LIFEAID’s CrossFit Games Athletes Talk Holiday Cheats (Sort Of)

Sometimes CrossFit Games athletes seem superhuman.

And, well, they kind of are. At least they can do things most ordinary CrossFit enthusiasts can only dream of. 

But when it comes to Christmas, we like to think that Games athletes like Jeff Adler, Emma Lawson and Gabriela Migala are just like us. They must spend lazy Christmas mornings in their pajamas, sipping coffee spiked with Baileys, and then follow it up with a shortbread cookie takedown with rum and eggnog, right? All before noon.

Or do they?

We caught up with FITAID athletes to find out whether they’re like the rest of us on Christmas or not.

“The food isn’t the important stuff. What’s important is who you eat it with.”

Turns out, they’re not. Holiday (ch)eating just isn’t their thing. 

I mean, get this: Four-time Games athlete Adler doesn’t even have a favorite holiday treat! 

“Nothing in particular” turns his crank when it comes to holiday treats, Adler said. “The food isn’t the important stuff. What’s important is who you eat it with.”

Meanwhile, Australian Games veteran James Newbury, who follows a vegan diet, says his favorite “treat” is very healthy-sounding lentil shepherds pie. 

“Mum has been a saint catering for the picky vegans of the family,” he said.

Migala, also a four-time Games athlete, added: “The key is to not get completely full.”

That being said, at least Migala admitted her favorite Christmas memory is “spending hours in the kitchen with my grandma baking all the Christmas goodies,” and that she does love a good gingerbread cookie and traditional Polish pierogies during the holiday season.

And thank goodness, Migala isn’t the only one who likes cookies. For four-time CrossFit Games team athlete Kelsey Kiel also said it’s all about the cookies for her, as did teen sensation Lawson agrees.

“All the Christmas cookies,” Lawson said, adding that she also loves pumpkin pie.

Still, something is telling me these athletes aren’t taking down a dozen shortbread cookies with mulled wine. Guilt-free. Because, ‘I did the 12 Days of Christmas WOD in the morning and earned it.’

I guess there’s a reason they’re some of the fittest humans in the world.