Born in Leicestershire, Zack George was declared the most man UK Fittest on Earth in 2020. What few know is that hardly anyone believed he could become a competitive athlete as an adult.
This is because the 31-year-old was "Severely overweight and deeply dissatisfied with his body" in youth.
After long hours spent in the gym and the enormous dedication that Zack put into getting where he is, today he struggles with all his heart to make it to the podium of the CrossFit® Games
If you are familiar with the CrossFit® landscape, you may know that his name has not yet appeared on the Games leaderboards; now we explain why.
Index
Zack George's career
Having qualified in 2020 by beating every other man in the UK at the Open, his invitation to compete was withdrawn a few months later, due to the pandemic and its restrictions.
He focused on the 2021 season, but bad luck hit him again: a new seasonal format! Which meant that the athletes had to go through three qualifying stages, with no opportunity to recover if, for some reason, if one was lost.
Zack retired during the second stage following a accident hip, thus giving up the chance to see his dream come true for the second consecutive year.
The way he dealt with the injury affected us; why we created the article!
The 3 invaluable lessons for any athlete who suffers an injury:
First step: acceptance
Zack heard a severe pain from hip to knee while competing and, while healing for pain, test 4 came out: A front squat max 4 reps
It was too much to bear!
He took the decision to withdraw from the competition to avoid causing further damage: the CrossFit® Games would have waited.
Any squat or run would have aggravated the pain, so he was told to stay away from these exercises for at least 12 weeks.
Understandably, he was eager to train again and decided he was able to do bodyweight squats again after just 8 weeks, so he started incorporating them into his training.
Now he wonders if he tried to come back too quickly, as the injury lasted longer than expected.
Well, this is her first lesson (which she has learned the hard way!).
Second step: Focus on what can be done
Zack had one long list of moves he couldn't do after injury. As he creates the training programs for himself, he groped a bit, ticking off the exercises that didn't cause him pain or discomfort.
Bodyweight squats were the first to be popped up, however, i clean heavy were the last to be re-entered into his training schedule.
It was about 5 months before he could return to the competition fields, more precisely to M.adrid CrossFit® Championship, finishing with an amazing 2nd place.
This gave him a huge boost of confidence knowing he could do anything again and could fully trust his body!
Search for alternatives
Zack George use the obstacles of life as a lesson and try to find alternatives to carry out other projects. When he faces adversity or setbacks that are beyond his control, he accepts them and moves on.
After discovering that the CrossFit® Games were once again out of his league, he used the time to write a book and work with some famous brands in the industry.
Opportunities that presented themselves because he had time on his hands, time he would otherwise have devoted to improving his performance.