Mat Lock:
Hey, Leanne Watson. Welcome back to The Unleashing Potential Podcast. It’s a pleasure to have you back.
Leanne Watson:
Hey, nice to be back.
Mat Lock:
And if we’re being honest, we can say now, it was actually just a few minutes ago we talked about episode one with you.
Leanne Watson:
Same scarf.
Mat Lock:
Same scarf. Exactly right. No, no. So it’s great to have you back on here, but I wanted to, I guess dig a little deeper into who Leanne is. The background, not only from a Grand Slam and a Bay Games perspective, but actually it’s about you and to understand where you live, what your background is, and really dig into your athletic and sporting endeavours, but also how that fits in with life. And we all have life commitments. We have family, we have work, we have bills to pay, we have all of that going on. None of us are professional athletes, so we’re trying to do what we love around the realities of just normal life. But maybe we start with where you live, where you’re from.
Leanne Watson:
Oh, well West Virginia, little small town in West Virginia and I grew up here. I went to college about four hours from here and then I decided I wanted to be close to my family so I moved back.
Mat Lock:
You did say the town. Is it Morgantown?
Leanne Watson:
Yeah Morgantown, Morgantown. Sorry I didn’t say it. Yeah. So good old mountaineer city, born and raised and have stuck here ever since.
Mat Lock:
Ha ha, you say that like you’re stuck there.
Leanne Watson:
Well I’ve stuck around ever since.
Mat Lock:
Yeah, I understand. Well I guess with snow on the ground, the mind wanders and other parts of the world.
Leanne Watson:
Yeah. Like Jervis Bay.
Mat Lock:
Absolutely. So you’re born and raised in Morgantown. I guess, I know you as the athlete. We met through Bay Games Grand Slam last year, but maybe if we go back, have you always been really into sports and a competitor and super fit and strong or is there a backstory there that you’d like to share?
Leanne Watson:
Well, whenever I was in elementary school … So I was always in sports, but I was never really the athletic one. Fun fact, I was 200 pounds before I was in fifth grade. So I was a very overweight child that … I was always on the basketball teams that my parents coached because we were the ones that nobody else wanted on their team type of thing. So my dad was always our basketball coach because none of the other coaches would take us.
Leanne Watson:
But then I got really sick in my fifth grade year and I ended up losing a bunch of weight. And whenever I did, I took on the mentality of, “You’re never going to gain this weight back and you are going to be healthy, you are going to get fitter and healthier.” And so I started actually spending time in sports and trying to be better at them and basically trying to be the best athlete I could be and I never turned back. So, and then-
Mat Lock:
So fifth grade, sorry for my benefit, what age are we talking there?
Leanne Watson:
About 11 years old.
Mat Lock:
Yeah, okay. And you’re now … Are you happy to share your age?
Leanne Watson:
Oh yeah, I’m 28.
Mat Lock:
Sure. So that was a turning point, but quite a long time ago. Not that long, obviously.
Leanne Watson:
Yeah.
Mat Lock:
A little while.
Leanne Watson:
Yeah, so after that I started getting really involved in sports and because I had lost so much weight, I had started being a little bit better at sports. I’d started getting a little bit more friends, being a little bit more social and then I just actually started taking it more seriously rather than … Before I was just like, “I’m here because Mom and Dad are forcing me to be and I just have to be.” But then middle school, high school range, I was like, “No, I can see myself doing this longterm.” So took into CrossFit and here I am.
Mat Lock:
So when did you stumble into CrossFit?
Leanne Watson:
So in college I was a thrower for my track team. After that I was like, “Well I need to still do something after I graduate.” So there was this boy I was trying to impress and he was starting CrossFit as well. So I was like, “Well, I want to show that I’m cool too, so I’m going to do CrossFit and maybe he’ll like me if I do.” And he never did. Nothing ended up happening there. But then I found CrossFit and fitness in general has now become a huge part of my life, so it still works out.
Mat Lock:
Yeah. Awesome. And I think we can agree it was his loss. Okay. His loss for sure.
Leanne Watson:
It was his loss. I hope he watches this. No, I’m kidding. I’m kidding. There’s nothing wrong.
Mat Lock:
If you want to name and shame, I don’t mind.
Leanne Watson:
I probably better not.
Mat Lock:
No, let’s not. He knows who he is.
Leanne Watson:
He does know.
Mat Lock:
Awesome, that’s how you got into CrossFit and the rest is history, so to speak. And you’re still loving it and living life large and really throwing yourself into it eh?
Leanne Watson:
Yeah. Loving every single day. Every minute.
Mat Lock:
Awesome. And so how often do you train? What’s your training regime look like?
Leanne Watson:
So well, like we said earlier, today was a rest day for me. So usually I’ll do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdays normal training day, Thursday’s usually maybe as long as I’m feeling good, a cardio piece or some mobility, just something a little bit lighter. And then Friday, Saturday are training days as well. So I usually will train in the morning and then maybe some type of aerobic piece in the afternoon or mobility or skill or something like that in the afternoon. But the bulk of my training in the morning and then just something tiny in the afternoon.
Mat Lock:
Yeah, sure. So very focused and even on rest days it’s about active recovery or some cardio. So it’s always moving. Always moving.
Leanne Watson:
Yeah. Yeah. Something.
Mat Lock:
Sure. And how does your … What’s nutrition look like for you? Are you super focused on your diet as well?
Leanne Watson:
Yeah. It’s funny you say that too, because I’m super … I like to weigh and measure absolutely everything. So even this morning whenever I was doing my meal prep, my little pan had … For my brussel sprouts, I would weigh them out before I would roast them. So it just had all these little sections of brussel sprouts with these little dividers in it so that I would know, “Okay, well that one’s a serving. That one’s a serving. That one’s a serving.” So I’m pretty particular on my macros too.
Mat Lock:
That’s good. Do you follow any particular sort of diet or paleo, keto, vegan?
Leanne Watson:
I try to keep it clean so I guess it would be the closest to paleo, but I still will eat sweet potatoes and I’m a little bit more relaxed about that as long as it is more of a natural or clean-
Mat Lock:
So real food?
Leanne Watson:
But then, yeah, real foods, as long as they fit my macros type of thing.
Mat Lock:
Yeah, sure, sure. I can’t imagine life without sweet potatoes.
Leanne Watson:
Yeah, I don’t know how people do that.
Mat Lock:
I don’t either. Well that’s awesome. So obviously there’s a lot of time and energy goes into your training, your competing which of course includes your nutrition. What about outside of all of that? What does that look like?
Leanne Watson:
Well, my sister and I are very, very close. I mean we live together. I like to spend a lot of time there with her. And as I said earlier, I was born and raised here in the Morgantown area. So being close to my family’s really important to me too. Being able to go out and see them.
Leanne Watson:
They’re probably my biggest athletic supporters I’ve ever had. I can guarantee my Mom is probably going to be watching this multiple times even. She watched the live feed even though it was at 2:00 AM during the Bay Games. So my Mom and my Dad, going out and visiting them. My little sister has autism so she will always be living with them. So going out and visiting and just seeing them and spending time with them is a big piece of what I do.
Mat Lock:
Yeah, awesome. In fact, I’ve had some messages with your Mom and so I’ve got to say, “Hi,” to your Mom there, and actually had we known, when you win the Grand Slam this year and when you come back and do the Bay Games in November this year, we’ll have to make sure we give your Mom a shout out on the live stream then, because that’s a big effort. Staying up till 2:00 AM in the morning to watch it.
Leanne Watson:
She does too. And then she even does a screen recording on her phone so that she can keep it all the time.
Mat Lock:
Oh, that’s awesome. Legend. So your younger sister’s at home, so do you therefore live with your older sister or are you the oldest?
Leanne Watson:
Well, I’m a twin, so I have an older sister, so there’s four of us. But I do have an older sister, but I live with my twin sister. And then my little sister’s at home.
Mat Lock:
And would I be confused if I was now not talking to Leanne, if I was talking to your twin sister would I know or-
Leanne Watson:
I don’t know. Well you said you’ve never seen me with my hair down, so … No, we’re not identical. We’re completely fraternal.
Mat Lock:
Sure, sure. That’s cool. But yeah, you said you’re very, very close.
Leanne Watson:
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Basically best friends, so I don’t even view us as sisters.
Mat Lock:
That’s awesome. Yeah, that’s fantastic. Really. And what do you do for a living? I actually don’t know the answer to this question.
Leanne Watson:
Well, it’s funny you say that too because within the last year I have probably switched my career path two or three different times. And it’s one of those, not a matter of job hopping, more so a matter of I’ve realised what I like and what I … Just growing up I guess. So my degree is in education. So leading into the Bay Games I was teaching at an elementary school, a local elementary school teaching reading intervention. And it was just one of those … I went to work every day. I liked it. It was okay. And then I was also in the evening I would come and I would coach CrossFit classes and I was just like, “You know, I enjoy coaching a lot more. I feel like that’s where my passion is. That’s where my energy is.”
Leanne Watson:
So the gym I was coaching at offered me a general manager position. They had lost one of their coaches and they needed someone to take over more full time hours for the general manager spot there. So I just recently, within the last month or two, took that. And so now that’s what I do for a living.
Mat Lock:
That’s fantastic. Congratulations.
Leanne Watson:
Yeah, so thanks. So, yeah, I hated to leave teaching, but it was one of those … I mean, you got to do where your passion is. So my passion is with CrossFit, so that’s where I want to put my energy at.
Mat Lock:
I can relate. I stepped out of corporate life about four years ago now, I guess three and a half years ago, because I just wasn’t passionate about it. And here we are. Yeah. And I’m passionate about … I love what we’re doing with the Bay Games.
Leanne Watson:
And you’re doing better for it because of it.
Mat Lock:
I’m certainly happier and yeah, it’s great. I mean, I do sometimes miss that monthly hug of the bank account that corporate used to provide, but I wouldn’t change it for the world, because yeah, we’re just happier and enjoying life and meeting so many cool people and yeah, it’s awesome. It’s absolutely awesome.
Leanne Watson:
I completely agree with that.
Mat Lock:
And being a part of stories like with yourself, the whole journey with the Bay Games and the Grand Slam last year, which was awesome. You never get that in a corporate environment.
Leanne Watson:
Exactly. And I’m glad you did it too because I would’ve never gotten to meet you guys.
Mat Lock:
Exactly right. You know I was interested … When we chatted last time, you said something that I guess peaked my interest because you said, “Oh you know I thought yeah I’ll give the Grand Slam a go because I want to go to Australia, but things like this don’t happen to me. I don’t win competitions that get me to Australia,” and so on. And of course you did win and you did come to Australia and I wondered if that had had a deeper impression on you and whether that had changed any of your outlook in terms of what’s possible for you and believing in yourself and so on?
Leanne Watson:
It did. Not only making it and winning the Grand Slam, but whenever I got there, I would say a huge turning point for my fitness journey in general was the Bay Games. I don’t know if it’s because it gave me so much mental clarity. Maybe I got waterlogged getting drowned there in the first event, but when I got home, I started making a lot of changes. That’s when I decided to opt out of teaching and take this general manager position. I made a lot of changes as soon as I got home because the Bay Games showed me that I was capable of a lot more than I had ever given myself credit for.
Leanne Watson:
And I had, honestly, before I even left to come to Bay Games, been thinking about quitting CrossFit in general. I was burnt out. I was, even during the Grand Slam, I was just kind of like, “Ah, this isn’t fun anymore. I don’t like it.” And something during that competition just was like, “You know what? You should be grateful that you’re able to do this. You should be grateful that you’ve been given these abilities, these capabilities. Go use them and just have fun. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, just have fun doing it.” And so it redefined fitness as being fun for me and when I got home now I’ve been on fire for training and enjoying it ever since.
Mat Lock:
That’s amazing. That genuinely warms my heart, Leanne. Honestly, that’s awesome. I’m so pleased that that was your experience and that we’ve played a small part in facilitating that, but at the end of the day you did the hard work. You had the mental fortitude to get through, it sounds like a bit of a tough time with training. Literally, I didn’t know any of that actually, that you were thinking about throwing in the CrossFit towel as it were.
Leanne Watson:
That’s why I thanked you guys so much. I’m like, “You guys literally have changed my life by that whole trip.”
Mat Lock:
Yeah, that’s amazing. Amazing. Well, well done to you because at the end of the day it was all you. You did all the work and I know you’ve got your support team around, you’ve got your family and your coaches. We all do. And that’s part of the story isn’t it? But nonetheless, you dug in and you got it done. So I’d high five you, but we’d probably break our screens. But that’s amazing. That’s amazing.
Mat Lock:
I guess I don’t need to ask. I was going to say what would be your message to someone else who was thinking about, “Should I have a go at the Grand Slam this year or should I have to go to the Bay Games?” What would your message to them be?
Leanne Watson:
I would definitely say give it a go. You never know what can happen. And not only that, regardless of where you place, you’re going to have fun doing it. So prove yourself wrong. Show yourself that even just finishing the qualifier, just finishing all the workouts, that’s a huge accomplishment of itself because those workouts aren’t easy. So just doing it and just finishing it. Give yourself more credit than what you think you need.
Mat Lock:
Oh, absolutely. I think that’s a great message that applies to all of us. Every single one of us. And I’ve seen the workouts for the Grand Slam this year of course, tested a couple of them, and yeah, they’re not designed to be easy. You’re right. Equally, they’re not designed to be mind-numbing or just simply hard for the sake of it. They’re not designed for that.
Mat Lock:
In fact, this year I gave you one snippet in the last recording. I can’t give you any more other than to say we’re really trying to be inclusive. We are exclusively about everyday athletes and so if you are a professional athlete and we’re going to define that as clearly as we can, but it’s not for professional athletes. We had a shoot yesterday with Khan Porter , Alethea Boon. They can’t compete. They can’t play with the Gland Slam because it’s not for them. It’s for everyday athletes and they liked that approach.
Mat Lock:
But it’s designed to be inclusive. It’s not just for CrossFitters. You can be from F45, you can be from a Globo Gym, doesn’t matter. So we’ve really given, as we did last year, but a lot of time and thought to the programming for this year, especially given it’s pairs now. It’s pairs, which changes of dynamics totally for each workout and a good way, in a good way. Excited to see how you go. But I’m conscious of time Leanne, and very grateful because it’s Sunday evening where you are isn’t it?
Leanne Watson:
Oh yeah. But-
Mat Lock:
But all good.
Leanne Watson:
It’s rest day. So I literally have nothing to do. So you’re good.
Mat Lock:
And are your food preps done or-
Leanne Watson:
Yeah, yeah. I finished it this morning.
Mat Lock:
Of course you have. You might need to give me some lessons about it that. My food prepping, I think because I can be a bit … I mean I eat clean but I’m not … I guess I don’t have a routine that forces me to have to be that regimented. But I like the idea of it. I see photos of different people online and, “There’s my the next week.” And you go, “God that would be great,” rather than, “Right, what should we have tonight?”
Leanne Watson:
I mean there in Jervis Bay, all those different restaurants, I don’t feel like you really need to.
Mat Lock:
Yeah, and that’s not food prepping is it?
Leanne Watson:
That’s true.
Mat Lock:
That’s really lazy. But you’re right. There’s some great cafes here. Very good. Leanne, is there anything else you would like to say to the audience before they start seeing your face around the time of the Grand Slam?
Leanne Watson:
Make sure you sign up. It’s for a great cause, but don’t beat me.
Mat Lock:
That’s right. Be good, but don’t be too good.
Leanne Watson:
Be second.
Mat Lock:
Well very good. Actually top 10 finishers this year, top 10 finishers in each division get cash prizes. We’ve got starting with $2,500 US dollars first place and it goes down in 50% increments from there. So even if you get a decent chunk of cash in the pocket and a bunch of other stuff. Actually we’re going to include as well, there’s going to be a copy of Khan Porter’s ebook, which is called Fitter Everyday and that’s got 230 conditioning workouts that he’s done in the last year. I’ve got a copy which I bought last week, and it’s just excellent. So anyway, so again, top 10 winners from each division pairs will each get a copy of that as well and a bunch of other stuff.
Leanne Watson:
You guys are outdoing yourselves.
Mat Lock:
Yeah, that’s right. That’s exactly right. Yeah, we’re trying to make it irresistible because we want … The more people we get involved, the more impact we’ll have for the mental health charities and the more fun we’ll be having around the world, I guess.
Leanne Watson:
I like it.
Mat Lock:
Yeah. Cool. Very good. Well Leanne, thank you so much for your time and if people want to reach out to you and connect with you in some way, how would they do that?
Leanne Watson:
Instagram and Facebook. My Instagram’s Leannewatson25 and then Leanne Watson on Facebook.
Mat Lock:
No, problem. I’ll put those details in the show notes and if you haven’t already watched the first episode with Leanne, I strongly recommend that you do because it talks about her journey from the Grand Slam through to the Bay Games and everything in between. Leanne, thank you very much and I wish you a good evening.
Leanne Watson:
Thank you. You too.
Mat Lock:
You take care.
Leanne Watson:
Thanks. You too.
