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Interview with Travis Mayer


Travis is 7 times CrossFit Games Athlete
He is owner of the CrossFit UNTD in Alpharetta
His coach is Max El-Hag
Travis is father of 4 kids
His best result is 10th place at CrossFit Games 2016

Travis just finished long season. He competed on many competitions this year.
Travis finished on 96th place worldwide in Open, then won his Quarterfinals, was fourth in Semifinals and reached 12th place at CrossFit Games 2021.
He was 6th at Rogue Invitational this year as well.
Travis is now having little bit easier training before upcoming competition, which will be for him Wodapalooza 2022 and then CrossFit Games Open 2022.
He told us, that if he wants to be in sport of CrossFit for a longer time,then the recovery is the most neccessary thing. Taking that time now, rest and enjoying family is so important for him.

Hello Travis, Is it hard to be an owner of the gym,father of four children and professional athlete?
It is definetely about balancing. I have kind a good structure of every day, how it all flows.
It is just easy structure, which I did for last years and it works quite well.
I have really supportive wife,she makes my days much easier.
I do one session in the morning, then another session, coach, pick kids up and after they areat home,I do another session.
The training is completely different when the Games are close.
I think that it is good, kids quite force youto have a structure.
It is usually like I have 6hours block for training and then spend time with my family.
It is definetely good balance, because when i have other things than fitness, I do not have to thing about training all the time.
I like to not always talking about gym.
When I am in the gym, it is always about training, how to be better,improve something...
But when I am at home, i tis much different.
It used to be like i was thinking about fitness only, but now it is much better.

Do you want to be a coach in the future?
It is something what I look for.
I mean like, I already write some program for people in the gym and I am coaching during the week regularly.
I already have L1 and L2 and personal trainer course.
I kind of enjoy coaching,teaching and all this staff.
But at the moment, i feel that if iwill want to be a full time coach, then i will be taking something from another important things.

And what about your career as gym owner?
I ran one affiliate since 2013, then run another one and at the moment own one gym.
It was never an intention, that I will run a gym, but when the oppurtunity was there, Ijust tried that.
I have a gym, where I do not have to aare about everything and there are people,who help me a lot.

Do you have any tips for crossfiters
What I will look at is the main goal, if you wanna be competitive, what you wanna accomplish…
So get a coach, focus on technique, and accept that it wont come overnight. If you realize, that you can be on high level, then just trust a process and work hard. There are always ups and downs and hope at the end, it will work for you.
For example I did not PR my snatch for 2 years.
My PR at the moment is 300 LBS
Just be patient, have fun and do not be so serious.
Even if you dont do training how you should, it is okay.
It is about intensity and movement quality as well.
If you move better, fell better, then everything is better.
Stay focus on yourself and enjoy the whole process.

What are your ambitions for next CF Games?
Goal is always go and win and have a great finish.
Each year I develop more and more mentally.
I have to become more efficiant. There are still limitations like self doubt.
These are the things which we work on.

Are you still doing some drills for snatches or any other exercises?
Yeah, i tis something what we are always focusing on.
We are trying to find how I can move more efficiantly almost always.
I have retrained my snatch almost 15 times.
The set up, foot work, how i perceive the bar …
You constantly trying to find a way, how to improve your movement.
There are a lot of slow sessions which i do on weekly basis.
It is always learning, you are always trying to level up.
It is something, what you have to keep striving for.
So you can be better every day.

Do you have any motto?
I mean my kids, it is very big one. I wanna do well for them. I want them to be proud.
My motivation is to challenge myself to see, what i am capable of.
Crossfit just gets me out of my comfort zone.
Seeing the progress, seeing, where you can get your body and testing the boundaries.

And why do you lift in METCONS?
I mean i used to lift in lifters.
But one thing is to have position and do not rely on it.
If i cant snatch without lifters, then i am not able to do it during workouts.
If i go to run 1 mile and then lift something, then you do not want to do it in lifters.
If I ever need them, i can use them.
But I personally just do not like it so much.
I always felt, that it push me so much forward during jerk.
If you can not squat without lifters and do it correctly, then you need to fix your position.
I have every PR in metcons.
I am also trying not to wear sleeves and wraps all the time because more is not always better.

Why do you choose material X2 for your grips.
For me it is about how I feel when I grab the bar.
And when I grabbed the bar in them, I felt almost immediately great in them.
I tried every grips from Victory Grips, but I love how i feel in the X2, that material and it is just preference for me and they are the best.

Martin Pavliš
workout.eu

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