CFO on the road: 2013 CrossFit Games

30
Jul

CFO on the road: 2013 CrossFit Games

Tuesday night at 7:30pm is the Competitive CrossFit meeting.  I hope to see you there.
“The Other Total” is Saturday – Max Effort Clean, stuff Bench Press, and Overhead Squat.  Come in, lift heavy, and ring the bell.
Also, Saturday night is the CrossFit Oakdale at the Modesto Nuts.
Denny and I travelled to Southern California to take in the CrossFit Games.  We met up with Trevor and Justin E who were both checking it out as well.  We ended up meeting up and hanging out with a bunch of great people over the course of the 3 day event.
So what about the CrossFit Games?  They are amazing.  The size of the event, the attention to detail on nearly every level, the scope, the athletes and more is just mind boggling.  5 years ago, they were doing this event in THE DIRT in someone’s backyard.  Now they you can buy an 11 dollar beer and watch it on a jumbotron while it’s live on ESPN2.
The event is great because it’s a testament to the community.  We want this event, CrossFit believes we deserve this event, so here we are.  It really feels like the Super Bowl or Wresltemania (for you wrestling fans), as it’s become a weeklong celebration of the CrossFit lifestyle.  The Games start with all of us at the gym, building from the Open, to a great grassroots event like Regionals and culminating in the CrossFit Games.  I’m a little cyclical, but even to my eye, the grassroots feel is maintained at the Games.  Yes, the beer is expensive. Yes, the lines are long and, yes, maybe the vendor’s area started to feel a little like a muscle head carnival.  Don’t even get me started on the Reebok tent.  Ok, quick Reebok rant – I like their shoes.  I don’t really like anything else, as their stuff is too tight, or just not quite right.  The Reebok tent was HUGE, pumping Euro techno music all weekend, with hucksters bleating deals on multi colored tank tops.  Puke.
Why are the Games great?  The event itself.  The athletes are larger than life, yet appear approachable, human and even vulnerable (except for Froning – i left there MORE impressed with him.  His Oakie-doke of Khalipa in the 2007 WOD blew my mind).  The Games are a Spectacle with a capital “S” and they are ours.  Our athletes participate, our athletes judge, our athletes build the stadium, our athletes set up the field, our athletes take the pictures, our athletes post on twitter, Facebook, et al.  CrossFitters are running the whole f’ing show.  This event is OURS.  We should never give it up.
A few thoughts
The CrossFit Games has to be the most attractive crowd in the history of sports.  It seems like the whole stadium can squat and knows their Fran time.  It is a people watching extravaganza, for guys and girls alike.  This fact is irrefutable, more so than Rich Froning is good at exercise.  
The addition of “finish lines” made for a more dramatic event.  Like Regionals, instead of finishing on your last rep, the athletes had to scramble for a finish line following completion of their work.  These mad dashes often brought the crowd to it’s feet – like a home run or a touchdown.  No joke, there were 10,000 people cheering, moving to their feet, as athletes sprinted from the burpee wall to a finish line.  10,000 people cheering… FOR BURPEES!  And RUNNING!  Crazy.
It is hard to beat the drama of the lifting ladder.  Just cool stuff.  There was so much drama and tension over the 2 hours of this event, you felt exhausted afterward.
If you buy tickets, do everything you can to buy Gold tickets.  Wait when the post, cause they sell out in 10 minutes.  Buy a bunch and sell them.  It’s worth it.  Ask Trevor.  Just bring a lot of sunscreen.
Bring a lot of cash.  The food is really good, but is expensive and you are stuck in the venue ALL DAY.  “Paleo” burgers, sweet potato fries, roasted meat and veggies and more.  There was a ton of good stuff, but a meal was $12 easy.  A bottle of water was $4.  Louis would spend $75 just to eat in there.
The gear is great – if you’ve ever wondered how something looks in real life of the internet, it’s at the Games for you to buy without paying for shipping.
This is a whole ‘nother post, but the workouts were MEAN.  Those guys and girls were tested to the limit in a professional sport environment.  Watching guys touch and go 405# on the deadlifts , ladies leap over walls, climb ropes…I could go on for a while.  Legit.
I flipped “The Pig.”  It was so freaking heavy, I was shocked.
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I suck at taking pictures, but this is the crowd for the Clean and Jerk – a packed house.  Denny and I were sitting next to Lucas Parker’s crew as he won the event.  They are the well groomed folks on immediately next to us.
Workout of the Day
Strength
Front Squat
3-3-3
Heavy sets across, add 5-10 pounds to last weeks lift.
Conditioning
AMRAP 10
Shuttle Sprint
15 Toes to Bar