Meet Tennessee's 'fittest man'
Alex Anderson of Knoxville is always on the move and apparently has more energy than the Energizer Bunny and a Jack Russell terrier combined.
As a professional CrossFit athlete, he trains by doing multiple workout sessions a day in this discipline that involves everything from training with weights, to physical endurance, to gymnastics-like exercises.
“It’s a good job,” said a smiling Anderson, who receives an income through sponsorships and competition prize money. “Training has always been my favorite part of playing sports.”
Recently, all the exercising also put him on the move in another way – up the list of the world’s fittest athletes.
During the international Reebok CrossFit Games Aug. 3-6 in Madison, Wis., he finished in ninth place after coming in 11th in 2016 and 13th in 2015.
“It was great to finish in the top 10 in the world,” he said. “I was very happy with the achievement.”
In a scoring system that gives points based on one’s place of finish in each event, he compiled 702 points. The winner, Mathew Fraser of Vermont, finished with 1,132 points, but Anderson was less than 100 points behind fourth-place finisher Patrick Vellner of Canada.
Becoming among the fittest of humans, as Anderson has become, is certainly not for the faintest of heart. In fact, the events in the competition would have probably made even a Navy SEAL do a double take.
The first day included running 1.5 miles, swimming 500 meters, and running back 1.5 miles in the first session, followed later in the day by cyclocross competition on bicycles and some weightlifting competition. The second day featured an obstacle course race, exercises such as pull-ups and sit-ups, and burning calories on an assault stationary bike, among other activities.
While many athletes might have been ready to quit or even retire after the first two days, it was just halftime in this competition. The third day included moving a yoke, a farmer’s log and a sled 150 feet across a field and returning via a handstand walk, and two sessions of weightlifting-like exercises later in the day. The final day included a run and hay bale lifting with 100-pound sandbags, as well as rope climbs, handstand pushups and kettlebell dead lifts.
The games are not only physically but mentally challenging, Anderson said, in that the competitors are expected to do basically any activity that involves moving.
“It can be a maximum lift and it can also be an hour-long run,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to have to do. You just train as hard as you can.”
The 27-year-old Anderson has been training for CrossFit competitions for years, at least indirectly. Raised in Dunwoody, Ga., in metro Atlanta, he was more like the athletes of a generation or two ago in that he participated in three sports in high school – football, wrestling and baseball.
“They don’t do that anymore, but I grew up playing everything,” he said.
He then came to Maryville College and played on the football team as a strong safety. He admitted he was not the most talented football player at the college level, but was chosen as a captain during his senior season in 2011.
After graduating from college in 2012, he did some landscaping work and then worked in logistics for Pilot, but he still had an itch to participate in sports.
He had become interested in CrossFit, and decided to participate full time in it as a professional in 2014.
“It was really a gamble,” he said.
Keeping up with his daily activities requires his own logistics planning. At CrossFit Ktown off Middlebrook Pike near the Interstate 640 interchange, he usually does multiple workout sessions a day of strength and lifting work, skill work like gymnastics activities and, yes, tons of aerobic work.
All these activities might make sleeping at night quite easy for most people, but Anderson said getting a good night’s sleep is one struggle he surprisingly has.
Regarding his diet, he can eat about what he wants due to all the calories he burns. He said he usually tries to avoid a whole lot of fast or junk food, but he does not follow a strict diet of only certain meats or proteins, either.
He also does not obsess over good physical health in general. He enjoys being able to be fit and athletic, but also said he hangs around plenty of other people of varying levels of physical fitness either at the gym or in his hobbies like hiking, hunting and fishing, he added.
“I will always encourage someone to lead as healthy a lifestyle as possible, but I wouldn’t judge them,” he said.
Reebok CrossFit Games 2017
Top 10 Men Finishers
Mathew Fraser – Vermont – 1,132 points
Brent Fikowski – Canada – 916 points
Ricky Garard – Australia – 834 points
Patrick Vellner – Canada – 792 points
Noah Ohlsen – Florida – 788 points
Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson – Iceland – 786 points
Scott Panchik – Ohio – 784 points
Ben Smith – Virginia – 730 points
Alex Anderson – Knoxville – 702 points
Jonne Koski – United Arab Emirates – 696 points