Our cover model this issue, as anyone with even a passing interest in the sport will know, is CrossFit legend Mat Fraser. With four consecutive CrossFit Games titles to his name, he is one win away from becoming the most dominant male athlete in the sport’s history. However, when I sat down to speak to him in early May (via 2020’s breakout medium, Zoom) if I didn’t know who he was, I might easily have mistaken him for a man just finding his feet – ‘giving this CrossFit thing a go’ – such is his down-to-Earth attitude and refreshingly human vulnerabilities.
When he talks about being physically sick with nerves before competitions, or eating pizza and Chinese takeaways to his heart’s content, you get a sense that he’s a regular guy – who happens to be one of the fittest people on the planet. And yet, when the heat is on, it’s Fraser’s superhuman ability to rationalise discomfort and endure exhaustion that set him apart. You can find out how to forge a winning mindset of your own – and see what the four-time ‘Fittest Man on Earth’ has to say about transforming your training – on page 60.