The story of Valerio Mattera it's extraordinary, but let's start with his victory at Torino Challenge 2019. Even before the final event, the representative of CrossFit Casalpalocco of Rome had from the beginning the victory in hand. His placings in the first workouts left no room for doubt: his performance was more than excellent. Today we will explain to you from his direct voice in our interview, what happened in this two days of fire at Nebiolo Stadium in Turin.
Valerio, how are you? Are you in recovery?
"I'm very well thanks!".
Don't you have "burned" hands? Toes to bar with Hanstand Walk did some casualties.
“I have to say no. I did toes naturally with the protectors and I'm lucky enough to have very natural handstands so I don't suffer from them. Sure, the rig was super hot but I didn't want the hands to become a limit. I held firm and even the longest stretch of handstand I did it all without ever turning back ».
Tell me a little about how the first WOD went!
«I was lucky in the first WOD! Track racing is my specialty. In the military school I did athletics and several cross-country and track races at 1000 meters, so managing the race, even with the vest, was quite simple ».
How did you prepare yourself?
«At the box I repeated the first workout three times with 5 minute breaks, to see how much time I put in effort trying to always stay under the total five minutes. I must say that the FactoryLab VEST Box was more comfortable than the one I have, so it was even easier ".
How did you face the second workout?
«I had an initial problem maintaining the pinch (made with three fingers) of the fat bar, so I tried to work on a mixed grip with single hands in the opposite direction. It worked very well, also because in this way I was able to do them touch and go, speeding up the times a bit, since in every WOD I had someone following me very closely, I had to do it like this. In this case Hvasti Tilen made me suffer."
On the Isabel of event 4 you made a little more effort.
«Let's say that due to my sporting history and working a lot of free body, my weak point is certainly the big barbell loads. In the garage I tried it many times trying to stay under two minutes, dividing the 30 repetitions into sets of six. The problem is that I didn't have a stopwatch in front of my eyes, so I certainly took longer breaks than I should have. In any case, I finished it under two minutes as expected, but I had more difficulties in managing my energy ».
Tell us a little about your story.
«I started doing CrossFit in 2014 on an ongoing basis. I graduated in philosophy, then I studied to become a commercial pilot. I have done CrossFit at an amateur level but always a little On and Off over the years. For example last year I worked for a year as a pilot for skydiving and I stopped, then I went to Vienna to learn German. I did a lot of CrossFit in Vienna and I wanted to train for competitions again. I won the Hinterland Games and I'm here today ».
Do you aim to become a professional athlete?
«I work at the Casalpalocco box in Rome, but in reality I need the German learned in Vienna for a job application as a pilot for a company that requires that language. If the work goes through, my life as a competitor will have to be interrupted once again, also because if I train I do it seriously and with the aim of always doing some races and maybe winning them ».
A balance of the Torino Challenge?
«It was a wonderful experience, I am really grateful to everyone for the welcome and organization. I also experienced the final WOD with crazy enthusiasm, perhaps my favorite, the PSYCO, where you had to use your head rather than the body ».
It was very tough for many.
“I guess, since the exercises and reps were communicated to us during the WOD. In fact, I spent the whole time thinking about the repetitions, trying to guess them and proceeding on each unbroken exercise… but calmly. Even in the muscle-ups, I stayed a few more moments above the bar, I did the box jumps with the step down so as not to raise the heart rate too much. It wasn't easy, but it was a lot of fun ».
One last question: why do they call you "Tractor"?
«In my box the coach gives a nickname to everyone. After an internal race I won and the owner to pay me a compliment, gave me the "tractor of Basilicata", since those are my origins. From that moment on, for everyone in the garage, I am the “tractor” ».