend every day. “I want to use as
many of those points on training as possible,”
he says. “If I’m worried about what I’m eating,
that’s gonna cost me 20 points.”
After making a to-do list, Fraser trains at
Froning’s box CrossFit Mayhem in Cookeville,
Tennessee, where he and Sammy relocated in
- He eats lunch, runs errands, then trains
for another two to three hours in his garage,
working on weaknesses. Then he has dinner,
and puts on Netf lix while he stretches and
foam-rolls for an hour before bed. That's 99% of
his days. “I’m a very happy individual.”
“Hard work pays off ” is Fraser’s motto. The
frequently hashtagged initialism #HWPO
appeared on the tongue and insole of the
Metcon 4 Mat Fraser, a “player-exclusive”
version of Nike’s popular cross-training shoe
that sold out almost immediately when it was
released in May 2018. The two rings on the heel
celebrated his victories up to that point. The
knurled-look upper was inspired by a barbell.
The leather back, quilted lining and gunmetal
details nodded to his beloved motorbikes. The
bull on the tongue represented the figurative
steers in life that had bucked him – and driven
him on. Fraser is a jewel in Nike’s crown and
a coup in its rivalry with CrossFit’s partner
Reebok. A ban on non-Reebok footwear at
the Games has been lifted this year, but
competitors still have to wear Reebok apparel.
He arrived at Nike’s Oregon HQ in May to
be greeted by a giant banner of himself, which
he called “an honour” – one that the brand says
is reserved for “the world’s most venerated
athletes”. It was also “pretty bananas” to get a
Mat Fraser version of the Metcon. “When I give
my parents a pair and my dad is, like, ‘OMG,
you have your name on a Nike shoe,’ it’s just
a sense of pride that you’re doing something
right. It’s rewarding.”
Strong Background
His mum and dad were Olympians – not
weightlifters but figure skaters, who
competed as a freestyle pair at the 1976
Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria. By the
time Mat and his elder brother came along, his
mother had graduated from medical school
to begin a career as a doctor, so his father gave
up his real estate job to become a stay-at-home
dad. Much of the family’s fun was athletic.
The four of them would move the coffee table
to one side and hold handstand competitions
in the living room. His father, who could
handstand-walk down a f light of stairs, would
bet Fraser a dollar that he couldn’t backf lip onHolding Your Nerve
Despite his superiority, Fraser often dry-heaves
or even throws up from pre-competition
tension. He reminds himself of what is within
his control, and says a prayer like the one
tattooed on his shoulder: “God, grant me the
serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can, and the
wisdom to know the difference.”
Sports psychologists talk about theimportance of a “growth mindset”: the belief
that your attributes aren’t “fixed”, that
they can be developed. A three-time junior
national weightlifting champion and former
US Olympic weightlifting prospect, Fraser
has short levers that are advantageous for
lifting, but less so for, say, rowing, which
didn’t come naturally. Helpfully, the box he
trained at in Vermont, USA, where he lived,
was also frequented by employees of nearby
rowing machine manufacturer Concept2, one
of whom taught him proper technique.
“Extend your legs, extend your hips, thenfollow through with the arms,” explains
Fraser, who rowed up to 5km per day until
his weakness became a strength. “It’s
an unnatural feeling; but after a million
metres, you get the hang of it.” His stroke
will never be as long as his competitors’:
“But I just use that as a reason to get even
FRASER TURNED
HIS WEAKNESSES
ON THEIR HEAD TO
REACH THE TOP.