Role Model Muscle

They Have Full-Time Jobs, Families And Commitments - Just Like you do. The Difference: They Put in the Work, Fight Through the Pain, And Inspire Others to be Better. We Partnered with versace to Bring you their Hard - Earned Lesson. Leverage Them to start your cover Guy Journey.

- Chelsea Geach & Kieran Legg

The Champ

WINNER - Jason Smith

33, CROSSFIT BOX OWNER

1.85m / 90kg

JOBURG

Jason has almost died – twice. Once during a motocross race, when a rough landing turned his bike’s handlebars into an iron punch to the gut, obliterating his kidney and liver. And again, years later, when the scar tissue left behind by the operation to remove his mangled organ caused his intestines to knot up and put his whole system into shock.

That most recent trip to the ER was in 2012; he underwent a seven-hour operation that left him bedridden for a month. He survived on water and an IV drip.

“I lost 20kg, in one month, I went down from 90 to 70,” he says. For this fitness junkie, who started doing CrossFit back in 2008, being sidelined for so long put him in a contemplative state. “I started asking myself, what am I doing with my life? I needed to change things, I needed to better my lifestyle.”

His resurrection began just months later – he built and opened his own CrossFit box. In August this year, he became the first South African to represent the country in the annual Games in Madison. He was a monster, finishing 11th overall (with a 6th-place finish in the devilish Muscle-Up and Clean Ladder). And now he’s representing Europe and Africa in the Team Series in Australia. All that, and he’s also a dad.

“It’s a tough balancing act,” he admits. “But seeing the reaction I’ve had from people locally, that it’s possible not only to get into the Games but to do well, has been rewarding beyond words. Guys thought it was impossible. To see me do it, it’s got them all working harder.” Jason credits much of his prowess in the box to a solid foundation of Arnie-inspired bodybuilding training