Mat Fraser Confirms 2027 CrossFit Return After a 36:58 Bodyweight Test Workout

• Five-time CrossFit Games champion Mat Fraser confirmed this week that he plans to compete in 2027, ending a retirement that began after his 2020 title.
• Fraser posted a 36:58 on a workout of 100 back squats, 100 bench presses and 100 deadlifts at his bodyweight, followed by a one-mile run.
• Any athlete can try the same test at a lighter load, and Fraser invited readers to post their times.

The Workout Behind the Announcement

Mat Fraser confirmed his comeback in the middle of a training story. Asked directly whether a return was planned, the five-time champion answered, “I will be competing in 2027.” According to BoxLife Magazine, which reported the confirmation on October 24, the confirmation came as Fraser described a bodyweight test he had just completed.

The format is simple to explain and hard to finish. An athlete performs 100 back squats, 100 bench presses and 100 deadlifts, each with a barbell loaded to bodyweight, and then runs one mile. BoxLife credits the format to athlete David Wein. Fraser weighed 194.8 pounds and loaded the bar to 195. His goal was 45 minutes. His finish was 36 minutes and 58 seconds.

Fraser broke each lift into short sets. He took the squats in sets of five with brief rests and described his approach as winging it. The bench press went the other way: he started with sets of three, moved to doubles and finished on singles, and he had predicted that the bench would limit him. The deadlifts tired him less than he expected. For the last 20 deadlifts he dropped to sets of five and took five breaths between each one. He wore a heart rate monitor throughout.

The mile came last, on hilly ground. Fraser walked the steepest sections, and his adductors, worked by the squats and deadlifts, slowed him down. He said he would pick a flat route next time.

A Champion With a US Training Base

Fraser’s training base has been in the United States for his whole career. He trained as a weightlifter at the former U.S. Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University, according to the school’s own news site. He won the CrossFit Games title every year from 2016 to 2020, which earned him the title Fittest Man on Earth five times, and he announced his retirement in February 2021. In a statement at the time he said he would stay involved in the sport but would no longer compete from the competition floor.

He has not stayed away from racing entirely. In February 2025 he entered his first Hyrox in Las Vegas, racing in the doubles division with Matt O’Keefe while the HWPO training crew traveled to cheer on four doubles teams. The HWPO write-up did not list a finish time. That race showed Fraser testing himself outside CrossFit’s usual workouts, and the 2027 plan points to a bigger step back.

The BoxLife report also touched on his early training. Between 2013 and 2015, Fraser followed the posted workouts and times of other competitors, and he singled out Noah Ohlsen, whose Comptrain programming he followed with a delay of about three days. He also recalled a heart rate reading of 208 beats per minute on a moderate bike session after knee surgery. His coach, Jake, said they checked the number by hand with a stopwatch, and that Fraser could hold a conversation at that rate.

How to Try the Fraser Test Yourself

The appeal of the workout for everyday athletes is its structure. It uses three barbell lifts and one run, and a standard barbell gym has the equipment. Fraser himself suggested that recreational athletes pick a light load, and he said the workout would still be very hard. The bodyweight target gives a strong athlete a clear benchmark, but a newer lifter can scale the bar to a load that allows sets of five without form breaking down.

A few details from Fraser’s own run offer a guide for anyone trying it:

• Break the squats into sets of five with short rests, and keep the sets consistent.
• Expect the bench press to cost the most time. Fraser dropped from threes to twos to singles.
• Plan the run on a flat route if you can, as the squats and deadlifts load the adductors.
• Track heart rate if you own a monitor. It gives you a record to compare against next time.

Fraser also invited readers to post their own times in the comments on the original piece, which turns a one-man test into a community benchmark. Gyms that already post a benchmark workout on the whiteboard each week will find this one easy to slot in. A coach who wants to scale it for a class could cut the reps to 50 of each lift or load the bar to 75 percent of bodyweight, and keep the one-mile run as the finisher so every athlete ends on the same task. Athletes new to heavy bench pressing should bring a spotter or use a rack with safety arms, as the bench is the lift most likely to fail late in the workout.

What a 2027 Return Means for the Sport

CrossFit’s competitive scene has changed a great deal in the years after Fraser last stood on the Games floor in 2020. The sport now shares attention with Hyrox, DEKA and other racing formats, and many athletes split their calendars between them. A champion returning from a long retirement to CrossFit competition would give the sport a storyline that also reaches the hybrid crowd, and Fraser has already tried Hyrox.

BoxLife did not report which events Fraser will enter, how he will qualify, or what his preparation schedule looks like, and the confirmation rests on a single report so far. Official details from Fraser or CrossFit would settle those questions. In the meantime, the 36:58 stands as a marker. It tells everyday athletes what a champion can do on a fresh test in a hilly field, and it gives them a workout to try on Saturday morning.