Today I’m talking Swolverine co-founder Alix Best. She has a varied and deep background in fitness, and we cover a lot of topics in this podcast, including what it’s like to infiltrate what basically amounts to a “fitness cult” — you know, the EARLY days of CrossFit. (I’m joking, just sort of.) We also talk about what it’s like to be a woman founder in the male-dominated supplement industry and broader fitness industry. Alix is a straight shooter, and she doesn’t hold much back. Some of her stories from the trenches about not being taken seriously just because she’s a woman were eye-opening for me. They changed my perspective on how much work still needs to be done in this industry so that people are given credit based on merit. I hope you get as much from this podcast as I did!
In this episode of The BarBend Podcast, David Thomas Tao and Alix Best discuss:
- Starting off as a four-sport varsity athlete (2:15)
- Cutting your teeth in the supplement industry that is anything but transparent sometimes (4:30)
- Finding their place in the CrossFit community (8:00)
- That first time doing “Fran” (11:00)
- Is there an “ideal” body for CrossFit? (15:00)
- The feeling of “belonging” in sports and fitness communities (19:00)
- Do women need to “do more” to prove themselves in fitness? (22:00)
- How fitness consumers are getting smarter (25:00)
Relevant links and further reading
- Follow Alix Best on Instagram
- Follow David Thomas Tao on Instagram and Twitter