Bethany Flores is 7-time CrossFit Games athlete, Austinite, wife, dog mom, and, perhaps most importantly, my very dear friend.
Bethany and I have been working together since 2017, and though the roles and responsibilities have evolved over time, one thing that has remained constant in our time together is Bethany’s commitment to herself and her sport. And boy has it been a joy to watch and support her grind!
Last year, BarBend interviewed Bethany to talk about her “comeback” after a couple of hard years off due to sickness and injury. The last couple of years have been gritty, to say the least. But this is the year of redemption and restoration! As of today, Bethany has busted her butt to get back on the CrossFit competition floor, and this week she and I are heading to Fort Worth to shoot her shot at a podium spot at the 2024 CrossFit Games!
As my employer, I am stoked at all the fun work and opportunities that come with this week. Managing her sponsorships, organizing appearances and PR opportunities, creating content for all her channels, and ensuring she knows where to go and when. To outsiders, this may seem like the stuff elite athletes do to make money… but I’m here to tell you that in order to be a competitive CrossFit (or any sport, really) athlete, all of the glitz online comes secondary to all of the grit offline.
From a fan and follower’s perspective, high-level athletics can be pretty tunnel visioned on what the athletes actually do – especially in the gym. Maybe you know she has to participate in PR and Marketing things to help supplement her income, but I’d bet you think in order to compete at an elite level, Bethany’s gotta be going on 5k runs, doing hero WODs, and maxing out her major lifts every day.
When in reality… no. She isn’t.
As the BarBend article said – these last 2-3 years have been a major shift in training – both mentally and physically. If you follow Bethany at all, you know she ain’t doin’ any of that up there (because frankly – who would enjoy that?) and instead, you’ve probably seen her do some pretty strange looking breathing exercises, use red light therapy, go for morning cold plunges, use toe spacers daily, receive weekly acupuncture, sleep with specifically placed pillows to allow for better spinal alignment, attend weekly two hour appointments with her sports medicine doctor, meditate for hours; spending every morning with God, getting mindset coaching, and honestly, so much more (I didn’t even mention her nutrition, sleep, or supplementation).
If that seems like a long list of rehab and recovery methods, that’s because it is. To train at the volume Bethany and other athletes train, they have to devote the same amount of time and energy into recovering from that training. Which means they need to lean into an inner circle community of people and resources to keep them performing optimally.
And I am beyond proud to be a part of that inner circle.
All this to say, I love what I get to do for Bethany and the opportunities it’s given me within the CrossFit world. And I enjoy getting to debunk and demystify what it takes to be an elite athlete. Because honestly, I get to see a totally different side of these athletes, as well as CrossFit – both as a company and a sport – both the good and the bad.
But at the end of the day, the biggest thing I get to see through all of this is how much this community cares about our lives and not just the hours of fitness we, or they, put in. The number one thing that separates the sport of CrossFit from anything else is the fact that these communities and the inner circles within them set out to improve each athlete’s quality of life, not just their Fran time. CrossFit athletes big and small don’t just focus on the fitness, they focus on all other aspects of life too. And Bethany is an A+ example of what it looks like to have your life radically change when you invest in yourself as a whole, not just in your fitness.
The hope is always that this same theme carries on throughout all areas of CrossFit: boxes, athletes, coaches, brands. Getting to do what I do just really puts into perspective how important all those other areas of life really are, especially at the highest level. This holistic approach creates a life and perspective change that bleeds into everything, making us better than we were before we stepped foot into CrossFit.
And getting to be on both sides of the CrossFit aisle is my favorite part.
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