The 2010 CrossFit Games

1. Christina VDH wrote...

Love the WODs Matt. Wish I could be there.

01 March 2010 / 12:53 p.m.

2. Richard Thomas - CrossFit Bondi wrote...

Well done Matt and all involved, those are some nice looking WODs. I reckon there will be some sore forearms by the end of the weekend!

Good luck everyone.

01 March 2010 / 1:54 p.m.

3. Andrew Cattermole wrote...

Great WODs
Solid First Day
Good Luck all competing

01 March 2010 / 2:10 p.m.

4. Jeff Wagstaff - CrossFit NorthSide wrote...

This will be a tough weekend, great looking WOD's Matt!

01 March 2010 / 3:13 p.m.

5. justin wrote...

Wish I were there. I love these Workouts!

01 March 2010 / 3:42 p.m.

6. Jo Maas wrote...

Oh, man. I feel sick already. This is going to be AWESOME!

01 March 2010 / 5:50 p.m.

7. Jono - Southern CrossFit wrote...

These WODs look great. Wish I could be there to watch.
Can't wait for regionals.

01 March 2010 / 5:52 p.m.

8. Ross Blake wrote...

Looks like fun. All the best to those competing, organising and go Australia!

Firstly i'd like to say i love weightlifting movements and i feel these wods will show who deserves to go to regionals but just for debate.. Are these events just turning into weightlifting contests? I know they produce a tonne of power etc. But just as an observation, is the CrossFit community the overly favouring these movements lately?

For example the top 16 at 'The CrossFit Games'in Aromas were selected on no Gymnastics.

Love to hear some thoughts on this.
Rosko

01 March 2010 / 6:03 p.m.

9. Matt Swift wrote...

I am yet to see a weightlifting competition that has burpees and muscleups. Here is a thought exercise ... two athletes with 6 months crossfit training. One comes from an elite weightlifting background and the other from an elite gymnastics background. Who has the advantage on these workouts?

01 March 2010 / 6:34 p.m.

10. Chris Saliba - Coastal CrossFit QLD wrote...

Hey Matt,

Great WOD's. Well balanced, well thought out and will result in the fittest people going to the regionals.

Keen to get the weekend over with!

Chris Saliba
Coastal CrossFit QLD

01 March 2010 / 6:56 p.m.

11. grambo wrote...

Weightlifting is a sport consisting of the snatch and the clean and jerk only, contested in a certain format.

This sectional does not have anything that tests limit strength or max power, only medium time domain metcon, very limited.

01 March 2010 / 7:03 p.m.

12. nick wrote...

Great WOD's, well programmed. Maybe a little skewed towards the weighlifting and weight moving side of things as someone else said, but i think they are overall quite fair for anyone competing.

Much better than what was programed for us in NZ.

Great stuff guys!! Have fun, they look brutal!

01 March 2010 / 7:10 p.m.

13. Sam V wrote...

@Rosko,
Did you see the Day 2 WOD we did over here at the NZ/Taz/Vic sectional?

It was a full on, mean as, firefighter based workout.

For Time:
25KB Swing (24/16kg)
1x Keiser
2x 30m Fire Hose Drag and Pull
1x 50m Dummy Drag (80/70kg)

Unsure of what a Keiser is? The following video is unrelated to the CrossFit Games but explains the movement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lx6h7To34M

http://crossfitnz.typepad.com/crossfit_new_zealand/2010/02/saturday-1.html#more

My 2 cents worth...

01 March 2010 / 7:10 p.m.

14. Rookie wrote...

I don't like my forearms anyway!!!

01 March 2010 / 7:32 p.m.

15. Brett wrote...

Awesome WODs Danny, Matt probably would have made us do a 1RM snatch :)

Interesting question Rosko(good job the other WE mate) but the muscle ups at double points give the gymnast the advantage if he/she has developed even a modicum of o lift. I know I had a 50kg Thruster and Power Snatch way before I had a MU on my CrossFit journey and a fair few of our TVL athletes are looking forward to the 2 min rest station in WOD2 Day1.

Looking forward to the weekend big time and I am bringing a dragon to mix it up with the animals from Rocks :)

Can not wait!!!!

Brett

01 March 2010 / 7:33 p.m.

16. simon wrote...

Well said Matt.......WOD`s look great and will reward those with good technique, the work outs are not overly " heavy" and i think you are generous in posting them so early as well, gives everyone a chance to plan how they are going to attack the WOD`s,....work through and be consistent in any weaknesses, and Smash It Up on your strengths.

01 March 2010 / 7:52 p.m.

17. Matt Swift wrote...

Consideration was given to max effort, as well as other time domains, formats and movements. The interpretation that I have taken is that the Sectionals are about selecting 20 men and 20 women who are best equipped to contest the Regionals. It is the first filter. The Regionals are the second filter, and are a broader more inclusive test. Aromas is then about finding the Fittest human. The data will tell the tale. If the 20 men & women who are selected this weekend perform well at the Regionals then we will have chosen effective workouts, if they don't then we haven't. I am not really concerned that we aren't testing the margins. The workouts we have selected will do a good job of allowing the 20 best to show what they have got. An athlete that shines across these workouts will have little trouble holding their own in a max effort or a more gymnastic styled event. The reverse is true as well. The athlete that requires max effort to lift places will struggle with medium domain metcons. This is based on data from almost 6000 wods that we have now run at CFB over the last 4 years. The best crossfitters are unsurprisingly consistent across time and modal domains and are not disadvantaged by the most common WOD formats. The effort, desire and skill demonstrated on the day will be a much more significant factor in the top 20 than any particular wod choice.

01 March 2010 / 8:27 p.m.

18. Jesse Gray wrote...

Well programmed, I think without a doubt there are some sectionals that are far too strength biased but I have a hard time seeing how this is one of them. Overall I think these do a pretty good job of balancing strength and met-con. I went out in my garage (I'm a yank, can you tell?) and did the first WOD, the AMRAP 10 mins. Wow, it was tough! A deceptively challenging WOD. Muscular endurance really come into play.

01 March 2010 / 8:58 p.m.

19. Andrea wrote...

Matt, what great WODs. Queensland is lucky to have you. I totally agree with your comment about the sectionals being about the 1st filter. I think that some programmers can take it a little too far and crazy for the sectionals and have no where to step it up and really challange the athletes in the reginal competitions.
Have a great weekend and wish I was there giving it a crack!!

01 March 2010 / 8:59 p.m.

20. Matt wrote...

Workouts look great, can't wait to try them out on this side of the Tasman!

01 March 2010 / 11:10 p.m.

21. Jobe wrote...

Matt, awesome WODS and it's refreshing that your offering explanations and your reasoning behind them.

You said "The interpretation that I have taken is that the Sectionals are about selecting 20 men and 20 women who are best equipped to contest the Regionals"

SPOT ON!!!!

On 23rd Feb Mick Shaw (who is a ripper bloke) wrote -
"Adam and yourself need to realize the idea of the Sectionals is maximum inclusion. It is allowing as many people as possible the chance to compete at a CrossFit event".

This is my only problem, we're not all on the same page! Are these initial sectionals designed to encourage maximum participation or are they to find out the best 20 athletes? Surely the latter. This may help offer some reasoning behind the different programming at different sectionals.

02 March 2010 / 2:51 a.m.

22. Shaune wrote...

Matt, great WOD's testing multiple skills and testing across multiple domains, The thruster, KB, Muscle up and burpee wod is excellent. I can see all of these wods really testing the limits of all athletes, I can really see how these work outs can really help define "Forging Elite Fitness"

02 March 2010 / 3:08 a.m.

23. Liz Boyd wrote...

Jobe, I don't think these goals are mutually exclusive. Certainly, Matt has included some very complex movements such as muscle-ups which many of us can't (yet) do, but we'll just take a rest for 2 minutes and go hard for the burpees. On the whole I'm confident that most competitors will be able to perform the workouts as prescribed, but that fitness and technique will sort the wheat from the chaff.

There is a great balance between lower and upper body movements and a strong focus on squatting. A lot of these patterns require the same core strength as gymnastics movements. I think that to do well on these workouts you'd have to be a very well rounded crossfitter. Additionally, some gymastics movements are pretty hard to judge - e.g. knees to elbows or double unders. All these considerations have to be thought through in programming competitions.

I am both terrified and excited. Best of luck to all fellow competitors. Go hard!

02 March 2010 / 3:18 a.m.

24. Matt Swift wrote...

Jobe,

I was very careful to state that it is my interpretation. However, that doesn't mean that I disagree with Mick, in fact I agree with him entirely. The CrossFit games is by CrossFitters for CrossFitters. Of course it should be inclusive. One of the nice by-products of the process is that we also get to see who is the fittest human on the planet. Along the way, during the various selection processes, there are many valid expressions and interpretations of CrossFit, both in how the athletes approach the events, and how the individual directors interpret the competition requirements. I feel privileged to be part of an organisation that not only allows different interpretations, but actively encourages it to ensure that the data sample that we all base our assumptions on continues to be large and inclusive. That is, everytime we allow individual interpretation we learn something. As soon as we standardize or constrain, we stop learning and limit our knowledge base. This is the underpinning principle of an "open source" model of fitness. There is great variety across the various sectionals and every year the process will get better because of the variety and the lessons learned.

www.crossfit.com is just one interpretation of the method of CrossFit (albeit a very good one). The QLD sectionals is just one interpretation of the method of selecting athletes for regionals. The process is data driven, show me better results and I will adopt the method that produces them. I think it is important to remember that this is the first time ever that sectionals have been run!

We are going to have a great event and I am confident that all that attend, regardless of result, will be tested. I am also confident that we produce a list of 20 great QLD men & women reps to lead the charge at Regionals.

Cheers,
Matt

02 March 2010 / 3:54 a.m.

25. Jobe wrote...

Well written reply Matt.

I'll just leave it as a simple compliment of your programming then! Great work and enjoy the weekend.

02 March 2010 / 4 a.m.

26. ben wrote...

forget about the workouts, who is that beast in the picture. kind of love her.

02 March 2010 / 8:36 a.m.

27. Mindy wrote...

I wish I could fly over from the states and do these WODs! Awesome!

02 March 2010 / 9:06 a.m.

28. Dave wrote...

My first impression of these WODS were that the weights were just too light, especially for the first WOD. It seemed that metcon junkies would thrive, but Matt's explanation makes sense. Also, we had some of our best athletes at our gym try these WODS, and they all thought the WOD's were great.....It will be a great test of fitness. Good luck..

02 March 2010 / 10:09 a.m.

29. Anna wrote...

I agree that generally, whatever the workouts, the best athletes will be in the top 20. I am very suprised though that there has been little running programmed in the sectionals. The most basic ,functional human exercise (up there with the squat) has been given little or no regard. It is fine to say that you need to pick up your animal and drag it home - but none of this will happen if you can't catch it. Crossfit, at a primal level, is about being able to survive. Going back to the Games last year - if the 7km run hadn't been in there, Jason K would have probably won. Well, it was and he didn't. Out of all the wods at the games, there were 2 runs. Hopefully, at the Aust regionals the ability to run, fast, slow, under load, over uneven ground, up a hill, under water, through a wind tunnel....whatever....will be tested.

02 March 2010 / 1:14 p.m.

30. Eliza wrote...

What is chest to overhead? a over head press?

02 March 2010 / 1:55 p.m.

31. Matt Swift wrote...

"Chest to Overhead" means that the bar must be taken from a rack position on the chest to a fully locked out (knees/hips/shoulders/elbows all extended) position overhead. The athlete may press, push press, push jerk, split jerk or use any other method we haven't thought of, providing the starting position and finishing position are achieved on each rep.

02 March 2010 / 2:37 p.m.

32. Matt Swift wrote...

Anna,
Last year at the Regionals there was an horrendous sand dune run. No doubt Mick has something equally evil up his sleeve for this year:-)

02 March 2010 / 3:25 p.m.

33. Glen wrote...

Matt, fantastic workouts... Can't wait!

Just one question... do you need to complete at least one muscle up to obtain rxd, or are you simply set back by the fact that muscle ups are worth two reps?

02 March 2010 / 4:51 p.m.

34. Matt Swift wrote...

I will be posting full rules for the WODs in the next day or so.

You do not have to complete a rep of muscleup to be rx'd for the wod. If you cannot complete one, you simply score zero for that station. The double point system is there to provide advantage to athletes that can complete a muscleup.

02 March 2010 / 5:17 p.m.

35. Julie wrote...

Dave and Jesse are right. I did WOD 1 today and I thought, "Wow, 65#; that's nothing." Uh...yeah, it's really much harder than it looks, just a grind. I really liked the variety, even in a simple WOD like this; it made my deficiencies apparent, which is going to help my training in the long run. Kudos.

02 March 2010 / 5:26 p.m.

36. Hughesy wrote...

Love the WODS Matt. Giving them a go in my garage over the next week. Good luck everyone for the weekend.
Great pic by the way.

03 March 2010 / 1:13 a.m.

37. Greg wrote...

Tried these WODS out today in the box,I think the fact that the weights are lighter will make it much more painfull. Should be a great day and a great test. Looking forward to it. Good luck to all commpetitors

Greg CrossFit Coolum

03 March 2010 / 2:40 a.m.

38. Garry wrote...

Does anyone know what the cost is for spectators?

04 March 2010 / 5:31 a.m.

39. Peter wrote...

Nick,

"Much better than what was programed for us in NZ"

Does that mean to say those WOD's found your weaknesses?

'A' WOD is neither good nor bad, but an athlete's ability to complete it can be...

05 March 2010 / 12:16 p.m.

40. Nick wrote...

Hi Peter,

I'm just a battler at everything mate :)

I was 9th before 4th WOD (coming off 6th overall in 3rd wod and feeling good about things!) and 16th after so I suppose it certainly did find my weakness. So in response to your comment, my ability to complete that WOD was certainly poor and any thoughts I had of becoming a firefighter have been put on hold for a while.

I was not a fan of the programming generally for the weekend but as someone else mentioned previously, you are never going to please everyone. All other sectional's i have seen seem to be far more challenging skill wise but that is just my opinion and I am entitled to it as you are yours.

It all means nothing now anyway and we move onto Sydney which should be a really enjoyable weekend.

Cheers,

Nick

05 March 2010 / 11:25 p.m.

41. Amanda L (Sydney AUS) wrote...

Congratulations Matt!! Day 1 down. 1 day to go.

Wish I was up in Brissy helping out and watching some awesome people doing some amazing workouts!

Good luck to all those competing!

Ax

05 March 2010 / 11:37 p.m.

42. Liz Boyd wrote...

Wonderful day! Some absolutely fantastic performances, and valiant muscle-ups efforts! I don't know how you even thought about muscle-ups. I was too busy lying in a puddle of sweat after the KB swings.

Matt, Wendy, Danny, Donna, and Jimmy along with a fantastic cadre of volunteers made the event run incredibly smoothly! No details was forgotten, and it really showed. They were still working out how best to set up the box for tomorrow well after everyone else had left for the day. Amazing commitment and planning!

Especially great to have Carina Physiotherapists donate their valuable time to help athletes in between WODs. We were so lucky to have such experienced and knowledgeable physios available.

Thank you all. As always, it is a privilege to be involved with the crossfit community.

06 March 2010 / 6:03 a.m.