The Adaptive Athlete Podcast

An Unexpected Detour (Feat. Kieran Healey-Ryder)

Mat Hotho sits down with Kieran Healey-Ryder [https://www.instagram.com/kieran.scotland/], a Glasgow-based adaptive athlete navigating a rare, progressive skeletal disease that's slowly taking the use of his left leg.  Kieran shares the story of a camping trip discovery, a devastating second opinion delivered in a Scottish palatial estate, and the quiet grief that arrives in micro-moments. He talks about losing his career and his mobility at the same time, CrossFit Glasgow refusing to let him quit, his daughters training alongside him, and the humor that keeps it all livable.  He's been in the Adaptive Open, he's still lifting, and he's still figuring it out — which is exactly the point. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2452710/fan_mail/new] Follow the podcast on Instagram: @TheAdaptiveAthletePod [https://www.instagram.com/theadaptiveathletepod/]

Three Things on My Mind (Feat. Mat Hotho)

Mat Hotho takes the mic solo for the first installment of a new format: personal episodes between the interviews, where Mat tackles the ideas and conversations he keeps having about adaptive fitness off the show. After a lap through two things on his mind—connecting adaptive athletes with local pediatric and rehab communities, and the case for a true para-sport classification system—Mat spends the bulk of this one debriefing his weekend coordinating the adaptive division at the SeaDog Summer Showdown [https://www.instagram.com/seadog_summer_showdown/] in Jupiter, Florida. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2452710/fan_mail/new] Follow the podcast on Instagram: @TheAdaptiveAthletePod [https://www.instagram.com/theadaptiveathletepod/]

Shoot With Intention (Feat. Bruce Williams)

Mat Hotho sits down with Bruce Williams [https://www.instagram.com/b.a.w_media/], the photographer and videographer behind Dope Content and the person responsible for most of the imagery you've seen coming out of the CrossFit Adaptive Games.  Bruce has been documenting the adaptive community for years through WheelWOD and beyond — but this conversation goes deeper than the competition floor.  Bruce shares how growing up with a father who always had a camera shaped a career built on documenting people fighting through circumstances they didn't ask for.  He talks about his nonprofit work with Flashes of Hope at a children's cancer hospital, Autism Strong Foundation, and DreamOn3 — an organization that creates sports experiences for kids with disabilities.  He also gets into the practical stuff: how adaptive athletes should approach brand partnerships, what athletes need to understand about photo licensing and media rights, and what it's meant to him personally to be part of this community. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2452710/fan_mail/new] Follow the podcast on Instagram: @TheAdaptiveAthletePod [https://www.instagram.com/theadaptiveathletepod/]

Comfortable Being Uncomfortable (Feat. Lauren Taylor)

Mat Hotho sits down with Lauren Taylor [https://www.instagram.com/laur_tay_lt/], gold medalist in the Neuromuscular Moderate division at the 2025 CrossFit Adaptive Games.  Lauren walks through the long road — a broken collarbone in high school that snowballed into neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome, three years of insurance battles before surgery, and a near-fatal Valentine's Day procedure where she coded on the table after losing 2.5 liters of blood. She came back to win an NCAA Division II field hockey national championship, picked up Spartan racing, then a 2021 car accident left her with a TBI. Watching Amy Bream compete at the CrossFit Games sparked the next chapter. Two days before the 2022 Open, she signed up.  The conversation gets into the Kitchen Sink workouts, her sixth year with coach Aimee Lyons, and what it means to be seen by a community that shows up to throw down with you. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2452710/fan_mail/new] Follow the podcast on Instagram: @TheAdaptiveAthletePod [https://www.instagram.com/theadaptiveathletepod/]

Adaptation Has Taught Me Creativity (Feat. Sam Fishman)

Mat Hotho sits down with Sam Fishman [https://www.instagram.com/theycallme.fish.forareason/], the founder of AnyBody & EveryBody [https://www.instagram.com/anybodyeverybodyff/] and a full-time adaptive CrossFit coach based out of CrossFit Palace in Ithaca, New York.  Sam's path here runs through speech pathology, special education, EMS, and a decade of advocacy—for students, patients, and athletes alike. She opened AnyBody & EveryBody in September 2024, coaching people with disabilities and medically complex individuals from age four to their seventies, and founded The AnyBody EveryBody Foundation, a 501(c)(3) providing financial assistance to make adaptive CrossFit accessible in the greater-Ithaca community. She also serves as a medical floor lead at the WheelWOD Games.  In this conversation, they dig into what success actually looks like on the gym floor, what event medicine demands, and what Sam would tell someone ready to take the plunge and build something of their own. Want to make a difference like Sam? Volunteer at the 2026 CrossFit Divisional Games [https://www.cuetoems.com/cfdivisionalgames_2026/Volunteer.aspx?utm_source=article&utm[…]aign=divisional-volunteer-registration&utm_content=site-link] Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2452710/fan_mail/new] Follow the podcast on Instagram: @TheAdaptiveAthletePod [https://www.instagram.com/theadaptiveathletepod/]