Saturday 2.19.11

Future CrossFit Gamer competitors(?) learning to Deadlift

Since 2007, the CrossFit Games have been held each year to determine the "world's fittest athlete."  Each year, the games have grown with the number of competitors, the events, spectators, etc.  Last year, Sectional and Regional Competitions were held to narrow down the fittest athletes to send to the CrossFit Games.

Many people CrossFit for many reasons, the least of which is to prove your fitness over that of others.  However for me, the CrossFit Games have been very interesting to watch over the years to see the amazing skills and power put out by these athletes and what the human body is capable of achieving.  As these competitions and the athletes get better every year, so does the collective strength and conditioning world as we get to see what training programs and exercises truly work best to make you the fittest you can be.

This year, the Games are expanding and changing again, and I have seen a lot of criticism about it.  I am one of those people who likes to wait and see before I make a judgment.  Freddy Camacho, from CrossFit One World and longtime CrossFit employee and competitor, recently explained a little bit about the format of the Games and discussed strategy on his gym's website:

"The 2011 CrossFit Games season is almost upon us. The sectional qualifiers start in mid-March. This year, the sectionals are not a big giant one or two day competition like the sectional and regional qualifiers of the past. Details are still kinda sketchy, but this is what I interpret is going to happen this year based on some postings on the CrossFit Games website: 

"This year, the sectional qualifier is six weeks long. There will be one workout a week. The workouts will either be performed on video (submitted to a CrossFit Games video submittal website) or performed at a “Registered Affiliate” (not sure how you qualify for that just yet). The workout for the week will be posted on the Games website on Tuesday night. Athletes will have until Sunday to submit their video or perform their workout at a registered affiliate. Athletes from the sectionals will be chosen to move onto the regional competitions (I hear NorCal gets its own regional this year).

"I got to thinking about this today and throw this question out to all of you….. If you get the workout on Tuesday night, you have about four and a half days to perform the workout at your best effort. An athlete can perform the workout numerous times before the deadline and send in their best effort. What would you do? Would you perform the workout and record it once a day for four days? Would you give it a half ass effort on one day and then hit it hard on the last qualifying day? Do you wait until a Saturday morning and do it at a registered affiliate? Strategy will be key in performing well. I can tell you that the thought of doing the same workout everyday sounds really sucky, but it may be what you have to do to get your best performance. 

"I guess it really is a matter of what the workout is that will determine strategy. My guess is that due to the sheer volume of athletes submitting videos, the workouts are going to be short with basic movement patterns that film well. I also don’t think the workouts are going to be easy. I truly believe that if you are looking for the best of the best, the workouts will be hard enough that a large majority of CrossFitters in the world will not be able to perform them as prescribed. If the workouts are going to be that hard, can you give the same workout a true effort multiple times over the course of four and a half days? 

"I think it is going to be really interesting to see how this all plays out. As the sectional qualifier gets closer, I am both nervous and excited. I know a lot of you have no interest in the CrossFit Games whatsoever, but I am very interested in hearing what you think your strategy might be in this situation. Post your thoughts to comments."

I am looking forward to this years Games, as CrossFit never fails to put on a great show and provide us the most entertainment and useful information for very little.  I am sure they will not disappoint this year.