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TRANSFORMATIONS – Mat Fraser Before He Found CrossFit

Mat Fraser is a household name when it comes to CrossFit, but here is an archive photograph of him competing as a young weightlifter. 

Mat as a young weightlifter

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Mat Fraser has a formidable background of strength and weightlifting.

  • He was 13 years old when he won his first national title in weightlifting.
  • In 2003, 2005 and 2007 he was the school age champion
  • Mat became the junior national champion in 2009.

On the day he graduated from high school he moved to Colorado and began to train full time as an Olympic Weightlifter. Within one year he was Snatching 130kg and Clean and Jerking 160kg (at 77kg bodyweight). Then he broke his back due to coaches forcing him to continue to compete, even after he knew something bad had happened.

Although he found weightlifting hard at the beginning, he persisted, and it paid off:

‘I didn’t take off with weight lifting. I had to keep coming back and keep doing more, learning more. With weightlifting you can always get better. You can always have a straighter pull. You can always be stronger and faster.’

By the time Mat had recovered from his injury and discovered competitive fitness, he had years and years of strength and lifting experience under his belt, which gave him a huge advantage over many of his competitors. 

https://youtu.be/Gq34MnCoUm4

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