In the past week Emma Lawson announced that she would not be registering for the 2025 CrossFit Open due to a nagging back issue. Yesterday, Lawson expanded on her injury during her most recent podcast episode.
On Episode 6: New Season, Let’s Talk About It of the Strong Girl Style podcast, Lawson explained that in the weeks leading up to TYR Wodapalooza she was doing deficit deadlifts. During that story, she said she probably went too heavy and during her fourth rep of five she felt “an insane weakness throughout [her] low back”.
Between then and TYR Wodapalooza Lawson was trying to work through the injury while not telling her teammates (Danielle Brandon and Shelby Neal), but she admitted, “I don’t really know how to program around injuries.”
Josh Woolley, formerly Lawson’s coach, shut down Mammoth Training Methods, late last year. Since that time it sounds like Lawson has been programming for herself.
Then, at TYR Wodapalooza, Lawson withdrew from Reps Ahead in hopes that she would be able to compete with her team. However, on Sunday morning she finished the first workout with five touch-and-go power cleans at 175 pounds. From that point on Lawson said she was in a lot of pain.
Lawson and her team were able to pull it out though on Sunday. Their team won the women’s elite team division.
With her back not improving, Lawson said she went for an MRI. “I do have a budged disk at L5,” Lawson shared on her podcast. She continued, “That’s the diagnosis I have and I believe it’s pinching a nerve, the S1 nerve. so the pain also then goes down my leg.
Lawson concluded by saying that she’s currently getting the treatment that she needs and just needs to give it some time to heal.
Thus, Lawson has withdrawn from the CrossFit Open, thereby ending her opportunity at qualifying for the CrossFit Games. Regardless of whether an athlete qualifies for the Games via the In-Affiliate Semifinal or one of the In-Person Qualifying Events, it is required that the athlete finishes in the top 1% of the Open.
Lawson has also withdrawn from the Mayhem Classic in early April. Instead, she will focus her rehab and recovery timeline on Tour Event 1 of the World Fitness Project. That competition is May 9-11 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
You can listen to Lawson’s podcast on Spotify.
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