Sunday, July 25, 2010

Friday, July 16, 2010

CrossFit Games

The 2010 CrossFit Games kickoff today - the team events are already underway, the Masters division begins later this afternoon, then it's the official "opening ceremonies" and the first individual WOD of the games.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the games. I admire the abilities of the athletes, but, in my humble opinion, the games really skews what's at the heart of CrossFit. Many of the athlete's have become "specialist" in CrossFit, often doing 2, 3, or even more WOD's in a day. I love the attention that the games is getting and will get and some of what that will do for this style of training as a whole - CrossFit is going to get even more huge than it is and the media attention of the games is going to do a ton towards making that happen. Yet, at the same time, I'm still not a big fan. Fan enough to follow the events of the weekend and cheer on my "favorites", but that's about it. In fact, I'll be glad when they are over and the CF main site gets back to posting videos that are not all about the games.

Okay, enough of my personal views. If you are interested in following the games, just go to: http://games2010.crossfit.com/ and you will find far more than you ever wanted to know about the games and the athletes. They even have a live video feeds if you want to check it out.

"Average" CF athletes stats compared to some of mine. Indulge me a little and check this out, and BE SURE TO READ ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM - you might find this as interesting as I did. The first stat is the average competitors stat, the second number is mine:

Age: 29 - 42
Height: 5' 5" - 5'10"
Weight: 138 - 195
Max Deadlift: 303 - 325
Max Back Squat: 221 - 285
Max Clean & Jerk: 157 - 185
Max Snatch: 121 - 135
Max Pullups: 32 - 25
Helen Time: 9:03 - 9:58
Fran Time: 4:12 - 6:40
400m run time: 1:13 - 1:20
5K run time: 22:30 - 26:00

Here is the funny part - the "average" stats listed above are the averages of the WOMEN competing this year!!!!! That means that if I were competing against the women, I'd get my a$$ kicked in most events!

Here are the real averages of the guys, as posted on the games site:
Age: 28 - 42
Height: 5'8" - 5'10
Weight: 188 - 195
Max Deadlift: 470 - 325
Max Back Squat: 383 - 285
Max Clean & Jerk: 271 - 185
Max Snatch: 209 - 135
Max Pullups: 52 - 25
Helen Time: 7:39 - 9:58
Fran Time: 2:43 - 6:40
400m run time: 1:01 - 1:20
5K run time: 19:44 - 26:00

So, as you can see, I'd really get crushed by the guys. Wonder how I would stack up against the new division - "Masters", which is 50+....

Enjoy the games, just don't get hung up on it - focus on what our training is all about - getting fit, training hard, self improvement, community and so much more.