1) Who is Cassidy Duffield? (where are you from, what do you do, a bit about yourself (hobbies, etc)
I am from Salt Lake City, Utah. Born and raised here! I am a nutrition coach for iN3 Nutrition and truly love my job. I struggled with self-image and eating disorders for so many years prior to finding CrossFit so to have the opportunity to give back and help others with the same issues is amazing. I am a dog mom to 4 dogs! I love dogs so much (especially my dogs), they just bring me a lot of happiness and I can’t imagine life without them!
2) How many years have you been training?
Essentially my entire life. I started gymnastics when I was 5 and competed in it until I was about 16. After that I was a globo gym rat until I found CrossFit in 2012! I immediately started competing in the sport and participated in my very first regionals in 2013 with Salt Lake City CrossFit. I have competed every year since in both team and individual and finally made it to the 2017 CrossFit Games with my team. I also played in the world of competitive Olympic weightlifting from 2014-2015 and won Nationals as a 69kg lifter. It was hard for me to find a balance with weightlifting and CrossFit since Nationals is very close to when the South regional is, so I focus mainly on CrossFit now.
3) Whats been the most challenging/hardest part of your journey so far? and how have you overcome them (set backs, rejections, injuries, basically anything difficult that you have had to overcome)
I am super prone to injury and it never gets any easier to work through them. The only way to cope with injury is have a very realistic understanding about your plan to rehabilitate and still progress as an athlete. Focusing on what you can do as opposed to everything you can’t do helps keep me in a positive mindset.
I’ve never had an injury that I haven’t come back stronger from, meaning it always forces me to find a weakness and smash it.
4) What does your typical workout/diet routine look like?
I train 6 days a week. Right now just one long session per day and one recovery day focusing on swimming, which is one of my biggest weaknesses. I follow macros pretty strictly, but aside from that I have a very sensitive stomach so I don’t eat gluten, dairy, and a handful of other foods that don’t work for me.
5) What new knowledge have you learned over this past year regarding training, lifestyle and nutrition?
Over the years I've learned you can’t out train a poor lifestyle or diet. Adequate sleep and caloric intake is imperative to recover and progress as an athlete at this level. Staying focused on your journey goes a long way in terms of progress as well. If you’re constantly focused on everyone else’s progress you’ll fall back in your own progress.
6) Whats your favourite cheat/Treat meal?
It’s hard to say! As a nutrition coach I don’t typically like to use the word “cheat” because I like to make sure we are creating a lifestyle that supports including things you enjoy in addition to the things you need, BUT I will say I enjoy some dark chocolate every single day and that is a treat I look forward to!
7) Whats one supplement that you could not live without?
I really like the vitamins I take called Athlete Vitamin by Citadel Nutrition. I love the taste and it’s in a powdered form so I just mix it with water to take with the rest of the supplements!
8) If you had to start your Journey from scratch with your health & physique what would you do differently and why?
I would change the way I look at competing. I use to be so hard on myself and beat myself up if I fell apart or I didn’t do as well as I wanted to. I’ve learned about how I have to approach certain workouts now so that helps, but I also realized that no one likes to see someone throw a fit or talk bad about themselves post workout.
I love to watch athletes that put their whole heart into something and are content and choose to respond well after a workout in competition or even in the Open. Being the athlete you love to watch is something that goes through my head in any competition setting. Whether it’s attitude, support for other athletes, or smiling even when you really don’t want to, it makes everything much better!
9) Who do you look upto in the fitness industry and why?
Not just because he will be my husband in a few weeks, BUT I really look up to Justin Dickson, the owner and coach of SLC CrossFit. The amount of time and energy he puts into gym as a very successful business, the care and support he has for his athletes, the community he has created at our gym, and the success he has had as a coach over the years is amazing.
As well as Jason Phillips, my boss and the founder of iN3 Nutrition for getting into the nutrition world and changing lives AND allowing me to be a part of it!
Both of them hustle hard and make shit happen, it’s hard to ignore and not be motivated by their hard work and success!
10) If you had to give one bit of advice to people starting out what would that be?
Stay out of your own way. Don’t set limits for yourself just because you don’t think you can do something. You’re brain will stop you well before your body does!
11) What new goals do you have on the horizon?
This year we have a really solid team and are hoping to be in Madison again in 2018!
12) Where can people find you? (website, social media accounts)
IG @cassidy.duffield
FB Athlete page Cassidy Duffield
Email for nutrition inquiries cassidy@in3nutrition.com
