Crossfit Open 14.1 Reactions: A Change in Direction?

I’ve had a night to digest the announcement of Crossfit’s Open WOD 14.1 and, while I thought I’d wake up with a better feeling and understanding of the surprise, I’m still very torn on what Dave Castro threw down. There are some things about 14.1 that I understand.

• I understand that HQ likes “repeat” WODs so that they can later brag about how much everyone improved. Mark my words, we will see a post on the Games site within a couple weeks concerning what percentage of the population posted improved scores (granted it’ll be a small sample size considering only 26K people were signed up for 2011 and not necessarily all of that pool is currently signed up for 2013).

• I understand that this is Crossfit’s baby and they can program absolutely anything that they wish.

• I also understand that this is a competition and thus just about any movement, and then some, that’s ever showed up on Crossfit.com is an option for HQ to program. We all knew that double unders would show up at some point of the Open. The surprise though was them being the very first movement in the opening WOD. I would feel very differently if double unders were used as they have been in the previous two years or even if this exact WOD was used later in the competition.

• Lastly, I understand that the primary goal of the Open is to get the correct people to the Regionals competition and every athlete who makes it to Regionals (or for Masters straight to the Games), should be able to knock out double unders with ease.

So what’s my problem if everything above is true?
Crossfit HQ goes out of the way leading up the Open to “sell” it as an inclusive competition. They post countless videos, including several with Glassman himself, encouraging anyone and everyone to sign up and “prove yourself.” They encourage those who are brand new to Crossfit and even encourage those who’ve never done Crossfit. Glassman talked in one of the videos about athletes from other sports and them proving themselves if they think they’re truly a match for Rich Froning. I guess what I’m driving at is my frustration isn’t with how 14.1 was programmed, instead my frustration is with how it was sold leading up to the announcement.

If Crossfit wants the Open to simply be a vehicle to get the most deserving athletes to Regionals, then I agree with, understand and fully support that goal. If that is the case though, 200,000 don’t need to sign up for the Open in 2015. I certainly don’t need to sign up for the Open next year and maybe that entirely ok with Crossfit HQ. Maybe they’d like to establish a clear line between the person who does Crossfit for sport and the person who does Crossfit for exercise. And if that’s the case, it won’t change my love for Crossfit or my passion to write, think, watch or follow the sport. I could not be clearer about that last point, while I’m disappointed and/or discouraged in the programming of 14.1; it certainly hasn’t changed my passion for Crossfit as a whole. Perhaps I look at the Open differently now but that’s ok. I’ll struggle through and Crossfit will crown the fittest man, woman and team in a couple months and all will be right with the world.

Crossfit Open 14.1 - Dave Castro Throws a Curveball

I'll admit it, Dave Castro juked me out of my shoes, he broke my ankles with a wicked crossover and I'm still reeling from it. I thought the rig meant something and I thought they would stick as close to inclusive as possible. Basically I could not have been more wrong. Ok now that my mouth is full of crow, let's move on to 14.1, which is of course a repeat of three years ago (11.1).

Here's a look at the movement standards:

Crossfit Games Open 2014: Predictions for 14.1

I posted last night that I thought Crossfit North Atlanta had given us some really good clues as to what we’ll see tonight when Dave Castro announces the first Open WOD of 2014. Now that I’ve had all night to think about it, I think I’ve come up with a prediction that I feel fairly confident with, at least for now (small disclaimer: I always feel confident with predictions until they’re proven wrong, it’s my process).

First, let’s recap, here’s what we know based on the pictures that CF North Atlanta posted. One, there is a two man rig set up for some movement that’ll require hanging from a bar (pullups, toes to bar, chest to bar etc) and the rig doesn’t currently have any capability for squats from the rack or wall balls. Secondly, the rig is not set up in the center of the arena so that tells me there will be more to this workout than just pullups, toes to bar, chest to bar, etc. Now of course I’m probably making way too many assumptions based on just a couple pictures. Maybe the rig won’t be used at all (although last year if they set up a rig they used it and when they did need a rig they didn’t wait until the last minute to set it up) or maybe Dave Castro is just trying to throw us all off, but at this point it’s just more fun to mild wild assumptions based off the few clues at our disposal. Now onto the prediction for 14.1:

17 min AMRAP (ode to 13.1)
30 burpee pullups
30 clean and jerks (95/65lbs)
30 burpee pullups
30 clean and jerks (135/95lbs)
30 burpee pullups
30 clean and jerks (185/125)
30 burpee pullups
30 clean and jerks (205/145)

I'll freely admit that I'm at least partially biased, if not totally and completely, because if I have one minor strength, it's with the clean and jerk. I'd feel fairly confident if this were the WOD (and by confident I mean that I would post a number I'd be happy with, not confident as in a number that even a Regionals level athlete would be satisfied with) and to be honest I'd enjoy it. Burpee pullups are brutal, especially when you're talking about 60+, but all of the Open WODs are going to be brutal and at least with any variation of burpees, you can keep moving. Your strength isn't going to "give out" on a burpee. You're going to slow down but you can keep moving and for a very average CFer like myself, that's important. If this were the WOD, and I can assure you it won't be, I'd be shooting for at least getting to the 185lb clean and jerks. Now that I think about it, I'm going to have to try this WOD at some point after the Open just to see how far I'd get.

Crossfit North Atlanta Drop Big Clues about 14.1

Ever since Crossfit started the live announcements of the Open WODs I've gotten even more
enjoyment out of trying to guess/determine what the WODs will be by searching Facebook and Twitter for photos and hints of the site of each live announcement. There is some logic to this after all, equipment and an "arena" must set up ahead of time and it's only logical that each home gym and their members will be excited about the unveiling. So far this has led to plenty of pics regarding each setup and Crossfit North Atlanta did not disappoint today. They've posted quite few pics from before any set up started and all the way through final construction. Here's what we know:

An arena was constructed and nothing was inside that arena while it was built. Once the arena was complete, a small, two person rig was added to one side of the arena. The rig was very simple with one pull-up bar on each side. There was no J-hooks for squats or targets for wall balls, this rig will used for pull-ups, T2B or perhaps my favorite idea, burpee pull-ups. There is a small chance that wall balls could be a part of this but as of right now there are no targets on the rig. That would be an easy add at the last minute so don't totally rule them out.

Of course just knowing that the WOD will involve a rig doesn't tell us even close to the entire picture but it is pretty interesting considering that the none of 11.1, 12.1 or 13.1 used a rig at all. Perhaps 2014 will be quite a surprise form Dave Castro after all.

And yes, that's Mr Bob Harper, from the Biggest Loser, in the brown jacket. That guy loves him some Crossfit.

Crossfit Open 14.1 - Garret Fisher vs. Marcus Hendren

When HQ first announced that the live throw down for 14.1 would be between Garret Fisher and Marcus Hendren, I was a bit underwhelmed. Don’t get me wrong, both of these guys are extremely upper echelon Crossfitters. They boast Games experience and they’re both young enough for us to assume that they’re best days are ahead of them. While Rich Froning deserves to be the favorite until he decides to stop competing, both Hendren and Fisher are very serious competitors for the crown and/or a podium finish. Did I say I was underwhelmed? What the heck was I thinking?!? Crossfit only started these live throwdowns last year but I think this one is the second best matchup on the men’s side that we’ve seen, second only to Froning vs Khalipa. Let’s take a look at how these two young guns stack up:

Measurables:
Garret Fisher is 22 years old and reports himself as 6’1, 210 pounds.
Marcus Hendren is 25 years old and reports himself as 5’10, 198 pounds.
My only thought on this is that I was surprised Fisher outweighed Hendren. Fisher looks like the leaner athlete but I guess that’s what an extra three inches does for you. There’s obviously a three year age difference as well.
Experience
Garret Fisher, as best I can tell, started competing in CF in 2012 when he finished 29th in Northern California in the Open (285th overall) and finished up a very respectable 7th at Regionals. That didn’t earn him a spot in the Games but the then 20 year old proved he would be back. Last year Fisher cemented his spot as a Northern Cali beast, taking 4th in the Open (50th overall) and nailing down third place in a very tough region to earn a trip to the Games. He beat out solid Games veterans like Pat Barber and Gabe Subry. His first trip to the Games wouldn’t be a disappoint either as narrowly edged out Hendren for 5th place, including top 5 finishes in Row1 and the Burden Run. Fisher was solid and consistent throughout the Games, getting off to a solid start with top 10 finishes in each of the first four WODs and ended the weekend with three more top 10 finishes.
Marcus Hendren, again as best I can tell, also started competing in CF in 2012 when finished 11th in the Central East in the Open (141st overall) and followed that up in a 4th place finish at Regionals (behind two Games Champs Froning and Holmberg). His first trip to the Games culminated in a solid 7th place finish that included two top three finishes. Last year Hendren had an eventful ride to the Games, finishing 3rd in the region (42 overall) in the Open, but then having to make a mad dash on the final day of Regionals to earn his return trip to the Games. In the first four events at regionals, he placed 9th or worse in three of them, but in the final three WODs he notched two wins and fifth to squeeze out Nick Fory by a single point for 5th place (again behind two former champs). At the Games, Hendren again got off to a slow start finishing 37th, 10th and 24th in the first three workouts. Once he got going though, Hendren put on a show finishing inside the top 10 on six of the nine remaining WODs.

Head to Head
Obviously since both these guys were at the Games last year, we’ve got some data to compare since they were doing these exact same WODs in the same conditions. In the 12 scored events from last year, Fisher holds the head to head advantage by finishing ahead of Hendren in six of the events. Hendren can boast four victories and they actually tied in two events. Fisher had six top 10 finishes and two top five finishes while Hendren had seven top 10 finishes, but only one top five, although that was first place overall finish in the Zig Zag sprint.
When you go back and look at Regionals, Hendren really dominated Fisher although the times out of the Central East were incredible across the board out of that region last year for whatever reason. Hendren posted better times/lifts on six of the seven events when compared to Fisher, although Fisher was in the top 5 in all but one event, whereas Hendren only posted three top five finishes. If you go back even further, Hendren posted better numbers on three of the five Open WODs from last year.
So is there a conclusion somewhere in here?
The honest answer is I don’t know. Fisher and Hendren are both amazing CF athletes, they’re both going to post awesome numbers and most likely be back at the Games in 2014. As to who will win this throwdown, I think the data says it should be Hendren. Hendren performed better in the Open and Regionals phase last year and his worst events at the Games were ‘unconventional’ CF WODs (37th place in the pool and 24th in the marathon row). This WOD should be very basic and conventional. I think the only reason I want to pick Fisher is because he’s more visible during the offseason. He works out with Jason Khalipa and my personal favorite Miranda Oldroyd (aka Shoulder Meat) at the NC Lab so I can at least see some of what he’s doing and who he’s working out with on a daily basis. I know he’s getting pushed and getting better. So now that I think about it, on the off chance that Miranda stumbles across this lowly blog, I have to pick her guy (call me Miranda, let’s talk :-) ).
Garret Fisher will win the live throw down at 14.1!!
You can of course watch it all live on the Crossfit Games site Thursday, February 27th. Be there and be ready…..(seriously Miranda, call me!)

What is Inclusive and Why Does Crossfit Care?

After my last post, it occurred to me that perhaps not everyone understands why it’s so important that the Open is “inclusive,” I when I say inclusive I mean that almost everyone, regardless of their fitness level or experience in Crossfit, can post a score. Crossfit HQ wants as many people as possible to compete and complete the Open. They use the word “inclusive” quite a bit and they’re very up front about wanting anyone and everyone to join this worldwide competition. You don’t have to be in great shape, or be able to lift the backend of a car off the ground or even be a member of a Crossfit gym. They literally want everyone to sign up and do their best to complete five WODs over five weeks, it’s really that simple.

Why would Crossfit HQ care about being inclusive?
I’ll start with the answer that I think they’d give, they don’t want anyone to feel intimidated by some crazy, highly skilled WOD. They want everyone to feel comfortable with signing up and competing, to the best of their ability. They want everyone to be able to “post a score.” In order to accomplish that goal, they won’t have WODs that start with a “skilled” movement (double unders, handstand pushups, muscle ups, etc) or a movement requiring heavy weight. By starting with movements or weights that almost everyone can complete, they allow and encourage more people to sign up.
And of course the secondary reason, or you could just describe is as an outcome of the reason listed above, the more people that sign up, the more money it generates. Signing up for the Open isn’t free (although it is cheaper than any other competition you’ll find) and let’s be honest, HQ wants the Open to generate as much money as possible. The Open has grown by astounding rates over it’s now four year history and it’s “inclusiveness” is a huge reason for its success.
In 2011, just over 26,000 people signed up for the Open. That’s pretty impressive for a niche sport in their first year of competition but each and every year has remarkable and astounding growth. In 2012, over 69,000 people signed up and in 2013; over 138,000 paid their $20 to join (you do the math on that!). So far in 2014, I count right around 186,000 that have signed up and that number will certainly grow over the next 24-36 hours, until the release of the first WOD. By tomorrow night, I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if Dave Castro announces that over 200,000 people have signed up.
The Crossfit Open is growing at an unprecedented rate, and it’s “inclusiveness” is one of the biggest reasons why.

Crossfit Games Open 2014

The Crossfit Open is just around the corner and I for one, can’t wait. Even though I’m far from a competitive Crossfitter, I love the Open competition. I enjoy the competition it breeds within a gym and I relish the idea that somewhere Rich Froning, Jason Khalipa and Talanya Fortunado are all doing the exact same WOD. As the excitement builds each week I spend hours each day thinking, strategizing and projecting what I think the WOD for that week will be (spoiler alert: we’re never right because Dave Castro is an evil genius) and regardless of what it announced, the excitement instantly turns into frantic preparation. How quickly should I start on the 7 min of burpees? Should I try to go unbroken on the 75lb snatches? The bottom line, for 90% of us Crossfitters out there, the Open is our big stage. While my main goal of doing CF every day is to just be a fitter human being, I really enjoy the feeling of being a competitive athlete for these five weeks. With all that said, I decided to do some predictions on the Open, interview style (because we all talk to ourselves right??):

Will we see any new movements this year in the Open?

Interesting question and I thank you for asking. There are three years of history to consider here when looking at movements from previous Open competitions, but I’m going to narrow our sample size even farther. I think the first year, HQ wasn’t entirely sure what they wanted to the Open to accomplish. Sure they wanted to find the fittest and I think they accomplished that goal but I think when you look at the three Opens in total, 2011 stands out as the least “inclusive” and it’s by a considerable margin. Start with the 11.1 and it opens with 30 double unders. That knocks out a sizeable number of CFers instantly. Double unders are a fairly high skilled movement and any time to you introduce a highly skilled movement first in a WOD, you are going to lose a large number of your population. In the two years since then, both 12.1 and 13.1 started with burpees, a movement every single CF can perform at their own speed. 2011 also included a WOD that was made up entirely of heavy squat cleans and a third WOD that included heavy overhead squats. Both of these WODs don’t fall under the “inclusive” portion of the Open. With three WODs out of five (well techinically six because of HQ error), the 2011 Open wasn’t very ‘inclusive’ at all. Since then the weights have been light and the higher skilled movements have been buried with WODs so that everyone can at least post a score.

So you didn’t really answer my question, will there be any NEW movements in 2014?

Oh forgive me, I started talking and totally forget where I was originally headed. I think HQ is comfortable with what they’ve presented in the past two years and I don’t see them changing up the formula too much this year. I think we’ll see at least “repeat” WOD, but if there is a new movement, I think it’ll be introduced to clear up some of the controversy last year. Box jumps are a difficult thing to judge, especially on a video submission, but you they need to keep some form of jumping or explosive movement as a component of the Open. My solution to that problem: Burpee box jumps. I think we see them this year and that’s the new movement. There I answered your question.

So that’s it, burpee box jumps? What about bar muscle ups or handstand pushups, running or rowing?

I don’t think bar muscle ups would be used simply because I’m not sure how many garage gym-ers have the equipment to do that movement. Handstand push ups are a possibility, but they’ll be buried deep within a WOD, much like double unders and muscle ups have been the last two years. As for running, rowing or Aerodyne work, that’s too difficult to judge in a video submission. There’s no chance of those showing up.

Check back later today or tomorrow and we’ll hit up predictions for 14.1, including what the WOD will be and who will win the live announcement battle between Marcus Hendren and Garret Fisher.

Crossfit Competitions - From the Judges Perspective

If you’ve spent even one afternoon watching a sporting event you’ve no doubt gotten frustrated with a referee or umpire or judge, depending on which sport you were watching of course. That’s one of those roles where the spectator never truly appreciates the how difficult the job is for that person. It’s often a thankless job and one that will almost always end with one fanbase or team pissed off at you for ruining their day. Well, I recently had the experience of being a volunteer/judge at a local Crossfit competition and it was an eye opening day. I’d never judged or officiated any kind of game/match/competition before so I had no idea what to expect going into the day. It didn’t take very long though to realize that it wasn’t going to be an easy or relaxing day. I won’t give you play by play of the whole day, but here are some things that I took from my day:

The day felt like it lasted forever! It started at six in the morning with set up and organization and by the time the dust settled with it was five in the afternoon before competitors were standing on our makeshift podiums. In between I had maybe thirty minutes of downtime, once a 15 minute break in between the second and third events and once because my athlete was a no show for her heat. Between standing on concrete, constantly moving barbells, plates and kettlebells and generally having to think and concentrate all day, I was physically and mentally exhausted. Other than having to count reps for others at the gym during Open workouts, I’d never had to “judge” anyone before so I had no idea just how mentally taxing it can be to do that for five to six hours straight. When you’re competing, you do your WOD, then you go relax/recover for an hour before the next event, but as a judge it was literally hand one score card in, receive the next and find your athlete. At times it felt like one big blur with periods of really intense focus in between. When I WODing myself I have a really hard time keeping track of reps or rounds because I perform so much better when I “zone out” and just go into a trance, but as a judge you have to do just the opposite. You’re focused on hip creases, hand placement, full lockout and so on and so on.

No repping someone is not enjoyable! We’ve all read articles, seen videos or heard someone complain about getting “no repped” or how amateur or “buddy buddy” judging is one of the biggest flaws in the Open. Dan Bailey (aka Danny Broflex) and the Games site even put out a video mocking or warning against “bro reps,” which is basically giving your buddy reps even when they don’t meet the standards. From my experience though (which remember is all of this one day), it was harder for me to ‘no rep’ someone I didn’t know as opposed to no repping a buddy (since my home gym was part of the competition, it was a mixed bag of people I knew and didn’t know). You see I assume that people who know me, know that I would want them to no rep me if I didn’t meet the standard. They know that, for the most part, I’m a stand-up guy and I’m not out to screw them or tank their performance. For someone who’s never met me though, they might think that with every no rep I’m just trying to help out someone else and completely ruin their day. I know, I shouldn’t be concerned with their petty feelings and focus on being 100% impartial for the sake of the sport, but we’re all human. We care what others think and how they feel, at least I do and that’s why it was harder for me to ‘no rep’ someone who I didn’t know.

Crossfit really does have a great community! I’ll be honest, I get burnt out at times on all the PSA’s about how Crossfit changed my life, gave me new way to live, and now I have friends that I love more than family. Especially during the Games season, it seems like there’s a new video or article every other day about someone touting how CF changed their life and about how the community is the best thing they’ve ever experienced. I get it and for this one day I really appreciated it. With three events and 9 heats in the each event, this day was a marathon for me, but almost every heat was finished with a “thanks” or “really appreciate it.” Even when whatever athlete I was judging couldn’t stand up or sit up, they said “thank you.” Even they didn’t agree with the count or got ‘no repped’ they were respectful and didn’t argue. The Crossfit community does have a great vibe and days like this one are proof of that.
Overall my experience was a good one, one that while I’d stop short of calling it enjoyable, I’d certainly do it again. You can’t pull of competitions like this without the hard work and dedication of volunteers willing to give of their time. Look for volunteer opportunities out there if you can’t compete, you are needed and appreciated.

Who Loves CrossFit???? This GUY!!

So I started this blog to talk all things Crossfit, from what WODs I’m doing, to what’s going down in Games season and basically anything and everything that pops into my mind that’s even remotely related to Crossfit (like…is Rich really that good?). Now make no mistake about it, I’m not a professional writer or elite level Crossfitter. As a matter a fact, I’m pretty mediocre at both but they’re both things that enjoy. That may not be the best endorsement for what you’re about to read but hey if you don’t like it, I’ll gladly refund your money.

Now that I spoke so highly of my skills, let me tell you a bit more about myself. I’m 33, happily married and a proud father of three (two girls and a boy sandwiched in between them). I’ve been Crossfitting for almost three years with about half of that time split between the gym I love (Crossfit EST) and trying WOD at home or more recently a globo gym. Time and money have forced me to resort to “globo-WODing” but that’s still better than nothing for now. So my introduction into CF all started on the way home from Chicken Express (didn’t expect to see that on a CF blog did you??). I took the normal way home and noticed a new bright sign on what used to be a vacant warehouse. I recognized the name “Crossfit” and was vaguely familiar with this ‘crazy workout stuff’ but really had very little idea what it was all about. As luck would have it, I was just coming off failed attempts to get back in shape, first just going to a globo gym and then trying my hand at the Insanity DVD series. I was at my heaviest weight ever (5’9 260lbs), discouraged and ready to try absolutely anything to break the spiral that I was in. As soon as I got home I googled this new Crossfit box, called the number and found out that they had just opened and that every Saturday they had a free WOD that anyone could attend. The following Saturday I walked through the doors and attempted my very first CF WOD. I say attempted because it was absolutely terrible and I remember it to this day. As luck would have it, Helen was on the menu that morning and she destroyed me. I barely completed the first run without walking (we won’t even talk about the remaining rounds) and of course I struggled mightily with even banded pullups. I finally completed the miserable experience, although I think it took a sun dial to track my time, but I was instantly hooked. I signed up before I left and showed back up the following Monday, still relatively sore from the two days prior.

I wish I could tell you that every day since Helen ate my lunch I’ve improved, gotten bigger, faster and stronger but that would be huge lie. I excel at “imperfect progress,” that is I take two steps forward and then one step back (or sometimes, one forward and two back or three back). I’d like to blame my lack of “elite-ism” on a busy and chaotic life that’s included two kids since I started CF (for a total of three with my beautiful wife), two job changes and one move, but it’s more just a lack of consistency on my part. I also tend to avoid my weaknesses (don’t tell HQ?!?!) and not exactly stick to the paleo lifestyle (I eat like Neal Maddox, so sue me). In the end though, I’m not a Crossfitter because I have dreams of unseating Rich Froning or standing on the big stage in Carson. I Crossfit because I enjoy it. I enjoy WODing, I enjoy reading about CF, I enjoy talking about CF and I guess now I can say I enjoy writing about CF. If you enjoy all these things as well, you’re in the right spot. Welcome and with all that out of the way…..3, 2, 1…GO!!