in Athletes & Blog

02 05 2022

We have a new Athlete, Izzy Grigg, who is she?

Hi I’m Izzy Grigg, I’m the Gym Manager & Head CrossFit Coach at Southern Quarter. I also conduct Personal Training and offer Online Programming. Southern Quarter if you haven’t been is Amesbury SP4 7YR and it is INSANE!

Give us a little background on yourself

Originally I have always been a team sports player. From my younger years I was in all the teams; basketball, netball, cricket, athletics, rugby you name it, I was in it but my main focuses were within Football and Hockey.

In my school years I trialled for Southampton FC academy, played for Salisbury City FC Juniors, Wiltshire County Hockey and Salisbury Ladies Hockey. I moved out of Salisbury to Brockenhurst as here they had an academy for Hockey, which allowed me to play hours and hours all week.

Outside of college I played for the 1st teams for Salisbury Ladies FC 1st team and Salisbury Ladies Hockey 1st teams as well as representing the country for the British Colleges Hockey Squad, making it as team Captain in my final year.

This said my time and energy was torn and couldn’t be in 2 places at once so from here I specified in my true love and passion which was Hockey. I lived and breathed it and was actually the reason why I chose Exeter University for my Bsc degree in Sports and Exercise Science.

Outside of all my sports, even from my early school years, I also had an interest in general health and fitness. I used to (still do) idolise my sister who has always taught classes and owned her own businesses within the fitness industry. Any spare evenings or time I had outside of my clubs, I would join her spin, LBT, body pump and any other classes she was teaching when I could. It was actually my sister who then introduced me to CrossFit the summer before leaving for University. We both went along to the next and only box in town, Sarum CrossFit and from here we both loved it. I will always thank Sarum for creating such a positive experience and relationship with the sport.

Playing for both the University 1st team and the National League team at the weekends really exposed me to the depth of strength and conditioning and the importance of specialised training off the field. I found that attending CrossFit alongside my field training really benefitted physically and mentally and after having finished Uni and then gone travelling, my time and energy then lead me to draw my complete addiction to hockey directly in to CrossFit. 

You’ve done some cool stuff like moving to Doha?

Indeed I have. I have always been quite independent and free spirited. After Uni I went travelling for 7 months and when arriving back I couldn’t really get my teeth in to anything despite having this burning desire to be in the fitness industry. I starter coaching a couple of times a week at Sarum but then randomly an opportunity was presented to me and within 3 weeks from having an online interview I found myself on a plane out to the middle east as a solo ranger, with no idea of what to expect. At that time in my life it was the perfect thing for me. Being thrown in the deep end in what felt like a a completely different world with not just the culture but just general way of life out there, I learned so much and experienced so much life.

I went from teaching 2 CrossFit classes a week in the UK to teaching CrossFit, strength and conditioning, circuit style and small group PT sessions back to back and then filling any spare hours I had with my PT clients and training myself on the daily. 

It was great not only was I doing what I love- helping and educating others to become healthier and better versions of themselves for longevity in life but also training all day everyday too. I did achieve something pretty epic, achieving the title of ‘fittest in Doha 2020’.

Fittest in doha hey! Tell us more?

Let’s just say that maybe the top athletes out there at the time were injured ;P But fortunately my job allowed me to work on myself a lot in terms of training and also training with other like minded athletes who pushed me on the daily and exposed me to what I could do. Let’s also just say that maybe that year was a good year for me in terms of what CrossFit HQ had programmed for the CrossFit Opens and the cards aligned in my favour.

The exposure to competitions out in Doha is great and not only did I lead the Opens out there in 2019, but over my 2 1/2 years I also won a few individual and paired competitions out there which just opened up so many opportunities for training with top athletes and even more work opportunities. It even allowed me in 2021 to become part of a team for the Opens in 2021 as Team Erada. We progressed on to the CrossFit Semi-Finals that year which would’ve been epic if it wasn’t for Covid creating restrictions. I mean, it was still amazing but doing the finals online within the gym as opposed to in South Korea just creates a completely different sense achievement. But on reflection, it was pretty amazing and the athletes I competed with are again this year in the 2022 semi finals and inspire me daily still to this day.

What do you do now?

Currently Southern Quarter is my home. I am fortunate enough to have been approached by boss man Owen Toms while in the middle east and took the decision to move back to the UK where I am now the Gym Manager of such an incredible new business which has so much potential and exciting things to come. 

I am also Head CrossFit coach here and Personal Trainer. Where alongside my full time role here, I still do online programming and nutrition coaching for my clients in the middle east.

It has taken me some time to adjust and find my feet again. Not just because of the change back to the UK but also just the intense and hands on nature of the new role. We are a completely brand new business at SQ, so a lot of learning and adapting but we are well and truly striving for more and more on the daily.

Will you compete again?

For sure!!! Now that we are 7 months in to SQ I have managed to find my rhythm a little and we well and truly have our feet on the ground ready to take on lot’s of exciting little projects. Owen is such a great support system not just in business but with encouraging me to push myself in training.

The opens personally didn’t quite go to plan, but for SQ and our members it was electric and we are confident in saying that we created the best Opens experience our members had as either their 1st ever or in comparison to previous experiences. While I qualified for the Quarters the semis didn’t quite go to plan, but this has sparked a light for me to push myself now that SQ is also on the rise. 

I will be competing with Team SQ/Combat Fuel at the SID comp in June, qualified for The European Champs Finals in August and will also be taking part in the Arnolds Online Qualifications with the hope to make it to the finals. But this girl got to take some time to get Stronger- come on Combat Fuel Salted Caramel Protein, sort me out ;). 

Salted Caramel protein, is that your favourite?

Absolutely yes! Vegan salted caramel is my go to for hitting those daily protein goals. I also use EAA+ for during my workouts and of course creatine monohydrate daily. I am all about minimally touched wholesome foods of quality and combat fuel really represents this with its detail to sourcing the best products and keeping their products as real and s*** free as possible. The best of the best and also local💗

Salted caramel protein …orrrrr cinnamon swirl actually, I just can’t ever decide they’re both soo good!

Best achievements to date?

– Hockey- British Colleges Captain.

– Generally every weekend competing for the National League Squad felt like the greatest achievement weekly. This was something I trained for daily and it was such an honour to play alongside such great athletes on the field. And to then become the vice caption in my final year at Uni was massive for me.

– Fittest in Doha (for the Opens) 2019

– Individual Comp Winner 2020 in Doha ‘Fittest In Doha’.

– Paired comp Fittest in Doha Competition 2021 (with my comp Buddy queen Althea)

-CrossFit Games TEAM Semi-Finals 2021 (TEAM ERADA)

Article by: Izzy Grigg Combat Fuel Athlete