Who Dares Wins - Elouise Gregor

Feb 2

Ellie, a solicitor originally from Stockport, has lived in Cornwall for most of her life. As an elite crossfitter and adrenaline junkie she has a passion for all things outdoors and fitness! We caught up with the SAS: Who Dares Wins contestant for a Q&A session to find out more about her experience on the show!

Firstly, how did you get into fitness/crossfit?
My husband was a strength and conditioning coach at a professional rugby club and he got me into Olympic Weightlifting. From there I decided I’d also love to give Crossfit a go.

We can see from your Instagram that you compete at a high level in crossfit, can you elaborate on this a little and tell us about the European Championships?
I enter loads of Crossfit competitions as I love competing. I’m a very competitive person. I mainly compete as a team but I have recently been trying to push myself by entering individual competitions.
European Championships is an international competition with athletes from all over Europe coming to compete. You have to qualify for a space in the Final and I managed to qualify 30th out of over 150 elite women.
There are three categories in the competition, the highest level is the Elite individuals, then Intermediate and Novice. I qualified in the Elite individual categories so I will be at the finals which are held in Essex on the 22nd & 23rd February.

What does an average week entail in terms of training?
I usually train 6 times a week. I try and get 5 CrossFit sessions in at my local Box Duchy CrossFit. I also try and do one barbel session and 2-3 swimming sessions a week.

Can you give us a general overview of your diet?
I don’t track my calories or macros at the moment because I can become quite obsessed with it. I tend to eat a very high protein diet, lots of meats, protein yoghurts etc and minimal carbs.

When did you first decide you wanted to be on WDW? Where did the idea come from?
I have always fancied applying for the show but I never really had the guts to do it. One of my friends Louise Gabitas was on the show last season which gave me to motivation to apply. My sister also applied before me and said that I should also do the application. We do everything together and often compete together or against each other.

What did you need to do to get on the show?
First of all we had to pass the men’s military fitness test which consisted of managing at least 44 press ups in 2 minutes, 60 sit ups in 2 mins, level 10.3 on the bleep test, a Jerry can Carry and a max static lift. Then we had various interviews and psych assessments and medical tests to make sure we were physically up to the challenge.

Did you adapt your training at all to prepare for WDW?
When I found out I had a good chance of getting on the show I started incorporating more weighted running, swimming and press ups into my workout schedule but I dissing change my training dramatically.

What was the hardest part of your WDW experience?
The mental side of the course was much harder for me. We never knew when our next beasting or task would be so we were constantly on edge. Also the weather was bleak, we were always wet and cold and could never warm up or get dry.

What were some of the highlights?
All the tasks were the highlights for me. I absolutely loved the backwards dive, the abseiling out of the helicopter, abseiling off the cliffs and the ropes challenge.

What have you learned from being a part of WDW? Has it changed anything about the way you live or see the world?
I have learnt that I can do much more than my mind believes I can. I can push myself a lot further than I thought. It has made me want to partake in more mad challenges.

What advice would you give to any who might be thinking of entering next year?
Go for it, it’s a once in a lifetime experience. But you must be prepared to suffer, it is 100x harder than it looks on tv. All of the beastings are hours long not minutes as you see on the tv and the challenges usually start with a couple of kilometres run in full kit.

Life begins at the end of your comfort zones.