Meet RX Smart Gear’s Sole Sponsored Athlete: Olympic Swimmer Michael Andrew

A few years back, jump rope manufacturer RX Smart Gear had one of–if not the bigger roster of sponsored athletes in the CrossFit space. The nearly 50 athletes connected to the brand received stipends, gear, financial assistance, and specialized coaching in exchange for promoting the brand to their fans and on social media. This strategy was largely successful: RX Smart Gear is a household name in the CrossFit world and an easy go-to for a new rope. However, something about this system didn’t sit right with CEO David Newman. Because athletes were required to post content promoting their products in order to keep their sponsor deal, he felt that the posts felt manufactured and more out of obligation than an actual passion for the project. So, the team restructured their sponsorship plan until they only had one athlete. And he’s not even a CrossFitter. This content is available exclusively to Members Become an member and start enjoying full access to all our community and sports content, and an ad-free experience. PROMO Exclusive content Ad-Free web/app experience Comments on articles Exclusive 15% WIT discount $1 per month for the first 4 months, $8 each month after Get Started for $1 Exclusive content Ad-Free web/app experience Comments on articles Exclusive private Facebook Group Regular coffee breaks hang outs Exclusive 15% WIT discount Get Started $5/month billed annually Already a member? Log In. Olympic gold medalist Michael Andrew has always been in the business of finding the best ways to improve his performance. His father, who doubles as his coach, and himself have made it a habit of reading research and reaching out to scientific researchers, which is how he eventually stumbled upon jump rope as a mode of improving his game outside of the water. Andrew: “What I realized is that there are key aspects that can’t be trained in the pool that you can create adaptations for and break down through alternative methods.” Power has been a major player in Andrew’s game, which jumping has helped with immensely. Between the elasticity he’s built in his muscles and the power output, he’s seen improvements in his ability to jump off the blocks to start a race and turn in the water. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqtcsfQgj_o/?utm_sourceig_web_copy_link Also, the rhythmic skill and mental power advanced jump rope techniques require–like double unders and crossovers–has allowed Andrew to grow his game in the water. He says that jumping rope has been beneficial because it involves a low amount of muscle breakout and doesn’t build heavy muscle that “doesn’t float,” he says. He’s able to cross-train effectively without the burden of hurting his performance in the water. “A lot of the training I’ve been doing is very specific to just speed–high intensity in the water and very specific movements,” Andrew said. “So when I come to race, in theory it’s an automatic output.” After a few years of jumping rope as a key part of his out-of-water training regime, Andrew got in touch with RX Smart Gear through his swimsuit sponsor, TYR. RX Smart Gear is based in San Diego, CA, near where Andrew lives, so he quickly met up with Newman to learn more about the brand. What he found was a true connection to the brand’s values. “We ended up spending three hours not talking about business or collaboration, we right away got into jumping – learning how to jump, just having fun,” Andrew said. He says that he emphasizes education in his own career and makes sure to be transparent about how to others can be successful with similar tools. This was very similar, he says, to RX Smart Gear’s values. “(Newman) doesn’t get a whole lot out of it, he wants people to learn adn grow and be more efficient.” Newman and the RX Smart Gear team hold the same respect for Andrew. He says the partnership has been fruitful for the brand and has personally taught him lots about the sport of swimming. “(Andrew’s) drive and focus to continually explore all the best training adaptations to make him not only a world class swimmer but a better overall athlete are so refreshing,” Newman said. “We couldn’t be happier for (Andrew) to be the Rod Tidwell to our Jerry Maguire. “

Meet RX Smart Gear’s Sole Sponsored Athlete: Olympic Swimmer Michael Andrew

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