COMPETE SMART

“It was the first competition where I believed that I could win and actually verbalized I'm going to win. And I wasn't quiet about it. Like, when we were competing, like, out the back, I was very clear of what my intentions were. Because if you don't believe that you can win something, you might as well not try. The biggest realization for me through that competition was that people don't expect me to win. People believe that I can. And that lit a fire under me.”

“I went to watch him at a strongman competition and there were a man down in the competition. They went does anyone from the audience wanna jump in? Well, Matt pushed me in. So I borrowed someone's belt. I was in, like, a shirt, leggings. They dropped the bar to, like, a 100 kilos. I did, like, 20 reps. And Ant Brown was there who, at the time, ran the National Pathway. He's like, you might wanna try this. Like, you'll be pretty good at it.”

“I was so embarrassed of it at the time, though. Like, not embarrassed, but I was really shy about it. I think it was not knowing how to handle it. Like, I went from I was known, but, like, again, like, twenty, thirty thousand followers on Instagram overnight. I was constantly getting messages, like, you're inspiring, you're this, you're that. And no one really prepares you for that and how to deal with that. So I think I was, like, trying to shrink myself and make myself smaller, and it was I was becoming Chloe the Denny girl, but, actually, I I just come second at the Arnold as well.”

“So many people that come into this sport think it's about being strong. Because strong man, strong woman, like, that isn't what wins you competitions. Like, yes, you have to be strong, but you also have to be incredibly athletic. You have to be incredibly powerful. You have to be incredibly fast. You have to be agile. You have to be able to think. There are plenty of women in that class that were stronger than me. I am a better competitor.”

“Every time I'd feel any sensation in my back, my muscles would just spasm because my brain's gone. Last time that happened, you really hurt yourself. So I had to do a lot of work to undo that wiring. I always make the analogy of, like, a really tired mom and a toddler. You know if there's a toddler's asking for a biscuit and the mom's like, no. No. No. And then eventually, she's like, for god's sake, just have it. And I think it's the same with your brain. Like, if you tell it something enough, in the end it goes fine.”

“No one's ever tempted me. A lot of people have suggested it. I've been told if I did, I would be ridiculous. But for me, it just doesn't align with my values. Like, I really value my health, and my femininity is really important. The fact that I've had so many parents tell me how their little girls look up to me. And I want them to look up to me and go, if I work hard, I can do that. Not if I work hard and take drugs.”

“I've seen a couple of weeks before we flew out that there was a lot of open women training for the Denny's. And I was like, I see they're doing a record breakers for the women on these stones now. And I've I haven't been invited. But I was like, I I know I can do that. So I emailed everybody I could and put my name down. The training for it was empty pins a week before we flew out because I was peaked for the full comp. They were very gracious and said you can go last because you've literally just competed. They both failed it. And then I did it. This one kind of broke and then I fell back which I really hurt my hamstring on there to the point I couldn't squat later that night, but adrenaline carries you through.”

“Once you the chase is epic. Right? The chase to get what you want is insane. When you get the thing, it's great, but it doesn't when I won Euros, which was the massive thing I wanted to do, and when I came third at OSU, which was a massive thing I wanted to do, I expected to feel, like, freaking on top of the world, but I was back in the car driving in from the XL while Matt's sitting next to me, like, straight after. And you come back down with such a bump.”

“I'm a big believer in the in the hypnotherapy. I feel like if they come up with a new name for it, they should because hypnotherapy has got a very bad stigma. People hear hypnotherapy and they go fuck off. And it's but when you've been there and done it and done the sessions, you understand it's anything but that. It is training. I would say hypnotherapy would be best described as training your subconscious. That's essentially what it is.”

“My fifth birthday was spent in hospital with my mom. That, like, really sticks out. She'd had two, like, strokes, basically, like minor strokes, which impacted her ability to do anything, but she was also a single parent. A lot of kids, like, get into drinking right when they're young, and I did. And I remember one time, like, my mom was in hospital, and I was really struggling to deal with it. So after school, we went to the park, got drunk. My dad picked me up and took me to the hospital, and I was asleep on the hospital bed.”