Start Your Engines: My Unstoppable Crossfit Journey

You don’t get biceps like Briggs by giving up when the going gets tough...

CrossFit superstar Sam Briggs, aka ’The Engine’, is a true hero in the sport, with a level of endurance unparalleled in the game. This is the story of how she got to the top, and battled with everything she had to stay there.

Sam’s memoir takes in the whole story, from being kicked out of ballet lessons as a child but being accepted on the boys’ sports teams, to working as a firefighter in West Yorkshire for ten years, tackling dangerous and adrenaline-fueled situations on a daily basis, and to taking up CrossFit at the comparatively ancient age of 27. Sam tells of what it took to become champion a mere three years later, and after a year out with a broken patella. Despite the numerous setbacks and debilitating injuries that have plagued her in the years that followed, when most other athletes would have thrown in the towel, Sam has fought, and continues to fight, to be the very best that she can be.

Start Your Engines is the story of how, with a combination of grit, training and dogged motivation, it’s never too late to achieve your dreams.

Samantha Briggs is a CrossFit athlete, formerly crowned the fittest woman in the world on winning the 2013 Games. Despite a catalogue of injuries, Sam has continued to compete at the very highest levels of the sport, and in 2019 was given the prestigious Spirit of the Games Award, honouring her extraordinary character, resilience and courage.

Prior to CrossFit, Sam was a firefighter and footballer. She now lives in Manchester, when not travelling the world for competitions, where she runs her own CrossFit gyms.