CrossFit Athlete Carleen Mathews in Two-Piece Workout Gear Does "Street Parking" Workout

Carleen Mathews is breaking a sweat – in her exercise clothes. In a new social media post the CrossFit athlete shows off her strong body in a two-piece set while doing a “Street Parking” workout. “That new home gym is 🔥🔥,” one of her followers commented. How does she approach diet, fitness, and self-care? Here is everything you need to know about her lifestyle habits.

1. Eat Disorder

Carleen is very open about her struggle with an eating disorder.”“For me as someone in continued recovery of an eating disorder I’d love to say, CrossFit has ‘Healed me’ and now I just love my body all the time, but that’s bull sh*t… anyone who tells you that or portrays that on social media is being unauthentic, PERIOD! The truth is I struggle, just like everyone else, no day is perfect for me, there are peaks and valleys for me,” she told Boxrox. “Currently I’m struggling, and desperately trying to turn a valley into a peak, but sometimes when we try so hard to be ‘normal, or OK’ it’s that much harder. So for today my goal is to start small, something in an succeed at. I will celebrate and acknowledge one thing about my body that l LOVE, because as much as I want to pick apart my body, there ARE things I like. Today I will celebrate and out my focus into that.”

2. Eating for Performance

It also requires “eating for performance,” she says. “And so that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re eating the best. I mean, one can only get 500 carbs a day in, you know, so much like rice and chicken and Veggies, right? Like you’ve gotta be, like you’re not eating for health. You’re eating for performance. And, you know, with that, I think that like we’re overtraining, we’re overstressing our bodies into a place that’s not necessarily healthy. And we look healthy. We look really fit and really healthy. But it doesn’t mean that the insides of us are. And so that’s something that I’ve experienced this past, like past year and a half is that I was really fit and, and the best shape of my life, but my body was not, like my insides were not. So like not having a period for three years is not normal, is not a good thing health-wise.”

3. Sobriety

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CrossFit also helped Carleen get sober. “I’ve been a competitive CrossFit athlete for the past 8 years. I’ve gotten to a place where I don’t have that deep desire to compete. But what do I do now? Who am I without it?” she said in the same interview. “Maybe it’s fear of failure because I don’t believe I’m as good as the other girls out there. But that’s OK. The reality is that I am not as good as some of these 21 year olds. I’ve peaked. I’m not peaking anymore. My numbers are not growing. I love this sport. I love CrossFit. I walked into a box and it helped me stay sober. I made it my outlet. But it became my only outlet. I’m in a transition phase in my life now where competitive CrossFit is not as important to me, starting a family and focusing on my health is. At least, that’s what I tell myself. This change is hard. It’s uncomfortable. All I’ve known for the past five years is to train hard. Destroy your body every day to be the best you can be in competition. For so long, I’ve been praised and looked up to for podiums, medals, and achievements.”

4. CrossFit Is Her “Healthy” Addiction

“CrossFit absolutely was, you know, became for me like that new addiction. And you know, for me it was a healthier addiction. It allowed me to find something that I’m passionate about. It allowed me to find a new outlet. So I didn’t, you know, I wasn’t spending all of my time going out to the bars. Now I was, you know, pursuing being fitter or working out and I mean, I think there is like that fine line of when addiction—trading one addiction for the other, but for me it was a good healthy transition,” she continued to Two Brain Business.

5. Training Hard

Carleen admits that she over trains. “I think that the CrossFit Games is the 1%, and in order to be competing at the CrossFit Games, like you are going to sacrifice some of your health for that. And at this point, I don’t think, not necessarily everyone, but I think that there is, if you’re looking at that like, you know, the sickness, wellness, fitness continuum like once you get to that fit stage, like there is potential to go back over to sickness from training. Like you’re beat up, you’re over-trained, you’re overworked,” she says.