Sweat Elite takes on Trackstaa and Best Athletics

This is classic "If I'm going down, I'm taking everyone with me" attempt by Matt Fox. His reputation is ruined from all the scandals that's coming into light so he's lashing out at everyone including his friends.

Nick's overused catchphrase Boomshakalaka is annoying as hell but he's never had issue/drama with anyone before so I'm not sure where "he's an a-hole" is coming from.

I'm not sure why people are so mad about the expensive coaching though. Are you also upset that Apple is selling overpriced phone and laptops or Channel selling $10K handbags? It's capitalism. If people with excess wealth are willing to spend on something you find ridiculous are you gonna stop them?

As a non-rich person, seeing expensive training plans/coaching makes me feel bad but that's just life. Its not like Nick's going around a park and forcing everyone he see running to sign up.

Sure, Nick can charge whatever he likes, but its what you get for that money that makes him a POS! A copy/paste plan with no personalisation, added into a whatsapp group with 100+ people so they can answer your questions instead of him and rather than dealing with him, he'll asign you one of his coaching minions. Who he also rips off by paying them £15 per month per client. Meaning hes doing nothing, pocketing thousands from low level hobby joggers who are ultimately going to stop running. F'ing Scumbag!

And people still pay the prices. He's pretty upfront on his website with what you get for his 'services'. They know they're going to fork out hundreds of pounds for this and that. Its not like he deceived a person to pay hundreds, they clearly say they are going to charge this much and this is what you get, if you want to be a part of Best Athletics.

It depends if the fact is that for his £175 a month offer, which is advertised as coaching from Nick or one of his two other great coaches, actually ends up being drawn from the same generic plans as his cheaper models.

I think Matt Fox is alleging that this is the case - the more money you spend doesn't get you a better deal or service.

Disagree with this... What makes a sport exciting is having rivalries and personalities so that theres increased anticipation for races and who comes out on top. American sprinting has become more exciting because you get them making huge statements about their fitness, and what they're going to do - making you excited for them to succeed (or fail). Although Trackstaa's content is very rarely original, it is a great hub of content that brings things together for everyone to see and helps to get all fans on the sport on the same page about what's happening in the sport. Most journalists in this sport are older or retired runners, but Trackstaa is very much clued up on current events, upcoming stars, and races that would go below the radar of mainstream media. I particularly enjoy when Trackstaa posts drama or beef, because that's something that most running news outlets avoid because they're scared of their own reputations..

Due diligence.

Consumers who cannot be bothered to do their research and look around first usually pays more. Some people just see an ad, click and buy because it's convenient and saves time.

What Nick is offering sounds like a bad deal but should he get all the blame? Its like vacationing in another country and finding a tourist trap, like an overpriced restaurant or a bar, where people choose to go because it looks inviting to foreigners. Do we blame these businesses? Customers are free to choose a local one that serves cheap authentic dishes but they don't want to.

And to echo the other poster, prices and the lists of things you can expect are in the site. It's not like Nick's doing anything illegal like fraud where you can report him to the authorities, he just offers you a really bad deal (for the price). The people he's coaching should know better though. And even though Nick's not giving much 1 on 1, I hope his athletes are receiving decent advice that somewhat justifies the amount they're paying.

I have to disagree with this. How do you see “2:15/16 potential” in guys who are functionally professional runners - they train full-time, don’t have “real” jobs, get sent gear, nutrition, and PT/physio opportunities, and get to ask questions of some of the top athletes and coaches in the sport. It’s hard to imagine they aren’t already maxing out potential. Matt Fox trains part of the year in Kenya for altitude - some of us train through US midwest winters and still run faster. I think the limit here is talent and genetics - Matt is just not build like a marathoner, and it’s not like he hasn’t run (objectively) fast… I would not be be all that surprised if neither of them ever runs faster than 2:19:5x.

Agreed... BTW, this doesn't make them not fantastic runners, let's be honest, most of us would love those times.

I feel Nick has more potential than Matt. Fox just has a lot going on with nutrition, training etc.

Maybe the reality is that the sweet spot for Fox was the 800. He posted a number of 1:48.xx performances in his early 20s (2009 to 2011).

worldathletics.org

Matthew FOX | Profile | World Athletics

Link:worldathletics.org/athletes/australia/...

Note that there is a separate World Athletics profile for Fox which is showing marathon performances only. Not sure if that is a common thing. In any event, the two profiles appear to be linked in the background.

worldathletics.org

Matthew FOX | Profile | World Athletics

Link:worldathletics.org/athletes/australia/...

I couldn't copy and paste his response from my device (wish I could, would save somebody else from giving him a view), but Matt has gone on another rant during the same video on Bester's pricing ect.

What video?

I tried to watch a Sweat Elite video yesterday after all of this noise, so tedious...

Man, why would anyone subject themselves to running while being surrounded by loud, stinky mopeds and cameras... influencers have no soul.

I'm not aware of the background of people's aggrivances with MF, but he has spent the past 4 years travelling around the world filming and talking to top athletes about their training, and did compete at a national level. NB has turned a hobby into a business - fair play to him to get to 2.20, but I'm not sure he has the credentials to be charging the sums he is. You can get personalised triathlon plans through brownless fitness and riot triathletes for less, which are written by current/former professionals. Yes, there's also a bit of copy and paste in all plans, but the 'personalised training' at BA doesn't seem to be much different from the £6 mara plan I bought from BA

and this isn’t even the half of it:

trustpilot.com

Sweat Elite is rated "Poor" with 1.8 / 5 on Trustpilot

Do you agree with Sweat Elite's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 17 customers have already said.

Link:www.trustpilot.com/review/www.sweateli...

Seems he's a bit if a cowboy on the website. I've got to honest, I'm only aware of his work on YouTube, which I've found useful and enjoyable (the work with the triathletes in boulder especially). His latest training series about his next sub-2.20 attempt has partially been put behind a pay wall (the in-depth discussion of the training plan) which is a shame.

NB videos on the other hand are just a bit cringy, with the 'boomshalaka' nonsense and the jump in the air pictures - plus any mention of the 'running community' makes my eyes roll. The whole saga has put me off joining BA, especially as you don't seem to get much for £10 a month, especially against other running clubs in the area which run as many and indeed better structured training sessions during the week, for around £30-40 per year (BA's only draw is they run morning training sessions, which the other clubs in SW London don't)

You could very well be right about them not breaking 2:20.

My point was, they are not training right for a Marathon. They 2 of them are champions at interval sessions.

I think they have enough aerobic power but are lacking in endurance.

I still think both of them could break 2:20 with more long runs and less intervals.

Whether they do or not is another question.

There was thread that was archived by the mods a few weeks ago about Matt Fox/ Sweat Elite that was pretty good. It lists all the things he's done and the grievances people have with him. You gotta check it out and everything will make sense.