Rich Froning did it again. He won the Crossfit Games for the third time.
After falling behind on the first event (30th place in the swimming event) he slowly made his way to the top again and beat Jason Khalipa and took home $275 000 US.
And again, because I heard that mentioned a couple of times, the results show that the winners aren’t decided by chance. Most of the top 10 have been successful in CrossFit for years now. There will be no one who wins this ordeal by accident. Just like every other sport, you have to dedicate your life to it in order to be successful.
Overall I really liked this years CF Games. It gets better every year. Check the events here.
What I didn’t like:
- Events where we saw athletes jogging / walking (Naughty Nancy – 600m run (up & downhill), 25 Overhead Squats, 4 rounds)
Yes, I understand that this is part of Crossfit – testing all domains – but it’s just not that spectator friendly in my opinion (just like the insane 21km row).
What I did Like:
- The coverage – their media department did an amazing job. Stream and website worked perfectly and made it very easy to follow the events.
- Pretty much everything else. As always there was a wide variety events. Athletes went through 4 days of hell.
What events did /didn’t you enjoy and why?
One of the events I liked most was the Zig Zag Sprint. This was a bracketed tournament. Check it out below.
Dan Bailey smoked every run leading up to the final, where he slipped.
(Full Recording, Non-U.S. Only, check 4min to see Dan’s first sprint!)
There also was a Clean & “Jerk” Ladder. “” because there was no rule against pressing out. Still fun to watch in my opinion.
Women:
- 1st place Amanda Goodman 106.5kg (235lbs) at 63kg bodyweight
- 2nd Elisabeth Akinwhale (72.5kg bw) and Lindsey Valenzuela (70kg bw) Cleaned 235 lbs missed Jerk
Men:
- 1st Aja Barto (100kg bw) and Lucas Parker (84kg) both cleaned 161kg (355lbs)
- 3rd: Rich Froning (88.5kg bw) Clean & Jerk 156kg (345lbs)
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The Final consisted of 2 events called Cinco 1 & 2.
Cinco 1 was 3 rounds for time:
- 5 Deadlifts (405 / 265 lbs)
- 5 weighted One-legged squats, left leg (53 / 35 lb KB)
- 5 weighted One-legged squats, right leg (53 / 35 lb KB)
- then 80 feet Handstand Walk
Time Cap: 7 minutes with Cinco 2 starting 1 minute after the time cap.
Cinco 2 was 3 rounds for time of:
- 5 Muscle-ups
- 5 Deficit handstand push-ups (I told y’all to learn how to do full ROM HSPUs …)
- then 90 feet Overhead walking lunge (160 / 100 lb axle bar)
Video Recordings of Finals
Cinco Highlights
Long Video of the Final
I like that you try to stay fairly objective. Crossfit provokes hate, because of many things. However one has to diffeentiate the training system Crossfit and the games. I am not a fan of the training system or their politics. Interestingly none of the games athletes trains according to main site programming. And most important the achievements of those athletes are impressive to say the least. I agree many competitions look stupid although I
think that they try to improve it. Anyway rope skipping is hard to take serious as a competition. 405 lbs deadlifts for time is on the other hand very impressive. I simply don’t understand why they do not apply the rules of olympic lifting. Otherwise don’t call it a snatch or clean and jerk. Nevertheless Rich Froning is super impressive athlete. I, especially, like that he has a very clean technique and acts very smart. He doesn’t waste energy and doesn’t rush when not necessary. I actually think his smartness is probably his biggest strength.
I was actually very entertained by the whole event, which I believe is 90% of the goal for sport in general. I imagine all of us on here were pretty biased when it came to interest in the C&J ladder(oldest has a very good point about what you call the movement but ignore the rules), and although the half marathon row wasn’t exciting to watch that long stuff has more to do with the description of being “generally fit” and I hope they continue to include that stuff. I for one did not give Froning as much credit as he deserves for his rowing ability it was actually the biggest shocker for me that he took 2nd and 6th in the row in a field with very tall guys well over 200#, maybe most people don’t realize how much height and weight benefit that machine. I think Camille would have been placed well above where she did if it wasn’t for this height advantage others had in the row/swim etc. Her ability with a BB is impressive. Team wise (although I watched and cheered for tommy’s group) got kind of dull that worm thing was clever one time around but to use it that many times in pretty much the same fashion got old quickly. They have so many different movements at their disposal I wish they plumbed a little deeper for the team events.
I’m not exactly a fan of Crossfit main site, politics, business practices, education (or lack thereof) etc. but that doesn’t mean I can’t thoroughly enjoy and be inspired by it’s participants and athletes who no matter what anyone says are incredibly impressive.
Could not have worded it better.
I think they did an amazing job with the TV coverage. I especially loved the idea of having the athlete move forward as they complete rounds of stuff, though that wasn’t necessary for the workout, to give the spectators a better view of what was going on. Clever stuff.
I agree with you that some stuff wasn’t spectator friendly but I think they really tried on a lot of it and you had to have the ‘endurance’ domain tested as well.
Interesting that the commentators kept on saying CrossFit needed to be ‘observable, repeatable, measurable’, but that’s just because it relates to one of my intellectual pet peeves. Anyway.
Crossfit games, especially strenght-based workouts like a Cinco1 are very, very entartaining for me and I think they helps in promoting sports in general, because who don’t want to deadlift 200kg for reps in front of giant crowd. This aspect of crossfit is beneficial for the general wellness of population. But on the other hand i was afraid of competitors dying while doing CJ ladder because of their technique. Knowledge of some crossfiters is very limited, which the biggest weakness of this sport and I can understand hate going on, because it is dangerous. But hey, crossfit is young and I hope that they’ll try to fix it somehow soon, because in my opinion have great future and potential to help not only itself but weightlifting, powerlifting and gymnastics aswell. Anyways, althought i do not crossfit at all i felt inspirated by the athletes and i look forward next year.
Interesting you should mention the heavy DLs and the Clean and Jerk ladder. To me as an outsider it looks like CrossFit is doing a better job in striking a balance between short, heavy, workouts and long ones (in which they use movements which are maybe a bit safer for reps). At least that’s the feeling I get. Also in the defense of the athletes: While often their techniques are really rough, most aren’t as terrible as I had in mind initially.
Much like the sport itself, the Games™ were both spectacular and ridiculous. A half marathon on a rowing machine? Wow . . . just sadistic, both to spectator and participant. Harkens back to the softball throw. Yeesh. So, some awful, nonsensical programming, as usual, but also some really brilliant, super exciting competition in the ladders and in the final events. Which is a micorcosim of how a lot of us feel about crossfit: some great concepts, but some real quality control issues.
The 1/2 marathon row was a fantastic concept … however, I would prefer a 60 minute max distance row with weight adjustment … in any case, aerobic endurance was honestly assessed … I think events such as the row might realign some perspectives on what fitness means … IMO too many folks in the CF blogosphere have gotten comfortable programming 8-15 minute BB/BW pieces and neglect longer grinds like the row … Is rowing exciting to watch? Probably not for most but the rower removes a large volume of eccentric loading — unlike running … The competitors can still function to a reasonable capacity for future events in the competition w/o excessive tissue damage
Good to see balanced, well thought-out opinions. No fan of the crossfit training system (if it can even be called a system, which in my opinion it can’t), politics or sheep-like mentality, but I did see some of the games: one should see and think before criticizing. A few points about the games then (and only about the games, not crossfit):
GOOD:
– Good streaming quality, and good move of making it available on the main website.
– Good idea with the ladders and with including classic exercises such as the clean & anyhow and the deadlift.
– Most female athletes were very easy on the eye; I just turned off the sound and watched them ladies doing their thing.
– Handstand walk is fun to watch.
– Froning is a good strategist. Started on the poor side, held on until he had to roll his sleeves up, and then absolutely obliterated the competition. Always in control, cool head and manners as befits a champion. One of the best technicians (for a X-fitter, that is) as well.
BAD:
– Most athletes, even at that level, have downright bad technique in the strength exercises. This will mislead the younger generations interested in taking up the sport.
– It’s not a clean & jerk if you can press it out. It’s a clean & anyhow. Get your naming straight.
– The deadlift was too light and it must not, under any circumstances, be touch-and-go. Not in a comp. Same for clean/snatch for reps.
– Upon a closer look at the people in the stadium, it just seemed like they had all come out of the X-fit version of a star-wars-like clone assembly line. x-fit still has a ways to go before getting to the general public.
– Who the hell came up with that half-marathon rowing race?
– Too much of the “sports entertainment” concept. I wonder if reebok/glassman will be having the ladies competing in even tighter and shorter gear just like they did with voleyball a few years ago, with the shameless excuse of “drawing more people in and saving the sport”. That and assigning nicks to each male competitor and having them play heels and faces a la WWE.
OVERALL: in wrestling, WWE surely draws more people in and puts on a big show, and that’s perfectly ok. The athletes are great guys (mostly) and work hard, and the kids go in and have some fun, and that’s great. But it’s still sports entertainment. The conoisseur searching for the serious stuff goes on to see greco-roman or freestyle. Smaller attendance, scarcely a hint of hurrah, but real no-nonsense fighting.
A similar thing is happening in the world of iron.
I would agree with that deduction for the most part, except for the bad technique thing. Yeah some of those split power cleans were cringe worthy but for the majority of top ten placings tech wasn’t as bad as even a year ago and especially better than 2 years ago even down right impressive in at least 10-15 of them. I also think you have to take one side and stick with it, a clean and jerk ladder is task accomplishment (who cares about a press out if it’s not in the rules), it is NOT its olympic counter part even if t goes by the same name. And honestly you can’t say that the format for watching the ladder was boring, it’s not exactly the excitement you get from watching Klokov in the games or Lu set a new world record but it did keep you on the edge of your seat. I watched the USA nationals stream and have to admit I cringed at some of the technique as well so it’s not like because you are a “weightlifter” you suddenly have perfect technique, or even have the right to criticize others doing something similar, I would also say the format for the “show” and the commentary wasn’t exactly riveting, If you are selling a sport the Olympics have failed and Crossfit has given it hope at least in terms of marketability. Just look at the amount of education training gear and competitions available today.There are 3-4 new makers of weightlifting shoes almost an endless supply of seminars (at crossfit gyms) taught by world class lifters.
From my back round I have more reason than most to be harsh on anything Crossfit does, but I think I’ve been steered differently NOT by headquarters but by the athletes themselves seeking to be better, and taking up skills required to accomplish a task. Any sport in its infancy can be critiqued and should be as long as it evolves, so be it. I’m pretty sure some rowers that get boated at Harvard or even make it to the games would puke if they watched all 90+ minutes of horrendous pulls, but in the end appreciated the pain required for a 6:21 2K. I know i think similarly when I watch them run, because I’ve been around some elite runners and a :59 sec 400m is a joke to those that do the thing. As someone who is interested in weightlifting the more access this gives me to possible seminars and interaction with some of the worlds best, I’ll stand behind it even if I cringe sometimes or witness someone get rhabdo.
6:21 is a baseline for most 17 heavyweight boys to get recruited for collegiate rowing. For a 17 year old boy, 6:21 is not actually a great score unless you’re a lightweight rower.
There are 20 year old lightweight collegiate men (154lbs) that consistently go under 6:20.
Harvard specifically will have several people in their 1st varsity boat under 6:00 2k, or at the very least below 6:10.
But in American Collegiate rowing, we prefer the 6k as a better gauge of fitness. a great recruitment number is under 20:30 6k (1:42.5 average) for 17 year old boys. Although the American mens national rowing team has to be under 19:20 6k (under 1:37.5.0 average) to even be considered for the team, with a considerable amount of them around/under 18:40’s (1:33-ish average).
FWIW, Ben de Wit (a canadian national team rower) set the record this year for 42,195m for a time of 2:21.52!!! that’s insane, and 1:40.8 average
Their technique in most of the exercises won’t look exactly like the pro weightlifters you see on here – because in CrossFit, you must get relatively proficient at a variety of tasks/sports. They don’t have their entire season to dedicate JUST to snatch/clean. Considering that, they are pretty damn good at it. A lot of these guys have good enough numbers to qualify for national competitions. There are so many things to focus on, not to mention the fact that by the time they got to the C/J ladder, they had been doing two days of grueling workouts in the heat. I was there and it was hot as hell.