Ask any athlete aiming to qualify for the CrossFit Games, and they’ll tell you it’s not an easy life.
- Their training and competition highlight reels might make it look sexy, but what they don’t show us is the financial grind that continues after their training sessions.
For most aspiring Games athletes, the dream comes with a steep price, forcing them to work part-time, juggle coaching gigs, and live off protein powder deals while training like pros but without the paycheck.
So what’s the actual financial reality of chasing that Games ticket as you climb through the ranks?
Hannah Black broke it down for us.
Remind Me
Hannah Black first competed in the CrossFit Games Open in 2018, ranking 12,912th worldwide.
By 2023, she qualified for her first Semifinals and finished 16th at the North America West Semifinals, making a name for herself along the way.
- At the time, she was coaching at three different gyms and “doing all sorts of crazy stuff” to make a living, she explained.
After her breakout season in 2023, Black secured her first sponsorship – the drink company NOCCO – which offered her a paid deal to help ease some of her financial burdens.
The following year, in 2024, Black competed on a team that qualified for the Games and finished eighth overall.
This season, Black has been competing non-stop in off-season competitions, the CrossFit Games season, and the World Fitness Project (WFP) season.
- Last December, Black competed in the Dubai Fitness Championships, where she finished 10th overall.
- A month later, she competed at TYR Wodapalooza with a team that finished seventh.
Then in April, Black competed at the first In-Person Qualifying Event (IPQE), the Mayhem Classic in Cookeville, TN, where she finished 13th (the top 10 earned prize money).
She went on to compete at two more IPQEs – the Fittest Experience in Oklahoma City, OK, and the Torian Pro in Brisbane, Australia. She missed a Games invite by just one spot at the Fittest Experience and went on to finish 12th overall in a very tough field at the Torian Pro.
- Finally, the 28-year-old is competing in the WFP. She finished third in the Challenger division at the WFP’s Tour Stop I, and recently qualified to compete in the Pro division at Tour Stop II in Mesa, AZ, in August.
Each competition she enters, Black is an incredible force in weightlifting events. She told the Morning Chalk Up that her best clean and jerk is 265 pounds, while her best snatch is 230 pounds.
Beyond the Competition Floor
Black earned a Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and a Master of Science in Biomechanics and Motor Control from East Carolina University. There, she wrote her graduate thesis on the CrossFit workout “Isabel,” which explored high-intensity weightlifting and how fatigue affects technique.
She then worked as a biomechanist before deciding to pause her career to follow her passion for CrossFit, something her mother didn’t understand.
During the hard times, Black admits that she, too, sometimes wonders about her decision.
- “There are definitely days that I’m like, ‘What the heck am I doing?’ I left a really high-paying job in something where I could have climbed the ladder. And each year that I’m not in the corporate world, the less experience [I have],” Black said.
Ultimately, Black loves what she does and plans to double down on her efforts in 2026.
- “Since I was so close to making the Games this past year, I decided this is the year, the 2026 season, is the year that I’m going to do every possible thing that I can do,” Black said.
Even if the financial burden is great.
The Financial Realities of Training for the Games
Black still works part-time as a coach, but her training schedule limits her to coaching just one class and around six or seven hours of personal training each week.
- Additionally, she has several weightlifting clients she programs for remotely, and when needed, she works as an independent contractor for her boyfriend’s military training company.
The money she earns from her part-time jobs accounts for about two-thirds of her income, while the remaining third comes from sponsors.
Currently, Black’s list of sponsors includes:
- Frog Grips: A paid deal, and Frog Grips also offers bonuses for finishing on the podium, which Black benefited from when she won three events at the WFP Tour Stop I and finished third overall.
- XEndurance: A paid deal, plus the supplement company provides her approximately $250 of supplements – protein powder, probiotics, collagen, electrolytes, etc. – a month.
- Corey’s Kitchen Corner: The Austin, TX, meal prep company provides Black with ready-made meals, which she said saves her about $500 a month in food costs.
- Nocco: A paid deal, plus the energy company provides her with drinks.
- CBG Nutrition: A paid deal, and they provide nutrition coaching at no cost.
The Cost of Competing
On top of Black’s regular monthly expenses — $1,200 in rent, $500 on food, $300 on her car, $50 on her cell phone, not to mention unexpected expenses like dropping $1,000 to repair her car’s air conditioning — she has various additional training and competition-related expenses, including:
- Travel: In 2025, Black’s travel expenses for competitions will exceed $20,000, which would be higher if her boyfriend weren’t helping with credit card travel points. Additionally, she held a fundraiser at her gym to help cover the more than $5,000 it cost her to compete at the Dubai Fitness Championship last December.
- Apparel and Training Equipment: While most of the shoes, apparel, and training gear are provided to Black at this point, she still spends $500 a year on various training apparel and gear.
- Medical: Black has spent $2,000 on doctor’s visits so far this season.
Worth noting: While we often assume elite CrossFit athletes regularly get massages and other bodywork to aid recovery, it wasn’t within Black’s budget this year, so she hasn’t included bodywork in her routine so far.
The Bottom Line
If you’re an elite athlete looking to break through to the CrossFit Games, “you definitely don’t do this for the money,” Black said.
That being said, Black said she couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity ahead of her, and she is deeply grateful to her sponsors, who are helping fund her dream while saving her hundreds of dollars a month on food, supplements, and nutrition coaching.
- “If you don’t have people that are helping you, and helping to support you, you can’t do it…I know very few people who can make enough money [on their own] to support themselves and train enough to make the Games,” she said.
Black added: “I can’t picture myself doing anything other than this. I don’t have many years to do this. And I know once I’m done competing, I will have no regrets. I’m not going to remember making a bunch of money or buying a car. But this is something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
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Featured Image: Jesus Montero
