Fuel What Matters UK

Leon Cassidy, Steve Fawcett and Reggie Fasa jump on to Fuel What Matters to talk CrossFit and their latest business venture, Fitr Training, which is looking to make finding the perfect training programme a little more perfect.  Reggie also talks his hopes for the upcoming season and fleshes out just how much progress he has made in recent months and Steve talks about his hopes for his brand new training facility for elite CrossFit athletes here in the UK. So many legends, one little Zoom call.

Since Lucy last joined us, she has enjoyed a stunning debut Games season, eventually making it all the way through to an LCQ for Madison at the start of last summer. Now with a new manager in tow, FWM's very own Cesca Baguley. she is ratcheting up the progress and can already look forward to competing at Wodapalooza, in Miami, in January 2022.

*Want to meet Lucy? - head to the XND Training Weekend. The Athlete Centre, Oxford UK.  November 6th - 7th 2021. Two places are still available! E-mail: [email protected]  for more information.*

A couple of weeks ago, a relatively innocuous opinion posted on a photograph, re-posted by CrossFit, was removed by the company's media team. Ian Dennis, the man who made the comment, argues he was stating an opinion on training and that it, for most people due to their genetics, would need more than chicken and broccoli to reach a particular level of physique and output.

We at this podcast love CrossFit - the training and the community. However, as an observer and a critic as well as a friend of the sport, we were interested to hear from Ian - and where his assertions, that not everyone who competes at the highest levels of functional training is "clean" - stem from.

One from the past this week as we celebrate all our new listeners by re-dropping Episode 2 of FWM!...Way back when we were the Team TAC Podcast. Michael is the co-founder of Fit Union and knows a thing or two when it comes to eating sensibly. If you haven't checked out his advice yet, you should! 

Enjoy, post and please keep spreading the word about Fuel What Matters UK.

Ali Crawford faced barriers and delays galore in getting to Madison this year. Once there, she became part of the handful of British athletes to dominate the Masters categories of the Games, finishing second behind a certified legend of the sport, Annie Sakamoto, in the 45-49 age category. 

Ali is, like many Masters athletes, a phenom in the dark arts of time management. We hear about how Ali balances her family and work commitments with her training and the power something like CrossFit can hold in a community such as East Kilbride, where she trains out of the awesome CrossFit East Kilbride, which is well worth a visit should you ever find yourself in the Glasgow area of Scotland.

A huge Games review. Celebratory and critical where due - this one has it all. BKG reviews his season and comes clean about some of the struggles he has been facing behind the scenes and the challenges of taking a one person support team to Madison; Snorri leads the charge on fronting up to the ongoing problem of giving equal coverage to deserving athletes on the Games livestreams and television coverage. Of all the CrossFit podcasts you'll want to listen to this week, this one of them.

It is a case of brand, on for Brandon. What a CrossFit Games this lady had; from the spectre of Covid hanging over her, to taking the floor without her training partners at her side, to dominating a handstand race none of us will forget in a hurry...in many ways, this was Danielle's Games. 

We talk in depth about how Danielle handled the stress around her and the problems that came with the weekend, as well as her successes and the growing following she is now receiving in the wider CrossFit community. Danielle also sheds light on where Underdog Athletics has gone so right and what she really thinks about not winning Spirit of the Games...

Also, waffles and chicken are a thing. Who knew?

Royce is one of the nicest, humble and level headed guys in the sport of CrossFit. That's probably why such a  compliment won't go to his head. 

Journeying back from Madison after the 2021 CrossFit Games, Royce had/has (depending on when you're listening to this) a couple of weeks in hotel quarantine due to Australia's approach to tackling Covid. He joins FWM to recap his own performance at the Games, the graceful nature of Olympians in contrast to generalist CrossFitters, thoughts on when and if he'll move his family to Cookeville full time to join up with his Mayhem stable mates and so much more.

Sending huge love to Royce, only 8 more days mate! (At the time of publication...)

Arielle Loewen has had quite the year. From winning the Granite Games to enjoying a short and sharp block of intensive training before Madison, she took the CrossFit Games in her stride and finished up well and secure inside the top 20 fittest women on the planet. Arielle is family first with not a long-standing commitment to competition, but discusses what it was like to go from fan to competitor and beat some of her idols in the sport in the process. We also learn that in a year of firsts, her biggest rookie error was probably to do with the food she had access to during each day of competition. The burning question lingers: will she do it all again next year?

Our post-Games run of shows begins with Southampton's own Kelly Friel! Kelly has just won the Masters Category (40-44) at the CrossFit Games. We discuss celebrating with a 5 Guys, how anyone can excel in CrossFit, no matter their starting age and whether she'll be back for more next year... more meaning, more elite fitness, not more fast food.