CrossFit Games getting underway!

[suzyp]

Holy shit. This is unreal

[wambam]

THAT WAS AMAZING

[wambam]

Seven times at the games, and finally a win! OMG

[wambam]

Jul 26, 2015 19:09:53 GMT -5 peachy said:

What was Fraser's judge doing?

??

[wambam]

Jul 26, 2015 19:10:37 GMT -5 peachy said:

Wow that was amazingly close, I didn't know who to root for because I like them both!

My H and I decided to root for Ben right before the final event started. So exited for him.

I would've loved to see froning do this workout. I bet he would've just been a freaking machine on the tower and bike.

[wambam]

Jul 26, 2015 19:11:57 GMT -5 peachy said:

Jul 26, 2015 19:10:44 GMT -5 wambam said:

??

I guess he got no repped on the DL, I couldn't tell if it was once or twice

He (and errrrybody) else looked like they were having trouble locking out their knees.

[wambam]

I don't really have a favorite for the women. I would love to see Briggs on the podium but that's unlikely.

[rugbywife]

I have been rooting for Smith for a while so I am so happy for him. All my favourite women were out of the race but I am happy for Toomey.

[wambam]

That women's final was...bizzare

[suzyp]

Jul 26, 2015 20:07:33 GMT -5 wambam said:

That women's final was...bizzare

You mean because all but one woman was like fuck this on the 1st event?

[starryfish]

Does anyone know why Annie withdrew with 3 events to go today?

[suzyp]

Jul 26, 2015 21:12:30 GMT -5 starryfish said:

Does anyone know why Annie withdrew with 3 events to go today?

She was hurt. Started with murph on Friday. She posted something on Facebook. 

[emilyinchile]

Jul 26, 2015 18:52:25 GMT -5 wambam said:

And I would never kick Lindsey Valenzuela out of bed.

I am officially terrified of her. During the Midline March I was right by the athletes between the top of the first set of stairs and bottom of the next, and during the 5th round as she came up the stairs she told some guy who was at the top "stop. just stop." with a PISSED look on her face. I have no idea what he'd done or said or if she was just suffering so much that someone being positive annoyed her, but she was honestly scary. On round 6 we all barely cheered for her because I think everyone was worried she might kill us!

That said, being in that spot was incredible. Tons of adrenaline even just as a spectator! I'm not sure why we didn't have a bigger crowd in that area. Seeing Sam kill it up close - awesome. Most athletes were totally focused, but Becca Voigt and EZ Muhammed both reacted to the cheering (EZ smiled, Becca laughed at all the "push push, keep going"-type cheers as if doing so was just that easy). I can never resize IG photos, so I'll spoiler it instead: my friend and I with Fraser, Vigneault and Ohlsen going by on I think their second round.

SPOILER: Click to show

http://instagr.am/p/5oIosGEazE

Jul 26, 2015 19:11:57 GMT -5 peachy said:

I guess he got no repped on the DL, I couldn't tell if it was once or twice

ETA: on the 4 she had him move them up more on the numbers, then he did a deadlift, then he lifted them up and started walking and got no repped?

He didn't lock out his hips on the one where he "completed" the DL and started walking. And in another heat they made an athlete put the KBs more on the numbers as well. He was amazing to watch when he was making his big push, but clearly the cumulative effect of all that effort just took its toll when it came time to move weight which is usually easy for him.

starryfish heat injury, which is apparently a category that includes heat stroke and heat exhaustion. She said her body just wasn't responding how it should. Kara Webb said the same but was able to hang in there.

To that point and the programming comments, I think the only thing they could do to fix that would be to change the date of the Games. It was SO hot during the team final today in that tennis stadium. I honestly don't think I've ever been that hot in my life before, and I wasn't trying to exercise. And while you can say that Murph is too much to ask, even the "normal" events like the Midline March had athletes on the border of passing out (Brooke Wells was STRUGGLING up those stairs). Unless they're just going to do quick events, which would be monotonous, I don't think there's a way to truly make the Games less brutal beyond making them happen when it's expected to be less hot. /super long essay

[wambam]

Jul 26, 2015 20:31:46 GMT -5 suzyp said:

Jul 26, 2015 20:07:33 GMT -5 wambam said:

That women's final was...bizzare

You mean because all but one woman was like fuck this on the 1st event?

Yes. And the first place woman dropping to third in one event.

[suzyp]

I could be wrong but I don't think it was any hotter this year than in past years. That's why I think this was a programming issue. The year Kristen clever won they were practically burning themselves on the last event iif I remember correctly. I think it was doing burpees. But that was not thinking about how the sun would heat up the surface. That's different than programming extreme endurance events in the middle of the day, I think Castro is a giant bro douche so my opinions are a bit clouded by that. 

[katietornado]

Jul 27, 2015 8:00:40 GMT -5 suzyp said:

I could be wrong but I don't think it was any hotter this year than in past years. That's why I think this was a programming issue. The year Kristen clever won they were practically burning themselves on the last event iif I remember correctly. I think it was doing burpees. But that was not thinking about how the sun would heat up the surface. That's different than programming extreme endurance events in the middle of the day, I think Castro is a giant bro douche so my opinions are a bit clouded by that. 

Kristan Clever won the Games in 2010, when they were working hard, sure, but moving a LOT less weight.  It was 87* on the final day that year; 91* yesterday.  In 2010 the women didn't do anything heavier than 65 pounds on the final day.  In 2015, the women did a 300-pound yoke carry, 70-pound DB snatches, and 124-pound KB DLs.  That's so much weight, especially with bike and row sprints added in.  It's a recipe for disaster, IMO.

[stackingtens]

Yeah I have a lot of opinions on Castro and the programming, and HQ in general sometimes, but I have so much respect and admiration for the athletes and their toughness, so I love to watch. But, I do think some of the programming and decisions were VERY questionable, and I've been watching the games for 5 years.

1) Why Murph at 12:30 pm on a hot summer day? If Murph is the programming, then why not do the Wednesday events, give them Thursday off (normal) then do Murph at like 8 am on Friday, done by 10 am, then give them like 6 hours off before the afternoon events? That gets the most brutal workout out of the worst heat and gives them more recovery. As it was, they did it at the hottest part of the day and got maybe 2 hours to recover? Crazy.
(Also I think not allowing them to partition was CRUEL, but whatevs.)

2) The pegboard. I am all for the "constantly varied" and "unknown" part of CrossFit (thinking back to past games with the giant mallets and blocks, etc) BUT... whoever they had test run this WOD was obviously an outlier AND most likely tested this WOD fresh. So, first and foremost, these athletes are doing this after 4 days of grip and shoulder destruction... the commentators addressed this left and right-their hands were TORN APART. None of Castro's test subjects when he created that WOD were doing it under the same conditions. The fact is, you put 40 women on that wall for 3 ascents and THREE were successful? And 35 never made it up the wall once INCLUDING THE WOMAN THAT WON THE GAMES?

That's crazy to me.



Random observations: I think Rich would've won the individual comp, hands down (though I've been a Ben Smith fan for years, so I'm glad he won!). I also think NorCal would've won the team if Miranda hadn't gotten hurt. The women on Rich's team seemed disproportionately weak...

I understand a few injuries/withdrawals, but the # of people who were carried out on a stretcher was high. Add in a torn bicep, pulled hamstring, broken rib, etc... the carnage seemed especially great this year and it makes me sad. :-(

[wambam]

I think the number of injuries that occurred this season is unacceptable. If The Castro weren't a complete sociopath, he would evaluate himself after this year. But I have a feeling it's only going to get worse because he is certifiable.

I think the way Murph was done was probably the worst. The heat of the day, so closely sandwiched between other events, not partitioning reps - just the worst possible way it could've been done. And when people are doing Murph at their gym, they're not under insurmountable pressure to do well and they can stop and take a drink of water when they're feeling dehydrated. It was just...irresponsible.

The peg board thing wasn't fun to watch. If 35 out of 40 women can't complete even one rep, it makes it not fun for anyone.

ETA: All that said and I still thought this season was exciting. I am absolutely not sold on Super Regionals still. That's mostly because I can no longer attend as a spectator because of the distance. I was far more invested in regionals when I could attend. But The Games itself was very exciting this year, maybe more so than in past years. I think the vacuum at the top of the men amped everything up. I think seeing fresh faces in the women's division also added to the excitement.

[Pibs]

Jul 24, 2015 16:01:55 GMT -5 rugbywife said:

Jul 24, 2015 15:33:57 GMT -5 wambam said:

I don't understand what you mean. Team athletes don't have to qualify individually.

Ok, but the Invictus team competed on the same weekend for Regionals as Fischer. They obviously qualified - shouldn't they have to take the team they qualified with?  It doesn't seem fair that they qualified without Fischer but then get to compete at the games with her.

My old coach now coaches at Invictus, and was on their team for Regionals.  She hurt her knee and had to have surgery, so she couldn't compete on the team.    I think that's why they pulled Fischer in. 

Sorry if this was covered -- I'm only reading as far as I've watched.  We had company this weekend, so I have the whole games to catch up on today.  :-p

[wambam]

One more thing.

Does anyone get totally amped up about their own training when watching The Games? I do. Like, I'm injured and I'm still fracking excited to go to the gym today.

[emilyinchile]

wambam does anyone not?! I'm excited to get back to Santiago and back to training! (PS. How is your time off/PT going?)

I definitely agree Murph at midday was unnecessary and the peg board was hard enough to be a little boring. But at this stage, I think everyone expects the gladiatorial, extreme stuff and would be complaining and let down if we had stuff that was actually reasonable from a "what the human body can take" perspective. Even if Murph hadn't been done, there were other grueling events in the afternoon heat that would have had people passing out, especially as the weekend started to add up. I'm not saying that you guys are wrong to say this year was too much, I just think that making minor changes wouldn't have that much of an impact. It's either change the date or drop it all back down to the level where Annie Thorisdottir was getting her first MU at the Games.

Also, I agree with stackingtens re: NorCal winning if they'd had Miranda (heartbreak!). And here is the video of Castro getting up the peg board:

SPOILER: Click to show

http://instagr.am/p/5n5La5tvfb

Haha, I'm sure if you're a former Navy SEAL who has trained on obstacle courses before and is fresh then it's that easy, but I wonder if he realized how it would go down in the moment.

[wambam]

emilyinchile

1. PT is going okay. Because of our AC issue I had to sleep on the couch and that made me sort of pinchy again but hopefully that's temporary.

2. Dave has obviously had some practice with that

[2doxies]

Jul 27, 2015 15:41:52 GMT -5 wambam said:

One more thing.

Does anyone get totally amped up about their own training when watching The Games? I do. Like, I'm injured and I'm still fracking excited to go to the gym today.

This was me today. I ran 8 miles yesterday, couldn't wait to show up today to do leg day! Bring it

[wambam]

Thoughts?

breakingmuscle.com/functional-fitness/survival-of-the-survivors-the-crossfit-hunger-games

[stackingtens]

Jul 29, 2015 9:51:07 GMT -5 wambam said:

Thoughts?

breakingmuscle.com/functional-fitness/survival-of-the-survivors-the-crossfit-hunger-games

I have mixed feelings about Patrick McCarty.  My boss knows him decently well.  He has written some REALLY great stuff that's proved useful for our business and for our clients.   He has been to, and placed at the game as a master's competitor.... but in the last year he has become ALL about GRID and as a result, somewhat anti-CrossFit Games.

So, leading up to the games, his Facebook post was highlighting GRID this and GRID that and how the GRID athletes were doing better in the open/regionals/etc.  It came across kinda snotty considering he has had a formidable CrossFit career himself...

Then the games happened, and instead of watching, he "heard rumors" and would post t Facebook asking people to confirm that what he was hearing was true (stretchers, injuries, etc).  All with an extremely negative tone.  I am not surprised that he turned it into an article.

Now, that certainly doesn't mean that I don't agree with portions of his analysis-I said the same things in my last post... but he has lost a lot of appeal to me because of the overall negative nancy type attitude he takes in that article and has taken to on social media.

[wambam]

Jul 29, 2015 10:11:16 GMT -5 stackingtens said:

Jul 29, 2015 9:51:07 GMT -5 wambam said:

Thoughts?

breakingmuscle.com/functional-fitness/survival-of-the-survivors-the-crossfit-hunger-games

I have mixed feelings about Patrick McCarty.  My boss knows him decently well.  He has written some REALLY great stuff that's proved useful for our business and for our clients.   He has been to, and placed at the game as a master's competitor.... but in the last year he has become ALL about GRID and as a result, somewhat anti-CrossFit Games.

So, leading up to the games, his Facebook post was highlighting GRID this and GRID that and how the GRID athletes were doing better in the open/regionals/etc.  It came across kinda snotty considering he has had a formidable CrossFit career himself...

Then the games happened, and instead of watching, he "heard rumors" and would post t Facebook asking people to confirm that what he was hearing was true (stretchers, injuries, etc).  All with an extremely negative tone.  I am not surprised that he turned it into an article.

Now, that certainly doesn't mean that I don't agree with portions of his analysis-I said the same things in my last post... but he has lost a lot of appeal to me because of the overall negative nancy type attitude he takes in that article and has taken to on social media.

Wait so he wrote all that without actually watching The Games?!

[suzyp]

Jul 29, 2015 10:11:16 GMT -5 stackingtens said:

Jul 29, 2015 9:51:07 GMT -5 wambam said:

Thoughts?

breakingmuscle.com/functional-fitness/survival-of-the-survivors-the-crossfit-hunger-games

I have mixed feelings about Patrick McCarty.  My boss knows him decently well.  He has written some REALLY great stuff that's proved useful for our business and for our clients.   He has been to, and placed at the game as a master's competitor.... but in the last year he has become ALL about GRID and as a result, somewhat anti-CrossFit Games.

So, leading up to the games, his Facebook post was highlighting GRID this and GRID that and how the GRID athletes were doing better in the open/regionals/etc.  It came across kinda snotty considering he has had a formidable CrossFit career himself...

Then the games happened, and instead of watching, he "heard rumors" and would post t Facebook asking people to confirm that what he was hearing was true (stretchers, injuries, etc).  All with an extremely negative tone.  I am not surprised that he turned it into an article.

Now, that certainly doesn't mean that I don't agree with portions of his analysis-I said the same things in my last post... but he has lost a lot of appeal to me because of the overall negative nancy type attitude he takes in that article and has taken to on social media.

I am extremely side-eyeing the fact that the did not watch the Games.

HOWEVER, I agree with him. I have been thinking about this since the weekend and katietornado 's comments.  I think the focus has changed from finding the "fittest" person to making it into survival of the fittest, i.e. who can survive the weekend without a major injury and who is the least fatigued.  Of course, the competitors are going to be stronger and faster as the years go on (it happens in all sports - the pro football players today are bigger and stronger and faster than they were 20 years ago). But I think the focus has shifted in a negative way.  I am not sure if I can really articulate my issues - but I would much rather see athletes do the hero/girl WODs (that aren't freaking Murph) with some heavier weights, or see them do it in some obscenely fast amount of time.  Castro just seems to want to push and push the envelope.  I don't find it fun to watch.  I love CF, I love the Games, but I feel like things have lost their way a bit.  There has to be a happy medium between a softball throw and Murph at high noon.

And I will give my normal caveat that I think Castro is a huge douche, which impacts my opinions.

[wambam]

I am going to say something and I hope it comes across the way I intend it.

I think that if an athlete died during The Games, that would not be enough for Castro to evaluate himself.

[2doxies]

I think these games confirmed what Crossfit's critics have been saying. They're making it unsafe and unreasonable. My coaches were at the games watching and they said they feel like HQ is pushing it further and further away from our box's philosophy of functional fitness for life. HQ seems more interested it making it a spectacle rather than truly finding who is the fittest athlete. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

[stackingtens]

Jul 29, 2015 10:12:38 GMT -5 wambam said:

Jul 29, 2015 10:11:16 GMT -5 stackingtens said:

I have mixed feelings about Patrick McCarty.  My boss knows him decently well.  He has written some REALLY great stuff that's proved useful for our business and for our clients.   He has been to, and placed at the game as a master's competitor.... but in the last year he has become ALL about GRID and as a result, somewhat anti-CrossFit Games.

So, leading up to the games, his Facebook post was highlighting GRID this and GRID that and how the GRID athletes were doing better in the open/regionals/etc.  It came across kinda snotty considering he has had a formidable CrossFit career himself...

Then the games happened, and instead of watching, he "heard rumors" and would post t Facebook asking people to confirm that what he was hearing was true (stretchers, injuries, etc).  All with an extremely negative tone.  I am not surprised that he turned it into an article.

Now, that certainly doesn't mean that I don't agree with portions of his analysis-I said the same things in my last post... but he has lost a lot of appeal to me because of the overall negative nancy type attitude he takes in that article and has taken to on social media.

Wait so he wrote all that without actually watching The Games?!

Just a few snippets of his FB crap.