Mat Fraser's Thoughts on the Direction of CrossFit 

Castro interviewed all 79 athletes this year. Fantastic. Now he is interviewing the coaches.

We need to give MASSIVE cred to Heber and Mars! Still kickin it as free agents!

I didn't watch this but can anyone tell me did Matt Frazier say anything of substance because he usually doesn't say anything

Captain of talking in circles lol. You can tell he’s a private, guarded guy. Never gave away his training when everyone else did. Never really tells his true unfiltered opinions. Not a bad thing at all. Sun Tzu would be proud!

Honestly, stuff like this is why I stay so positive about the community. People care, and collectively it will keep moving in the right direction.

What he was saying is spot on. Growing up in the 70's NFL Films created a world around the sport that was so compelling we were hooked. I'm from San Diego and grew up a Minnesota Vikings fan for example. Bud Grant and the Purple People Eaters battling it out in the frigid North - Epic stuff for a surf break kid. Story is everything.

Mat’s answers are always so politically guarded. Says a lot without saying much directly.

I just want both teams to have fun.

Road to the games was a mad hype train. And perfect point about getting to know the athletes too. 2012 to 2019 or there abouts was peak crossfit.

I think a series/competition like UFC's The Ultimate Fighter would be great for crossfit. You get to know the athletes and see what they can do.

CrossFit made it really hard to follow! Last year when we had to subscribe to espn to watch the end was a massive failure!

The games are a separate thing from your towns CrossFit gym. Those that compete they are after being number one. CrossFit HQ needs two businesses, the games and the affiliates. The issue now CrossFit has to compete against HWPO, Mayhem, PRVN, etc.

At the Games, we need more compelling stories and rivalries. Someone needs to step up and say they want to win. How many times can we see a camera on an athlete after an event and hear, "it was fun" or "I'm so grateful to be here"? Think of the New York Jets vs. New England Patriots, River Plate vs. Boca Juniors, Jay Cutler vs. Ronnie Coleman, or the New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox. Rivalries and stories add excitement. We don't need physical fights, but can't at least one person talk some smack?

Crossfit firing all the guys who were producing the videos was CLASSIC short-sighted incompetent management. Where would Crossfit be today if they'd kept on producing all of those great videos? Those videos were how I first became a fan. Now I only watch to see if Tia is going to rack up another championship. I'm familiar with only a fraction as many competitors now as I was back then, and as a result don't much care how they do. They're just strangers to me, instead of people whose stories were fleshed out by those videos. Hollywood figured out long ago that you have to fill out characters before the audience will care what happens to them. That's why every disaster movie has the same formula. First get the audience familiar with the characters, THEN have the earthquake, fire, or whatever is going to happen to them. Crossfit threw away the organization that made us care about the competitors, and then is surprised when the sport is going NOWHERE as far as the general public and TV coverage are concerned. The hardcore fans may be familiar with a lot more of the competitors, but they're not enough to build recognition and get coverage.

Wonder if the answers have changed…

The nailed in the end, its the story telling.

skip to 1:16 for fraser

CrossFit needs to either clean up its PED use or go the way of bodybuilding and fully embrace it. This gray area that has forced athletes, especially on the women's side, to deny it has really damaged the sport. I'm sure there are some clean athletes, but these days they are few and far between, especially on the women's side. Palumboism from Insulin (and to an extent HGH) use is all you need to see to know someone is using, regardless of drug testing. Furthermore, they have learned through track and field how to cycle off things like oxandrolone before competition, while maintaining gains. Peptides have further complicated this. The culture of CrossFit in local gyms has also gotten very toxic, which is really too bad. Many of the gyms in my area are closing up shop. Raising the standards for becoming a coach and opening a gym could help with this greatly. If you're going to give me a BS story about nobody using PEDs in CrossFit save it, because you are either naive or lying to yourself. For the record, I personally couldn't care less...to each their own. However, right now the sport has an optics problem and they need to figure out how to rectify it before they disappear.

I Agree on everything. We need CF media back!

Great segment. Love his take.

Is this the same Mat who spoke with Rogan?

RIP Lazar….❤. Your death will not be in vain.

It seems though that it wouldn't take much coordination to save lazar this year.

Crossfit seems to be about the $$$ instead of it just being about fitness.

Go watch the Castro athlete interviews

A pic of Tia.........why?

Garcia Linda White Kenneth Rodriguez Michael

CF is dying

no one wants to know what’s happening “behind the scenes” - that’s the whole game

You did CF just for money and you do it still for money.

Saying alot, without saying anything

Replace CF CEO Don Faul with Mike Burgener Replace Dave Castro with Henry Rojas. Bring more skill to the programming, not more marathons and boring a rucks.

Im lost. Someone help me understand. So for years and years and years and incident after incident after incident the community approaches CFHQ about it's poor dealings, and year after year and incident after incident nothing happens, why do you guys still continue to support this brand year after year and incident after incident. And don't say "CrossFit promised to bury the hatchet". It's exactly like them saying "we promise to never punch you in the face again". Then next year what happens? You're all surprised when you get punched in the face? So confusing. Just stop supporting the brand. If you're not going to stop supporting CrossFit, then stop complaining about how they mishandle things.

It’s an inappropriate question, honestly.

Stop fence sitting. It’s piss poor. CrossFit has been dying a slow death for years and now it suffered a stroke that’s gonna bring it down. Not like Castro’s ego will get checked though. He has his millions.

Unless CrossFit ditches handstand walking obstacle courses, there is zero chance it grows in leaps and bounds. Less than 1% of the world did gymnastics growing up and it needs to be eliminated. This is not a revolutionary idea and is simple math. Everyone can lift, run, bike, swim, etc, whereas almost nobody can do handstand walking. Does CF hate money?

No one should listen to anything Mat Fraser has to say about CrossFit. He was solely an opportunist, chasing cash. He still is an opportunist, chasing cash.

Uuuum.