Thank god! Need rest. Congrats to all the competitors, greatest athletes on the planet.

Wait, rest day? I feel like I should run around the block or something...anything.

Thank goodness for rest day.

Thanks Coach!

22/M/140

Rest day? Yes! No complaints here!

STRONG WORK TO ALL COMPETITORS!

OUTSTANDING JOB TO THE TOP SIX!

ONE WEEKEND YOU WILL NOT FORGET. EVER.

ROBERT S.
TUCSON, AZ.

Amen for an extra rest day!

All of us in Afghanistan were on the edge of our seats awaiting the final results of the Games.

Great work to all competitors and to much gratitude and thanks goes out to the entire crossfit community for keeping life and fitness interesting.

ARMY STRONG!

BAGRAM, AFGHANISTAN

oh come on! no video from the games?? :(

Catch-up time!

I'm really disappointed that tomorrow is a rest day.

Congratulations to everyone that competed and especially to the winners. Awesome work. So sad I couldn't make it there.

Thanks to the media folk for keeping us entertained and informed here in NYC.

I love the way it keeps growing and growing.

RE: Comment #8 - Posted by: RSD 21/m/190#/6'1

See Jason Khalipa's Sunday WOD performance here: (w/f/s youtube link)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Hyz8eEgbZ-k

RE: Comment #8 - Posted by: RSD 21/m/190#/6'1

See Jason Khalipa's Sunday WOD performance on youtube; search for "crossfit games jason khalipa"

Good work you studs!
You guys set the standards that most only dream of.

ROCK ON!!!!

I was glued to the computer all weekend long checking for updates. Thank you staff and volunteers for all of the hard work setting up the games and keeping those of us informed that couldn't travel this year. Although I did not compete, I liked the format for the games.

To all the competitors, way to work! You represented the community proudly! Can't wait till next year.

amazing performance by jason khalipa!

what a way to win the CF Games!

Huge Thanks again to all the volunteers for keeping things moving like a well oiled machine!

-Boz

Wow, he killed that workout. Not to question his win at all - he basically thrusted the jerks right?

Why didn't others do the same? Was it just a matter of strength and no one else could really do it like that? Or did no one else think to do that?

Awesome comeback.

CT:

The standards were known to all the athletes. Many used the same technique (squat clean to thruster)...nobody beat Jason.

-Boz

Nice work to all the competitors, and congrats to the folks on the podium!

Dave
27/m/205

Gongrats to to all the competitors and top finishers.....My hats off to Josh Everett, 2 years in a row in the top 3, impressive to say the least.

Wow. I can't to see more video from the games. Even better, I can't wait to see the movie.

Hey, is that the same Caity Matter that plays in the WNBA?

Congrats to Jason and all of the other competitors.

OPT - You were the first, man. We love you up here in Canada. I'm following the WODs here in Kandahar Airfield and I watch your videos to learn and get inspired. Keep it going, buddy. Awesome work.

Please post your photos from the Crossfit Games to the following flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/crossfitgames2008/

Feel free to comment and tag the photos!

I am in the business center of my hotel as I type this; Bingo is upstairs dozing off after we dropped off ApolloSwabbie at the Airport so he can return to his family. We have just finished our Games Experience and I thought I would share a few thoughts, which I am certain both men will amplify and clarify (and maybe deny).

1 - It was better than last year. Bigger is not always better; this was. And it was flawlessly run. Dave Castro and everyone else - absolutely stupendous. You guys are amazing - thanks Lynne for again being a force behind the scenes.

2 - The athletes are peerless. I watched some of the greatest athletic performances I have ever seen. Jason Khalipa's "Heavy Grace" was a little too far from me to really see, but I watched Josh Everett's up close and it was awe-inspiring. Just as impressive was Caity Matter's to come from Third to win the women's Title. I was also standing right next to her watching it happen up close. Incredible. Too many others to describe -but a few of my favorites: Kallista Pappas and Connor Martin - the future titleholders; Chris Spealler who led going into the final event and left it all out there - not bad for a guy doing 110% BW Grace; Max Mormont's 3:24 Grace; Gillian Mounsey on Day One; Libby from Omaha (at age 20) on Day One; and on and on.

Some (both in and out of the CF Community) may debate about whether these athletes can lay claim to the "Fittest Athletes on the Planet" or whether this was comprehensive enough of a test, but if the CF protocol of "constantly varied" workouts and facing tests that are both "unknown and unknowable" is truly to be followed, then this was as good as test as there is. You think there are better athletes out there? Let them prove it by doing it. The times are right there. Plus, Who knows? Maybe next year there will be a final day marathon (please, Coach, we both had a few beers - tell me you were joking!)

3 - The Community is also amazing. There are so many people to whom I want to say "hey, it was my pleasure to meet you" but I'll say this more generally: If you haven't been, you've missed an opportunity to add to your short list of best friends. I don't say that lightly. The proof of this is in the weekend that I just spent. Three guys who have never met in person and could barely recognize each other by sight (one without a cell phone) met at an airport, spent the weekend in the same hotel room, without ever really ironing out the details ahead of time, and had a singular weekend. Paul and Darrell, you guys are the best.

Last - It will grow and change. This is an ineviable part of life. But we who make up this little slice of life will have the obligation to shepherd it along and do our small part to ensure it remains a "noble endeavor".

I gotta go get some sleep.

#19 Boz -

I think you misunderstood me. He won. No question about that. That's just the only video I saw and from that angle the others looked to be doing classic jerks.

Like I said, he killed it.

I RECENTLY HAD THE HONOR OF MEETING JEREMY THIEL AND MIKE IN AUSTIN FOR A SWAT CONFERENCE WHERE I TOOK AN "INTRO TO CROSSFIT" CLASS...JEREMY IS AN ANIMAL...A MACHINE...CONGRATULATIONS...FREAKIN AWESOME!

Just got back to lovely San Diego after a long long drive from Aromas. Hadn't decided to go to watch the Games until Thursday morning. What an incredible experience. All of the athletes were incredible competitors. It was great to see the community giving the biggest cheers to the last person in each heat.
I read a comment a couple days ago complaining that Crossfit dare to charge twenty bucks for a spectator at this event. Whoever posted that needs to try it before they open their big mouth next time. Best twenty I have spent in a long time. Just the time of talking to the C2 rep about rowing was worth it. Putting a name to a face of StrikeFO(younger than you might think ;) )or AllieZona(shorter than you might think) was an added bonus as well.
Seeing the top end of this sport has really inspired me to work harder. I plan to compete next year after seeing some inspiring people getting it done there. At 6'5" I may have a disadvantage in some ways but I plan to give it my all. Thank you all the organizers for a flawless time.

Oceaside Crossfit - James

Wow! For everyone that wasn't at the Games you missed one hell of a weekend. This was a first class event and it went off without a hitch.

To all the volunteers and to all the folks behind the curtain I give you a round of applause. Events of this size do not run this smoothly without great people running the show.

To all the competitors, congratulations for laying it all on the line. I witnessed some of the best performances by both men and women and girls and boys. I saw sportsmanship like I never saw before. I saw sure desire from many competitors just to finish the WOD'S in the allotted time. I can’t describe the will and heart all these athletes showed this weekend.

The NBA talked about witnessing something special when watching Lebron James I witnessed a fitness movement that can’t be stopped. To all of you that are hooked keep spreading the word.

I have to give a big shout out to Jason for his performance this weekend. We have talked many times during training sessions about him winning these games and he did just that. Not only did he win he crushed that last WOD. Jason is a class act and will be a great Champion! Also a big shout to his coach and our partner Austin, you were so hard on Jason but it paid off. He could not of won without your coaching and support.

I'm stoked that Jeremy Thiel did so well! I trained with him down in Austin. I knew he was gonna be a big name, awesome!

Wow!! Just Wow!! the games were so amazing. I thought the last day was the best. Staggered heats are the best way to go. Anyway, I just thought I would put my two cents in since I could be there and you could not. The group think there was amazing!

Congratulations to ALL the competitors for this weekends effort - good work.

I had so much fun competing and working out alongside these awesome athletes. I would have hated it had I missed out on all the fun. I gave it my all and in the end it was good enough for sixth and I am happy with that because Libby and I put Omaha on the map and next year we will be back with some other Omahans to stake claim to hopefully will be an even better and bigger CrossFit games 2009.

Great job to Speal, Dutch, Jason Boag, Pat Barber, Jeremy Thiel, Bionic, and all you great guys that make this community so awesome. It was an honor to compete with you guys.

Omaha Ricky

I want to thank the folks behind the scenes who kept us up to date. I couldn't be there but it was really fantastic to be able to follow the games via the internet. I appreciate your work.

Well done, everyone!

it's the weekend after the games and is there any cool footage to be seen today? no! we're watching handstand drills. i should have known footage would be withheld to torture those of us who couldn't go :) i guess i'll have to wait for the movie.

Congrats to everyone who competed at the games! i wish i could have been there to cheer everyone on.

can somebody explain what "as rx'd" means??

Just to clarify

"The barbell goes from ground to overhead, passing through a front squat in which the crease of the hip passes below the height of the kneecap. The finish position is with the arms, hips and knees fully extended, arms overhead, with at least a portion of the ear visible in front of the arm. Dropping the barbell is acceptable."

Not once does it say that the barbell must be "jerked" over-head.

Well done Jason, cracking effort.

Simply incredible. Congrats everyone.

Congratulations to everyone who competed in the Games! The video of Jason's performance in the finale was great. I can't wait for the rest of the videos.

Thank you to Tony B., Lynne and the rest of HQ for keeping us informed and entertained. I'll definitely be there next year.

#35 Nils,

"As rx'd" is shorthand for "as prescribed." That is, the workout is done without any modifications from how it is listed.

Good job by all!

Question:

Now that the Games are over and everyone has just completed months of intense training: will the wod's be somewhat different for the next month to allow for recuperation and/or rcovery by means of periodization?

Saturday w/o #3
Deadlift Round 1 225# 2-5 185#
Burpees
8:01

Now that the games are over, can we get back to training? Don't get me wrong, the games are wonderful and I wish I could've competed (I'm overseas, not a puss). And by no means am I trying to take away from the athletes that went to the games and laid it all out. But interviews with NFL players (they get paid to train!!!), show off vids (seriously, she didn't get that bod from her mama) and all the hype isn't what we go to the CF site for.

Caity Matter...Go Bucks!!!

I think there is an argument to be made for allowing athletes an option of choosing a lighter weight and a higher number of reps during a given WOD. I am not in anyway suggesting that the outcome was unfair. The rules were clearly stated up front. The judging process appeared to be incredibly well thought out and implemented. (My compliments to Coach and his team!) I am simply suggesting the possibility of a change in future games.

If the objective is to measure work capacity over a broad range of time and modal domains, then I see a problem with potentially setting a weight standard so high that the WOD becomes primarily a measure of strength. As an extreme example simply to illustrate the point, had the dead lifts been 3 reps at 465 lbs, most competitors would have been eliminated.

Seeing Speal drop from first place to tenth makes me wonder whether athletes should be allowed to demonstrate work capacity on the WOD's by an alternate but equal combination of weight times reps (e.g., 30 reps @ 155 lbs = 40 reps @ 119 lbs).

Had Speal (or anyone else) been able to use 3/4 the weight and 4/3 the reps (40 reps) on the C&J, I think the outcome might have been different; yet the work would have been unchanged. I realize that all standards are somewhat arbitrary, but standards can also be reviewed.

3/4 of the weight would still have been about 90% of Speal's bodyweight, and forcing him to do 40 reps of the lighter weight rather than 30 reps of the heavier weight would certainly have put him on a more equal footing with bigger athletes.

I recognize that my argument does not address the inherent advantage that lighter athletes have in bodweight exercises. However, bodeweight exercises are often teamed with fixed-weight exercises (e.g., “Fran”). Perhaps the change I suggest would be applicable only in WOD’s that do not include bodweight exercises.

It may also be that an alternative to this proposal would be to announce an upper bound on the weights for any given exercise. Had the final WOD been, say, 45 Clean and Jerks with 135 lbs done to the same strict standards, I think the test might have been more inclusive.

Just read through the results from the Crossfit games. Great work everyone! All I can say is WOW! Man, the competition is really getting tough.

Monster effort Jason Khalipa....animal!

is tomorrow going to be a rest day as it should be or am i going to have to go & redo my calendar?

#43 Hari,

Firstly, 155 lbs does not seem to be extreme as does your example of a 465 lb deadlift.

Secondly, in my opinion, the final exercise did not put those lighter and smaller athletes at any more of a disadvantage than what the heavier and taller athletes had to deal with on the previous day's events.

Thirdly, even if it did saddle them with a slight bit of disadvantage, isn't it sort of the crossfit philosophy to be ready for whatever life throws at you? Like the example coach uses in one of the lecture clips, if your buddy gets buried under a pile of boulders are you going to lift one then take a 3-5 minute break (or complain because they are 110% of your body weight [that's my addition]).

And lastly, I have a feeling there were plenty of big, strong athletes who were not able to complete that final exercise any faster than those elite smaller athletes.

Does anyone know what type of training Dara Torres is doing? She looks fantastic and in an ESPN profile of her I heard that she trains relatively little in the pool and focuses on high-intensity training out of the pool. I gather that most elite swimmers typically spend most of their training in the pool.

Comment 43 - Hari

That's similar to how some crosstraining events in the UK are run e.g. shoulder press 1500kg - competitors choose weight which determines number of reps.

great athletes. winners this year definitely built more for strength, as the workouts skewed towards. kind of feel like speal got burned. to do as well as he did after day 1 blew me away.
the guy's 135# and to do what he did with his butterfly kip taken away plus to have to do such heavy deads and still lead after day 1???? thought he might pull it off, but too much to ask to do 30 clean and jerks with twenty lb more than body wt was too much.

i far prefer last year's format of cft (strength)
metcon wod (most other aspects of fitness) and a run (aerobic capacity) as a better measure of crossfit. this year's format skewed by far toward the bigger athletes--which i'm one of by the way(205#)...

Congratulations to all of the competitors and thanks, Coach, for letting us all play along. I was wondering if it would be a rest day when there was still nothing posted when I went to bed!

Does anyone know what all of the abbreviations on the results pdf stand for? I'm sure DNF is did not finish, and I assume the "x" is "scaled", but there are a few others: DNFT, NST, NSDL, NSR. NS I assume is "no show" and the DNF/x, etc, I assume are did not finish and was doing it scaled? Just curious.

Interesting notion, Hari. I can certainly see Coach adopting that approach for one challenge, but the randomness of the hopper approach: "squat cleans," "heavy;" is fairly central to the CF philosophy (IMO, obviously). As luck had it, there wasn't a broad range of time domains this year. Maybe that changes next year. (Coach's joke about the marathon could be telling in this respect.) Regardless, if you look at the 10 aspects of fitness, it's pretty clear that this was a fine test of them, even in sub-5 minute chunks (or perhaps especially so).

It's unfortunate that a certifiable monster like Speal has missed out twice in a row based on relative BW, but that's the nature of this test. It doesn't detract from his amazing performance Saturday. Plenty of other small guys got out-and-out smoked by him. He just didn't win this particular competition.

I think we lose focus if we are looking to whoever wins to be "the fittest." They are certainly the champion, but that will always be a measure of the tests put before them. The question will always remain, "Fittest for what?". The fact of the matter is that next year a would-be champion may be eliminated by a specific skill that is standard WOD material (e.g., DUs, snatch). If there were a 5K this year, instead of a 750, the leaderboard would also look different. The fact is that Jason and Caity were the best at this year's challenges and that's makes them deserving champions. Next year the challenges will be different, and the champions may well be different, too. So much the better for a competition of broad, inclusive fitness.

#24 Dale

I was doing crossfit in '04 and '05 when Matt G was posting stud times on the various WODs and then I bailed end of 05 and all of 06 for work-related stuff. I came back in '07 and your comment about it growing and changing rings absolutely true. In three more years, everybody will probably look back to the day in '08 when the games were "so small". It's amazing to see how the community is growing and thriving, and when I passed a new CF gym (Lalanne Fitness in SF) on a random walk to my hotel a couple weeks ago, I knew it had reached a tipping point. Definitely going to try to get to the games next year; the kids can watch the fireworks in chicago without me one time.

Congrats to all the winners; I was checking the games site all weekend for updates. If it was that exciting at home, I can't wait to see what it's like in person.

Khalipa is ia Beast!! Congrats to everyone who competed and gave their blood sweat and tears for this...(yes, there was lots of bloody hands)
The games were the best event I've ever been to.

Hari:

It would not be impossible for Speal to put on 20# of muscle over the next year, nor would it be impossible for him to develop much higher 1RMs in the DL, SQ, Press, C&J and Snatch.

If he could do this while maintaining his conditioning and taking a slight hit on his pull-ups, etc. he would be unstoppable (of course there is that whole moving target thing).

Also I agree a 465 dead is lot more extreme than a 155# C&J. As far as the hopper approach, I competed against Jason at the CF Oakland "Throwdown";

4 rounds
21 Jump Squats
21 Front Squats
3 Muscle-Ups
Run 400 Meters
(20 minute limit)

This really did not favor the big man and he KILLED it in 14:58, nearly 1.5 minutes ahead of his nearest competition. 90% of the people including me did not finish.

Front Squat weight was 95#

the games were amazing! i don't think that the emphasis put on the games was too big.

THE CROSSFIT GAMES ARE LIKE THE OLYMPICS...but better. ;]

i think the highlight for me was seeing a 14 YEAR OLD GIRL do the C+J as RX'd. she's my hero!!!

...and jolie still kicks ass. =]

Sakura Barrientos
1LT USAF

For the Saturday workout: I just did part one-it took me over half an hour-but my question is this:
is it 3 x (21-15-9 Thrusters an PU's) which I did-or is21-15-9 counted as three? Anyone understand what I mean?

#58 tt

I think the answer you are looking for is that it is counted as three. Watch a Fran demonstration video and you will have your answer.

Coach,
You created a new standard for fitness, folks took action, and you have built some beasts! It is amazing to see the overall increase in the caliber of competitor and how you continue to raise the bar for us all as well. I'm looking forward to more fun this year!

In Strength,
Jerry

21-15-9 is counted as 3.

Where are the games video links?

I've been kind of going back and forth on this. On the one hand, it does seem like the Games were weighted towards the heavy guys. Long sets of bodyweight squats, or Handstand Pushups would have evened things out a bit. Longer WOD's would have, as well, in that events which are short, in a format in which total time is accrued, are not going to punish the big guys as much as, say, a 10K would, in which someone could lose 5 minutes easy.

There are logistical considerations, in that total event lengths cannot exceed what it is possible to run a lot of athletes through in one day. A 10K would have been problematic in this regard.

It does seem clear as well that even had the final event been a CFT, Speal would have been beaten badly by some of those big guys. Everett likely would have taken it, if that had come up. As it is, he apparently gutted it out with bad knees, and still came out solid. I've seen his split cleans, and the end height is not much lower than a Power clean. He has some power, to say the least.

Finally, I think we have to factor in the fact that Coach Glassman has a perverse streak at times. The whole point of CrossFit is to be prepared for anything. I thought--and likely most of the athletes thought--that the format this year would be like last year. Run of some reasonable length, a hopper done for 10-15 minutes, and the CFT. The run favors the little guys and gals, the hopper some combo thereof, and the CFT the big guys and gals.

With a relatively short run, a hopper with 275 lb deadlifts, Fran, and the final 155 Grace, the balance seemed a bit off.

Still, if I've learned anything from Crossfit, it's that life is better if I foreswear complaining and accept that sometimes the pleasure of shared misery with great folks is worth the price you pay.

Speal, you have the respect of all of us, as of course do you Jason for that outstanding show of power, Caity for what sounds like a really solid come from behind win, and all the rest of the winners, and competitors.

This thing will only get better, and it sounds like it is already really, really good.

#58
good to see I'm not the only one who misunderstood
I also did fran x 3

The Games looked like a great experience. Great job to all the participants and those who put it on. I hope to be able to go there next year.
I just went and watched the push-up drills in the July CF journal and I started to wonder if there would be any gymnastic type element to the CF games rather than just the staples of fitness run and lift? I just wondered if there will be any balance type challenge or climbing, throwing, moving large loads over distance? Just a question in the spirit of CF.
Great Job!

I was just watching video of khalipa doing his event on youtube (YouTube videos of CrossFit Games 2008) and I have a question about his performance.

I know that these games where very strict about form and I think this is a legit concern. On many of the jerks that he does for his finishing time, the jerk isn't fully locked out. I was just wondering if that was a standard at the games or not.

If you watch others in the same video it is obvious when others lock out the jerk.

An amazing weekend, even from afar and equally fine, thoughtful comments today. Others have given Jason his much deserved laurels, but I'd also like to commend Jeff Tichner from CF Alexandria on his top 10 finish as well as some solid performances from Dale Saran and Appolloswabbie. You guys put up some great numbers. Top to bottom, there are nothing but true warriors out there; all of you exemplify what it means to be a Crossfitter. Now, wait 'til next year...

The Games were tremendous. I applaud the amazing organizational skills of management and volunteers. You did an incredible job putting all the competitors through their events on time with precision, while keeping the spectators entertained, watered and fed. Brilliant work.

And, brilliant workout choices and standards, Coach.

Speal, Dutch, Bionic are amazing. However, life does not "scale" based on your body weight. So if you have to hoist a large ladder, carry someone out of a building, tote a heavy weapon, drag and chop a big log, often times some size can be an advantage. Yet you must balance that with aerobic capacity. I think the events were an incredible test of fitness and "balance" is what came out in the end. All the athletes should be commended! I was glued to the computer all weekend and I still am!

Also, Look at Pat Barber. He is not a big guy, he did incredible!

I went to the games on Sunday and I want to say Coach thank you for what you have created. To see all of the athletes and their performance was so awe inspiring and motivating. What a great a community. To be there was priceless. Coach thank you again.

#63 Barry Cooper,

You don't think Speal's lead after Saturday is reasonable evidence contradicting your weighted-towards-the-heavy-guys theory? Sunday's workout clearly favored the big guys, but I think that was a very reasonable balance with what we saw from Saturday.

If it hasn't been done already in previous games, it might be interesting to include an event like Linda, where the weights used are based on a percentage of the body weight of the participant.

Just wanted to say thank you to all of the Crossfit staff and volunteers at the games this weekend! Every event was organized well and on time, you guys made the games a huge success! Thank you

A few things:

Event Planning/Implementation:
Damn near flawless. Dave C, Tony, Jaimie, Mike, Dave B. and OH SO MANY OTHERS, y'all did an amazing job. Every heat ran as scheduled, no dead time and excellent flow. You set a high standard that will only improve with time.

Supposed Strength Bias:
We fielded 2 athletes, Nicki and our guy Dr. John Fragoso. John is 165lbs, has a 480lb DL, 205 standing press and 445 BS. He has about as good strength numbers as a person can have but we have only had him for 6 solid months to build the metabolic engine to excel at an event like this. He took 26th place which is phenomenal, and he is fired up to be back next year and it will be scary what he can do. The point I'd like to make is no one 1RM'd themselves to a victory here...that strength base is critical to success, but not the guarantor of success. Would a different WO selection have produced a different winner? Almost certainly, but that's not what came out of the hopper! What I think is telling is NO ONE, not the film crew, not the HQ staff, not the crowd, had ANY idea that relative unknowns would catapult to the lead and win both the male and female division. THAT is CrossFit. It's interesting to note that Josh Everett was being coached through his WO based on beating Speal...the lack of awareness on everyones part that a monster in the back row was tearing through the event might have cost Josh the victory IMO...but that's just more idle speculation. On those days, given those events we have our champions.

To my Wife:
Nicki took 17th place, making up huge ground with the last event. You kicked ass babe! You showed amazing heart and determination this weekend. You're my girl!

To the NorCal crew:
Thanks to Johny for shooting excellent photos all weekend, Glen, Katie, Adam & Vanessa for coming out and supporting our competitors. I can not wait for next year!

#52, Patrick H, writes,

"I think we lose focus if we are looking to whoever wins to be "the fittest." They are certainly the champion, but that will always be a measure of the tests put before them."

This goes directly to the point. How do we define fitness? To me, the beauty (genius!) of defining fitness as work capacity over a broad range of time and modal domains is that it allows CrossFit to compare its results to those of any other training regime.

The question is whether the CrossFit Games are a measure of who is the best CrossFitter or who is the fittest athlete? If we begin and end with the assumption that the best CrossFitter is the fittest person, then we have effectively withdrawn from a general challenge to those outside of CrossFit. I don't think we should do that. We can win the more general challenge.

If the CrossFit Games is going to become a national event, drawing interest from the public at large, then I think we need to at least consider the inherent tension within the current setup. On the one hand, we define fitness based on work capacity across a broad range of time and modal domains. On the other hand, we test work capacity in a very unique way, using the randomness of the hopper (to simulate a broad range of time and modal domains) without allowing the flexibility of compensating for differences in size and strength.

I am arguing that once the time and modal domains are randomly chosen, the athlete should have some flexibility in how he or she demonstrates work capacity within that time and modal domain. I think this is necessary to broaden the appeal of the Games beyond those of us who all ready CrossFit.

Finally, let me advance a non-technical argument. If the CrossFit Games had been on national televison, what would the public have thought about seeing Speal go from first place to tenth place after being assigned 20 lbs over his bodyweight for the C&J? I believe the audience would have been far more engaged, if they knew he had the option of 40 reps at 119 lbs or 30 reps @ 155 lbs, and that the decision was his (and every other athlete's) to make. Potential CrossFitters would see that CrossFit is not inflexible; that there is a way to make the program work for them.

I am not arguing that we should dumb down CrossFit for the sake of broad public appeal. I am arguing that if there are alternate ways of measuring work capacity across a broad range of time and modal domains, we should at least consider the alternatives.

WOW! I have never in my life been so intensely involved as a spectator in any athletic event as I was this weekend. I am 5'7" so I was kind of pulling for the short guys but impressed with everyone. I do not envy Coach. As hard as it was to create this monster called Crossfit, I suspect that guiding and managing it will be even more difficult. Is it even possible to level the playing field. Will there be a welterweight, middleweight, heavyweight division? What about me. I'm 68 years old, live in a small town with no facilities. I have my own equipment but work out alone. I want to play to but I will never be in the league with the 20 year old "beasts". Still I am getting fitter than I have ever been in my life , and having a lot of fun. I have been doing crossfit for only 2 1/2 months and had to buy a whole new wardrobe. So thanks Coach and good luck with the monster you have created.

Congrats to all competitors! I was a judge/timer at the event this weekend and it was a great honor to be a part of it all. Thanks to Coach G for creating this CrossFit movement and to the organizing staff for pulling off an AMAZING event.
There were many great moments this weekend, but none better than while I was timing Calista on the C&J. Simply one of the most inspiring moments of my life. After jerking her 15th rep, she fell backwards and I couldn't catch it in time and the bar fell on her legs. Visibly hurt, she got up, dug in and finished like a true champion. I had tears in my eyes the last 10 reps and could barely count. THAT it what Crossfit is about! HEART!
Thank you Calista for reminding me to NEVER GIVE UP!!!!
PURE MAGIC!

Started Crossfit, got about two weeks in, then had to go home for 9 days.. wow that screwed me up.

So, guess i'll start back up with yesterday's WOD.

By the way, love the workouts..i'll never go back to my boring lifting routine

What an awe-inspiring weekend. Congratulations go out to all the competitors. One of the most memorable moments was watching the young Kallista Pappas finish out her clean and jerks as the entire crowd cheered her on. Pure heart. That was quite simply one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I didn't think I'd get choked up at the Games, but there I was, having to hold back tears as she willed her way through. I wish I was more articulate to express how great the entire weekend was, but just know that if you get a chance to go next year, do it. I will keep the Games dust on my shoes.

Kevin Suttmoeller, I knew I wasn't the only one choked up over Calista's performance. You and the rest of the judges and volunteers ran a spectacular weekend that many will not soon forget. Thank you.

Congratulations to EVERYONE involved. I'm so pumped for Crossfit and what it means for our understanding of health and fitness in general. Keep up the fantastic work, and get some much needed rest.

Hari said
"This goes directly to the point. How do we define fitness? To me, the beauty (genius!) of defining fitness as work capacity over a broad range of time and modal domains is that it allows CrossFit to compare its results to those of any other training regime."

I agree; but, given the huge swath of broad time and modal domains, I wonder if any amount of programming for a two day event will suffice to bring this out of the noise.

I think this will have to be done like Tennis, Skiing, Car racing, golf. An overall winner is determined by a point/ranking system over a whole season of competition.

42yo/f
made up yesterday's WOD
80# squat clean 30 reps 7:31
form before load...
tabata row 20:10x8 954meters

m/34/215/5'11

Did yesterday's workout:

Squat Clean & Jerk @ 30 reps
18 min

Used 135# instead 155#

I really don't want to take anything away from anyone, particularly the monster efforts from this weekend, but I think #66 may have a point, having watched the video again. Though perhaps some reps weren't counted and were done over?

Catch up day today. Doing the Saturday workout, Help!!!

Crossfit is great, and it's quantitative, which adds a dimension that really separates it from other training regimens. Defining fitness as work capacity is very useful, but it's arbitrary. It probably should be called Cross-fitness, not fitness, but that wouldn't be half as much fun to argue about. The top athletes are very, very fit. Jason and Speal are exceptional. Jason had the best combination of the 10 elements of fitness for this set of workouts, and he is the 2008 Crossfit Games champion. Choose another set of workouts, and you will have a different champion. I like it.

Yo, Crossfit HQ, how about a little love for
Crossfit Oakland -- Affiliate Cup Champions!

Did Micheal in 28.31 this am

Mark Brinton quoting Hari:

"Hari said
'This goes directly to the point. How do we define fitness? To me, the beauty (genius!) of defining fitness as work capacity over a broad range of time and modal domains is that it allows CrossFit to compare its results to those of any other training regime.'

I agree; but, given the huge swath of broad time and modal domains, I wonder if any amount of programming for a two day event will suffice to bring this out of the noise.

I think this will have to be done like Tennis, Skiing, Car racing, golf. An overall winner is determined by a point/ranking system over a whole season of competition."

This is the parallel that I was considering. In any sport where the venue changes (race courses, country clubs, tennis surfaces), there is a winner at each competition, but it is only over time and on occasion that somebody is identified as the greatest at their sport. With the Games being an annual event for the foreseeable future and fitness being a lifelong venture, I don't see the harm in the format of the competition changing from year-to-year and maybe a different champion being crowned based on their ability to win that particular year's format. If next year is slightly different, and Josh Everett comes out on top, perhaps a general agreement develops that he is fittest, based on his repeatedly strong showing. Maybe Speal takes up a MEBB and starts a zone+milk diet and comes out on top and gets the title to go with the recognition he's already earned.

I think the notion of total loads broken up by choice or BW-scaled workouts like Linda (but likely not that per se) could have a place in the competition, but I'd hate to see such become the norm. We'd lose the variety and some of the incentive to train to our weaknesses and perhaps lose the emphasis that for general fitness, even small people need to be strong and even large people need to be fast and able to manage their body weight.

Incredible weekend!

An awesome event put on by the coordinators and the volunteers.

It was great to meet so many of people that I have corresponded with or followed on the site. I got so many cool pictures!

The men's final was one of the most exciting sporting events I have ever seen. Khalipa is officially "The King of Crossfit" for the next year. The crazy thing is that he is going to be even better next year. Hell, he has only been Crossfitting since February!

Kallista's performance was the most inspirational performance ever! I was wearing sunglasses so no one saw I was all teary eyed! Yes, it was that amazing.

A big thank you to all the One World and Unlimited members who made the RV base camp the happening spot to be. What a great family we have. (P.S.-The tequila was finally finished off by Sunday afternoon!)

Stunning performances by all the athletes at the Games. I can honestly say I was never more proud to be a part of the Crossfit community.

I start training for next year on Wednesday!

#53 and #75, i think you have it. That said, a couple of comments... (and I'm a noob, so pardon my naiveté)

1. why does everyone keep saying the lighter folks have so much of an advantage in the bodyweight exercises? If you're bigger, don't you have more muscle mass than a smaller person, and therefore greater potential for greater strength? (I'm not even talking about running a 10k, here, just regular bw exercizes.)

2nd comment: what about weight classes, plus for the CF Games? In jiu jitsu tournaments we have weight classes, but also have what we call an "absolute" division, in which anyone who wants to compete against anyone else, regardless of weight, can. At 120 lbs, I could be fighting a 200 lb woman in the absolute. This way, a 185# DL wouldn't seem so unfair (heavy to me, not so much to that 200lb woman). I think this would make more sense for the men's competitions, where there are many more different sizes. The women might even all fall within the same one or two weight classes. thoughts? (Please also answer my bw question, because that seems to come up alot!)

I'm not going to back off my perception that a 155 lb. Grace is not a good event for a 135 lb. person.

At the same time, on contemplation, I have to say I like the randomness, even wildness inherent in competitions of this sort. I think one could draw an analogy with poker. If you watch the World Series of Poker, you see a lot of the same faces every time, even though presumably their cards are every bit as random as everyone elses. Why is this?

Skill. But even the best can't win every round if they don't have the cards, and they get called. So they lose sometimes, but on balance, over time, they win.

The notion of a CrossFit competition circuit is interesting, but unless sponsorshipe emerges, I don't see how any of the top people could afford to travel around, and it's not clear how many would really want to make the sport so central a part of their lives.

As I now see this, the sport of CrossFit has an inherent chaotic element to it, in that as the events change, different people will win. It's like a target that moves on you. On balance, over time, people like Speal and Josh and Jason will win or place high frequently, but on any given day or set of days, a lot of it comes down to the luck of the draw, and their capacity to make up any deficits in their fitness.

This setup reminds me a lot of a horse race. You can do your analysis up front, but you never know for sure who's going to be on that day, and how the conditions will play to everyone's strengths.

Very interesting.

Made up yesterday's WOD.

105#, 30 reps - 8:12

Never done these, trying to get form down.

CALISTA!!!!!! What a trooper! My voice is destroyed for cheering you on!
I am ever impressed with the men and women who crossfit and don't need to. Us in the Military, Fire, LEO, do it for our livelihood but you citizens who suffer with us are amazing.
After witnessing the games I am even more proud to serve and protect such great Americans.
Thanks...
It is my honor to serve you all.

Easily one of the best experiences of my entire life. If you are not a part of this community, you are seriousily missing out. Hope to have pics up on our site in the next day or two.

I laugh at anyone who thinks that CrossFit is a trend. The Games simply reinforce the fact that the CrossFit community is here to stay for years come - and its only going to keep getting better and better. Watch out!

hari,

two considerations:

i am curious what effect the order of the events has had in this argument. if the 30 C&Js had taken place on day one with the DLs and thrusters, speal would not have been in 1st place; in fact, he may not have been in the top 20. furthermore, someone else would have been in first (i am guessing khalipa, but i haven't gone back and looked at the numbers). then imagine the run comes out of the hopper on sunday. things look a little different now, with the final event clearly favoring the lighter, faster athletes. speal makes up significant ground, khalipa barely holds on in an exciting finish.

now imagine a 5K comes out instead of the hill run. khalipa probably loses his grasp on 1st, speal may even win, and, well, there might be a few complaints about how the final even was biased towards the little guys.

your points seem to make sense, but i wonder if there is more to consider. CF pushes for increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains, and while this is clearly the goal in the programming of the WoDs, i wonder if we get a little too caught up in it, and miss out on the desired end from these means. specifically, we want that increased work capacity so that we may take on any given task assigned to us, whether it's running a 10K, DL-ing 450 lbs., or C&J-ing 20 lbs. more than our bodyweight 30 times.

#43 I have to say that I disagree with the idea of "allowing athletes an option of choosing a lighter weight and a higher number of reps during a given WOD". Would it be fair just to allow larger competitors to decrease reps and lift heavier weight? I really don't think so.

Conceptually I think that would violate the core tenants of crossfit. Overall fitness across time and modal domains. Natural limitations as a result of size is just one of those things. I like to think crossfit conditions us for whatever presents itself in our real lives as War Fighters/Firefighters/Law Officers/ect... Unfortunately if a smaller athlete is presented with a real-world need to lift an extremely heavy load (carrying your buddy who is 250 +60 lbs of gear out of a firefight) they are ass out just as much as if someone told me I had to do a set of 100 non-stop pull-ups (or some real world situation requiring ludicrous amounts of body-weight relative endurance)at 220/6'3". At the end of the day you have to be there to the job. Whatever that job is. I think the idea that someone can go from first place to tenth place shows how effective the system is as a "shit hits the fan" training system. People always say "any given day" in professional sports. Well in crossfit...it really is ANY given day.

Hats of to dave castro & the crossfit crew. The event was ran perfectly... it's rare that an event of this sort is set up to be both ideal for the competitors and the spectators. this was a 1st class show.
special thanks to the judges as well... you guys had 2 VERY long days under intense circumstances and you guys did a great job... enthusiasm & attention to detail from hour one thru hour 15... amazing.
also a big thank you to the crew in the medic tent... you guys kept me in the games... sorry i gave you so much work to do!
crossfit games next stop... ESPN (or atleast the OCHO)

Did Micheal today in 28.31

Congrats coach and everyone who participated in organising the game, and it goes without saying a hearty BRAVO to all the competitors. Well done everyone.

Esteban #96

One thing to consider is that the hill run had in fact very little effect on the overall standings. Unless the order of the events changed the times significantly, Khalipa would have been sitting on a comfortable 1:30 lead or so, and lost only a handful of seconds. If a 5K had come out of the hopper in your scenario, that's another story.

Unless I missed it, I have not seen a single competitor bitch about the rules, the workouts or the judging/scoring. Why should we?

Just got back last night well...1230am this morning from the 2008 Crossfit Games in Aromas, Ca. What an amazing event. Surrounded by 300 crossfit competitors and much much more spectators and judges and what not. Been Crossfitting since around last years games..maybe around June we started the WOD's. I've never been around more elite athletes in my life. All of us from Crossfit Kinnick had an amazing and life altering time. We are all now more motivated than ever to continue to push hard and become the best athletes possible. We all plan to be running with the big dogs next year for 2009. I personally dont know how my body or anyone elses body's handled such a grueling test of fitness with 3 extremely difficult work outs in 1 day followed by an even more difficult workout on sunday. I ended up finishing in the top 80, #77 and am darned proud of it. Being able to be that close to the top guys is something I didnt realize I would be able to do and at the same time I was extremely humbled by how strong everyone there was and is. Great time and cant wait until next year. I almost didnt go to the games because of my wife being almost 8 months pregnant so I have her to thank for the wonderful birthday gift (today is my 29th birthday) and I have my bro Jonathan to thank for getting everything set up for me to go at the last minute...and I do mean the last minute. I found out that I was going about 13 or 14 hours before we left. I was finishing a 12hr shift at the restaurant and I got the news. SUCH GREAT NEWS IT SURE WAS!!!! Great job to everyone that went with us and everyone that was there. Great Job to Jason for being the Winner of this years event. But I would like to take my hat off to Josh Everett for being in the top 3 for 2 years in a row. That to me is a true crossfit stud. We train not to be the best at one thing but to be very good if not great at everything and that shows in Josh Everetts performances the past 2 years. Cant wait for next year. Crossfit is life.

Jeremy Kinnick

37/m/5'11/165

Spent the weekend with the inlaws so that was grueling enough for me. Took advantage of the surprise rest day and did a very scaled version of the Games workouts.

Fran 30#db 15-12-9 reps, 6:44
Rest 5:00
5'00 of: 185#Dl, 5 reps & 10 Burpees, 3 rounds + 2 DL
Rest 5:00
5:00 Run: 900m
Rest 5:00
5:00 of: 115# C&J, 10 reps

Total Time 36:44 (that was plenty, thank you very much)

As the medic moves to lift his end of the litter to a platform overhead, he stops and says "lets cut this guy in half instead, and I'll get it done much faster."

Nature doesn't adjust for bodyweight.

I was fortunate to serve as a judge / timer for this event and it was amazing! To see these top level atheletes up close was simply awesome. Crossfit and its community is special and we are changing lives everyday....believe it. Go spread the word, get a friend / co-worker / neighbors to a workout and lets blow this up!!!

Walking around the event yesterday surrounded by extremely fit individuals sharing the same passion just added fuel to my inspirational tank. Lets do this!

Congratulations to the competitors from top to bottom for putting it on the line and giving it everything.

#43 Hari, give it a rest, maybe the taller guys should get fewer reps since the bar travels so far, or the heavy guys only run part of the run because they're heavy. I really don't think coach cares wether someones big/small, tall/short, skinny/fat. 3-2-1-Go!

Was it fair that the NFL lineman had to do pull-ups and burpees? CrossFit is more than calisthenics, more than powerlifting, more than weightlifting, more than running or rowing, its all those thing wrapped into one, thats just what it is.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Games and to Crossfit for putting on such a complicated event! I have only been crossfitting for a few months now, but I was checking for updates religiously.

I just want to say how amazed I am that people are not only completing, but competing in these workouts. I think the only thing I could have finished was the run and even that looked brutal. I am just amazed that people are doing things like timed 275# deads over and over again! I am totally inspired by these feats every day and cannot wait until I can accomplish something like that. My gym was closed for the holiday weekend, and I cannot wait to get in there and rip it up. I am thrilled any day that I can just complete a WOD as RX'd, but I am always humbled by the performances I see on this site. I cannot wait to see more videos from the Games!

The games looked like they were awesome. I am going next year to help.

In all seriousness, a similar event could be held at the Olympics in 8 years.

Could you imagine that? A nine-event competition run over the course of 3 days pitting the fittest among the fittest against each other? Oh that would be AWESOME.

An Olympic event anyone can train for in their garage. Frickin' awesome.

I did today:
DL+Burpee combination with 125kg--->7'38"
5' rest and
FRAN: 6'09"

First time posting, been doing crossfit for about 2 months now and its great, trying to keep up with the wod's, that c&j killed me, but i just wanted to say congrats to all the crossfit gamers and thanks to all the crossfitters out there, i'm sure you heard it all b4 but this is unlike any exercise program i've ever done and i'm improving everyday at it thanx to you all, so thanx again crossfitters

JerseyCowboy1217

#104 CraigH

I couldn't have said it better myself!!!

Congrats to Jeremy T. from CF Central here in Austin, TX! Amazing!

If you review the comments from today and yesterday, both here and on the crossfit games site you will find that there are those who say the C&J wasn't fair because the weight was too heavy for the smaller guys. You will also find that there are those who said it wasn't fair because Jason was strong enough to just thrust the weight up. To me this speaks to the thought that was put into picking 155#. Seems to me that the weight was light enough so that a guy like Speal could contend and other competitors could grind it out to the finish. At the sane time 30 reps at 155# was heavy enought to humble even the strongest of competitors. The only exception turned out to be the winner, which seems fitting (tip of the hat to Max as well with a 3:24).

I think 30 reps at 155# was the Goldilocks choice. Just Right...

On another note, Good on OHIO. Caity, a fellow OSU grad who resides in Columbus and Josh an Ohioan who got out. Great work Caity and Josh.

Crossfit should introduce weight classes for next year's Games. This will eliminate the debate of the Games favoring a lighter or heavier athlete.

Hmm I think I agree with the weight classes

not that I am anywhere near ready to be in the CF games, if I were I would feel at a disadvantage: having to C&J 100lbs when i do not weigh much more than that.

Great job to all the competitors, you guys kicked a$$ !!

Too much complaining. Rest Day <> post complaints to comments.

After day one EVERYONE complained that the workouts were weighted too much toward the lighter guys.

Today MOST EVERYONE is complaining that the workouts were weighted too much against the lighter guys.

problem #1: make up your mind.
problem #2: deal with it.
problem #3: Never look a gift horse in the mouth (talkin' to u Johnny)

re: crossfit circuit (#82)

I confess this idea appeals to me.

I suppose certain WOD's could be designated as part of the circuit, and those wishing to compete could submit their times (by honor system, real time video, etc...)

The finals could be held as the games currently are and would combine all submitted times from circuit WODs as well as the events at the games to determine the winner.

Sounds like the Games were awesome yert again. Hopefully next year I'll be able to make it. Keep up the great work Dave & everybody. Coach and everyone else, hope to see you soon.

Had a messed up workout scheduale so tday did Fran :03::10)& the ran 2.25 miles. Back on track tomorrow.

Get some, Go again!

I was surprised by the absence of OPT on the podium. He was due to compete at Albany on May 31-June 1 and scratched due to, or so I was lead to believe, a calf injury. If so, it would have hampered his hill climb and perhaps even the burpees. Let's not forget him too quickly; he was a noble champion and hopefully he'll be back next year.

I completely diagree with the weight classes discussion. I would advocate an open division that crowns the top crossfitter and then sub-divisions by either weight and/or age if we simply must pass out cookies to more people. What is the obession with wanting to accomodate every request for fairness and inclusion. I don't see Dutch or Speal wanting to be thought of as light weights.

I am in awe of all of the competitors - wonderful..

Did anyone notice that Jason's run was under 4 minutes, pretty phenomenal time. Speal continues to inspire me (being of the smaller persuasion myself). I don't really care who the games were more "biased" towards. I realized that the games, the competitors, the work output is all a testament to what will be in the future. Speal will be back, stronger than ever, Jason will be back, a force to be reckoned with, and I will continue to use crossfit in my daily life in order to be more effective at my job (a firefighter). Thank you for the motivation. Tremendous work everyone.

Joel Stevenson

P.S. My pick for next year is The "Manimal"

m/33/150/5'4"

SC&J x 30 reps
16 min

Used 115#

On this unexpected rest day, I thought that some might be interested in this New York Times article, which includes a discussion of the unique benefits of rowing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/health/07hearts.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1215439201-QNWsNqiUaijgIEZK97vtAw

Next year, Crossfit Games should build an obstacle course similar to Ninja Warriors!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dMRR_Mpf7nk

j/k.

congrat's to the winners and the participants!

#177:
"I confess this idea appeals to me.

I suppose certain WOD's could be designated as part of the circuit, and those wishing to compete could submit their times (by honor system, real time video, etc...)"

Possibly design and implement a virtual venue/circuit similar to what C2 does? Affiliates could help in setting up the infrastructure to capture & record the times of competitors for an internationally scheduled "virtual" venue. Scores could be compiled using something like logitall.com (?).

Then we're back to Hari's question; how are apples and oranges compared? How are WODs normalized against one another in order to determine an objective "Work-output Achieved" metric.

sorry, reference s.b. #117 not #177...

My hat goes off to all there. All of you made this years Games such a wonderful and greacious experience.

What an incredible vision, what an awesome weekend, what an honor it was to be there and meet everyone. I love this family called CrossFit.

Congrates to everyone.

Gill - you were so much fun and I enjoyed meeting your NY crew!!!!!!!!

tucker

How about beer pong in 2009? But, only if there's weight classes because "little" guys get drunk too fast ;)

Congratulations to all who participated. It was an awesome event and to my brother Jeremy Thiel who put all heart and soul on the line! YOu rock bro, you make me proud!

#105-Ed,
X2 brother, I could not agree more. It was nice to meet you at the Games Sunday. I will be giving you a call so we can do a WOD together soon.

To all the athletes, BZ! To the volunteers/judges and timers, great job, it was awesome working with you all. I hope to see ya again next year, or at a cert sometime.

"Bingo," nice to meet you in person, you are a stand up guy, hope you had a good flight home.
(I was the older volunteer with the black/grey beard).

Dale, well said, my friend, it was a grand treat to spend the weekend with you and Bingo. Thanks for taking good care of me.

Robb, comments were right on as always.

Hari, Barry, if you are going to scale the heavy end, then I think you have to scale the light end as well. A six foot athlete has to move the weight further than a 5 foot 8 inch athlete, for example, taking more time and energy for bodyweight efforts, thrusters, deadlifts, C&J, pullups, etc. If you want to be 'fair' that must be accounted for just as much as the mass that is being moved.

"what would the public have thought about seeing Speal go from first place to tenth place after being assigned 20 lbs over his bodyweight for the C&J?"
- No way to know, and no spectator was more personally frustrated by the ending that I (I wanted Speal to win it), but it happens all the time in sports of all kinds (like the Super Bowl when a bunch of seeming under achievers, that couldn't find their glutes with either hand in mid season, wrecked the NFL's would be 2nd perfect season).

Thought experiment - how would everyone's analysis of the 'size advantage' be different if the hvy squat C&J been the first event vice the last?

FWIW, Speal beat my time handily on hvy squat Grace despite my 75 pound weight advantage. Speal is a strong, strong man.

Seeing the whole thing up close and personal was almost as intense as competing. I saw Jason K running the hill and could hardly believe my eyes - that big dude hit the bottom of the hill and was gone like a gazelle. It was impossible to miss the athleticism, power, guts. I couldn't see his C&J event (standing at the other end of the 'field'), but as all of you know that did it, his performance was astonishing to consider.

John W, thanks for your comments; I'm looking forward to meeting you 'hand to hand' one day.

Even though I was anything but a contender, I will be glad every day of my life for getting myself out there to 'do it.'

If they post the video of Calista C&Jing 100 pounds, make sure you see it; preferably somewhere you can scream you lungs out cheering. There will be few efforts more inspiring than hers. She's a grand young lady, and freakishly strong!

Of the infinite number of incredible sights of the weekend, I hope they caught the shot of Josh E careening down the hill on Sat AM; unbelievable athleticism, every step bordering on a complete wipeout, incredible to see.

If you have not been to a CF cert or an event, you would not be able to believe the genuine humility and decency of the group there, from athletes to to coaches to vendors and support staff. I don't know how that can be sustained going forward, but it is remarkable. As KStar said, "There's nothing else like it in the world."

Coach and Lauren - wow! Was it like a dream come true or what?

Paul

The events rocked! Questions over the accuracy of the events (how well they describe the ultimate level of fitness) seem fair to me. It's an important question (The subject of the first journal, no less).

I initially felt that the final event didn't quite balance out the lightness of the first 3, but the results give me pause. (Maybe Coach knows a thing or two after all). I probably underestimated the the tax imposed by the other events.

People discuss whether a golf course favors particular golfers, without questioning the validity of the course or winner. People can do the same here.

Their awe of the competitor , especially the winner, is not in question. And no one is saying the contest wasn't fair and, inspirational.

Comment #77 - Posted by: kevin Suttmoeller

I think we all did Kevin! Paul

Hari's comments on letting athletes tailor the load and reps to suit their own style is intriguing, and I hope that it gets experimented with. Just the same, I think I like the way the games were formatted.

Another question though: Does anyone know why recognition wasn't distributed by weight class as well as over all? I for one would be very interested in having a quick way to set goals (at least in the long term) based on competitors in my own weight class, as well as the total distribution. Not to mention being able to look at trends in weight class: what percentage of the top 20 (50, whatever) are in each weight class?

Just a thought to spur more discussion, not to detract from the monster achievements of all the contestants - truly something to be proud of!

"Comment #82 - Posted by: Mark Brinton at July 7, 2008 9:27 AM
I agree; but, given the huge swath of broad time and modal domains, I wonder if any amount of programming for a two day event will suffice to bring this out of the noise."

Interesting thought, and perhaps we'll see that, but if it never happened I would still be perfectly satisfied with what we saw out there. That day, those events, there was one guy and gal who were the best, and there were a ton of other beastly performers on his heels.

It's an incredible show and at least as satisfying in its conclusion as the NFL and/or NCAA Div I football or basketball.

Can someone tell me what all the actual events were? I can see that they did the deadlift and C&J etc, but what was the weight, how many reps?

Per your request Bingo I'm posting.

Life is unfair, get used to it. Don't like the idea of weight equalizers, height classes or age distinctions.

The more I think about this, the more I begin to see fitness as a sort of statistical distribution. In quantum physics you can model very accurately, for example, the average rate of decay for a particular uranium isotope--the half life. But you can never say with certainty exactly when the next atom will decay. That is always random.

With respect to CrossFit, I don't think the perfect set of events can be concocted. No matter what is done, it will slightly favor someone. But if, hypothetically, you were to run 10 hopper events, patterns would emerge as to who is always near the top. If you did a 1,000, better yet. If you did a million, ranging from adventure racing to max deadlift, you would have a very good statistical ranking of various people.

There is a popcorn like effect--the image of which is evoked with the word "hopper"--in that you will never be totally sure how any given person's preparation will meet the reality of a time and modally fixed set of movements. But you can, I think, be sure that the fitter people will do well more consistently than those that we can by use of this very process define as less fit.

It is impossible to be equally prepared in every conceivable permutation of movement the mind of man can imagine. But you can be well prepared.

I'm thinking out loud, so the foregoing may or may not make sense, but the feeling and associated images seem congruent, so I'm posting anyway.

I agree with InfidelSix on this. We tend to lean towards overtraining as CrossFitters, but read the CrossFit articles on the importance of rest.

If you don't want to rest, make up a WOD. That's what I'm doing! Be creative for once! But keep it light because we have a full 3 days coming up.

If you dont like the videos, dont watch them!

In the meantime, the Coaches is doing are doing a fine job on showing us how to rest Pre and Post Competition. Thanks!

Has Heavy Grace ever come up as a regular WOD?

I HAVE A STRONG OPINION ON THE PRE- GAMES WK AND A HALF WODS. IF THE COMPETITORS HAD ACTUALLY STUCK TO THE WOD'S I BELIEVE THEY WOULD HAVE HAD A STRONG ADVANTAGE OVER THE COMP. IT SEEMS AS IF EVERYONE HAD ALTERED THERE TRAINING! WHY HAULT THE TRAINING THAT IS FOR EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO. SINCE I DID NOT COMPETE I KEPT UP WITH THE PRE WK AND A HALF WODS. WHEN IT CAME GAME TIME AND I SAW THE GAMES WODS. COACH WOULD HAVE SET YOU UP TO BE A TRIPLE THREAT IF YOU MAINTAINED THE WODS. IT ALMOST SEEMS THEY WERE SPECIFICALLY DRAWN UP TO BRING OUT THE BEST OF EVERYONE AT THE GAMES.
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE BEST PREPERATION BAR NONE FOR THE GAMES. tAKE A LOOK AT THE LAST WODS LISTED KB SWINGS 1.5 THRUSTERS 95 21 PU I THINK THAT WOULD MAKE FRAN SEEM EASIER. ALL THE PUSH, JERKS, SQUATS,CLEANS, SHOULDER PRESS, AND DEAD LIFTS. I KEPT UP WITH ALL THE WOD'S AND POWERED THROUGH ALL THE WOD'S OF THE GAMES WITH EXTRA POWER. I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING NEXT YR

RE: weight classes.

Weight classes are useful in specialized events. CrossFit specializes in not specializing. Being bigger and more muscluar is an advantage in max effort lifts. If 21-15-9 Box Jump/Pull-Up came out of the hopper it would be a major disadvantage. The idea of not being able to predict what the events will be makes people train for the broadest, most inclusive and general fitness possible, and that is the point.

Speal, for all his athleticism, could benefit from more muscle mass to be a more well-rounded athlete, and my money is on him to develop it and come back to the games next year at a whole new level of beastliness.

#139;

Yes, I like the analogy. The 2008 Crossfit Games (absolutely glorious, btw) generated several well designed discrete measurements to generate some of Coach's "area-under-the-broad-time-modality domain" work curve.

Just got back to Cincinnati this afternoon from competing in the Games!
What an amazing event, first class in terms of everything, esp. organization, running on time etc.!
I thought the events were well chosen, and there will always be somebody who thinks the lighter or heavier competitor was at an advantage, you can't make it right for everybody, just come prepared for whatever coach throws at you and give your best!

Even though I DNF the Thruster/Pull-up WOD (missed the cut-off time by one Pull-up) I had a blast and will definitely work my butt off in order to improve my performance for the Games 2009!
Thanks to all the judges that cheered us athletes on to give our best as well as the spectators in the stands, the place was rocking during the final heats in both the women's & men's competition!

#143; your advice to Speal certainly holds for this year. What happen's, though, if the "30 muscleup" WOD comes out of the hopper next year? Strength-to-weight ratio is then a distinct advantage over Strength.

A huge thank you to all the crew that volunteered and made the Games possible.
Congrats again to everyone who competed. The performances were inspiring.
I was fortunate to have great judges who also cheered me on. You helped make a difference in my performance. Thanks again.
It was great to meet so may people that were once only names. Ken C., BleedCF, Bingo, Ian Carver, Freddy C., Robb Wolf, Annie & many others. What a great community.
I look forward to 2009.

M/38/6'1"/183
Personally I think the current design of the Games was very effective and there is no doubt the top 20 CrossFitters are the fittest by our own definition . The power demonstrated by anyone completing that final WOD in less than 5 minutes, or less than 10 for that matter is astounding. Are certain athletes better equiped physically for CrossFit, hell yeah they are, is LeBron James better equiped for the NBA, is Brian Urlacher better equiped for the NFL, Federer for Tennis, etc, etc...There will always be advantages physically and genetically for certain individuals, but one thing is clear, this system works for everyone!! I will never compete at the level of the top 50 CrossFitters at this years Games, but I am a better man both physically and mentally because of CrossFit. After following this years Games, and participating at home, I am more motivated than ever to better myself and anyone who would grind it out with me. How about you?

Congratulations to everyone at the Games. A special way-to-go to Jeremy Thiel from Crossfit Central who gave me and my buddies from Ft. Hood some great training last year.

Congrats to everyone: participants, volunteers, spectators, and of course, Coach and Lauren. History has been made!! "This is CrossFit!!"

Nice job Jeff Tincher from CF Fairfax. Fifth place finish not too shabby. I was at the Virginia Beach Cert. June 28th - 29th where Jeff was an instructor and did an awesome job along with all the others.

Still frustrated that I couldn't do the WODs this weekend, as a bad elbow has been keeping me from doing much upper-body work. Still, I did the CFE workout today, and wow! It's a killer. Try it if you ever get bored with regular crossfit - heh.

I think these debates are expected and are all interesting and fun. Remember what we are all about - total fitness. Of course it's hard to have events tht would encompass every aspect of fitness that would test everyone fairly. What I hope is that they vary the events in the games from year to year...some years more strength emphasis, some more MetCon, some longer events, etc. That way, there is no training "just for the games". All the competitors would have to ensure that they are training to be well rounded in all possible events. I think it would be great to have differentt athletes at the top each year.

Ultimately, if the CrossFit took of so great that competitions were held throughout the year (with a more varied events) and the athletes had sponsors and monetary incentives, you could do something like combine scores from all the different competitions and have an overall champ for the year. And/or have people qualify for the Crossfit games and have the best of the best compete at the end ofthe Crossfit "season".
Anyway - I love CrossFit.

The games are good the way they are now
Stop whining, life is not fair
K- Keep
I- It
S- Simple
S- Stupid
The enemy does not care about weight classes
The Inmate does not care about weight classes
The criminal does not care about weight classes
The fire does not care about weight classes
Do Crossfit to:
Defeat your enemy
Save your own life
Save your family's lives
Save you partner’s life
Have fun
Courage and loyalty are my virtues
Honor and Fidelity

#67 John Wopat

Had to chime in with a small correction:

Jeff Tincher is a manager/trainer of CF Fairfax, not Alexandria (also a great gym -- I've had the chance to work out at both). I figured if he went he'd do well - the dude is a beast. Maggie from CF Fairfax did an awesome job as well.

I also have to say I'm glad to be part of a movement that is obviously taking off. Crossfit blows away anything I've done previously and I plan to stick with it for the long haul. How can you go back to lame bodybuilding or cardio routines after experiencing what a real workout feels like?

I have watched the youtube video of the final event - I don't question the event selection, in fact I think it was outstanding and extremely fair.

In watching Jason's very impressive strength in the final event, I observed that, of the reps that were shown, none appeared to be in conformance with the standard.

Specifically:

(1) I did not see him lock out any of the reps shown, and in fact he wasn't particularly close to doing so.
(2) Both his judges were standing in front of him, and were not in a position to even see whether any portion of his ear was visible at the top, much less verify that it was.

The other competitors that were visible in the video all clearly locked out at the top of their reps (for example, Speal clearly did on all of the reps seen on the video). Also, each other competitor that was visible in the video had a side judge watching carefully.

In terms of whether Jason jerked the weight, it certainly did not appear that he did so. While I agree the description of the event does not specifically mention that the weight must be "jerked", the name of the event does. Again, in the video, it certainly appeared that most others "jerked" the weight.

#156 - Pete - by the time of that last event, it was clear that the judges would let a thrusted push press go; iow, jerking not an issue at all. If you had the smack to shoulder press it, you could have done so.

Don't 2nd guess it - it's done and it was called by folks that were there. He did it, he won, it was incredible to see.

Perfect officiating is like fairness - it will never happen on this earth.

Paul

Catch up day
Fran 5:04 jumping pull ups
Run 800m hill 4:43
Will do DL/burpees in a couple of hours.

Fran kicks my ass!!

F/27/128

#154... nice comeback to Pete's well-put statement. I think there should be a couple other elements to the 10 skills of an athlete: Intellect (i.e. MMA fighter show this well) and Sportmanship. Okay, I'm only half serious.

I want to through something out there: In the olympic weightlifting competitions (although they are in weight classes), 2 lifters can lift the same amount of weight BUT one may get the better placement because he weighed in a couple pounds lighter. So in proportion to his size, he achieves more. Maybe the Games should do a WOD like 30 BW C & J for time. I like how the Games were kept easy with time totals.

I competed in the games and just missed the C&J by 2 reps, so close!!! Very frustrating, especially since I think I was the highest ranked person to DNF! Frustrating. Still, I'm very happy with my performance and know what I need to work on for next year. As a little guy I wasn't happy to see that C&J workout come up, but every workout is going to favor someone, no avoiding it, the most well rounded athlete's will come out on top over time. As many have said it's impossible to get a perfect system in a 2 day event.

The one thing I do kind of have an issue with though is that there was essentially zero variation in time, the whole "broad time and modal domain" thing kind of got cut and half this weekend didn't it.

Ok, one other big issue I had was why did they have to have it on 4th of July weekend!!!! I got to spend my 4th of July in a car driving for 8 hours. Please do this on a different weekend next year, I don't like missing my 4th of July, plus it makes the traveling much harder with more traffic and such.

What I would like to see in the future though is more competitions. It's kind of annoying coming out of this and being all jazzed up and ready to go but knowing I have to wait a full year before I get to do it again. It would be cool if we could get some similar style competitions going as a lead up to the CF Games. I encourage all of you out there to try and get groups of affiliates in near by locations to join up and try and put on regional events and such.

Age before weight.

If weight classes are ever put into CF ,then you would have competitors cutting weight to gain an advantage. (Ask anyone who has ever cut weight for competition if they think it's healthy.)

Maybe height or age classes. There is already gender classes.

One significant difference between the men and women is Testoterone levels. Men simply are stronger because of this hormone. That's why, as I'm aging (and T levels drop), I look to the women and should be able to at least do what they can do. There are women who can smoke me in every CF manner. Never mind a 20-30 year old male.

Here are my numbers for saturday: (112° in shade)
Fran (new pu standards): 9:47
275# DL&burpees: 11:07
run 1.6k: 8:28

I know there are women who could beat this even with the mens weight. Young men of CF would cry if they had these numbers. I am pumped. All of you young CFers should really see if this works for us old CFers. We are your future. These could be your numbers in 20 or 30 years.(BTW, after 3 months of CF, I'm still improving.)

So, I submit, age classes before weight classes. If you don't agree now, you will in a few more years.

It was an amazing experience at the games this weekend. If I have one or two suggestion for future games it would be to have weight and age class.
oh and performance enhancing drug test.

Quick note on classes. I am absolutely against weight or height classes, it just doesn't make any sense at all for CF, some workouts favor short some tall, some light, some heavy, we all need to do everything.

I do think age divisions should be added eventually. The real reason for age divisions is just to hand out more awards, but what's wrong with that? It's fun and adds some extra competitive spirit for the majority of us who don't have a shot at the overall podium. There would of course still be the open division for the top spots. I think we need to wait until there are more people at these events though. There just aren't enough competitors yet to justify breaking us up into groups at this point. I think it needs about double the competitors of this year before it starts to make sense.

THANK YOU CROSSFIT!!! I had a blast this past weekend at the games. What an amazing experience. I want to congratulate every woman and man that competed. This past weekend was a true test of not only physical but mental strength. I learned so much about myself and my workout abilities. It was amazing to watch everyone pushing themselves to the limits. You never saw anyone give up. No matter what the WOD people poured their blood, sweat, and tears into every second.

Kalista I am proud of you and we are all inspired by you. Keep it up and I hope to see you again soon.

Thank you Staff for everything. Especially for the help down the mountain of death!! Remember I want my "I survived CrossFit Mountain" T-Shirt.

No matter where you finished in the rankings you are all winners in my book. Look forward to seeing everybody and more next year!!

Did any of you who are complaining and crying over the games even go or participate?

It was an amazing thing to see. Each competitor had a random judge standing right next to them. And there where even more judges walking around watching over all the judges and competitors as well. On top of that everyone who created and built Crossfit to what it is today, where watching over them. So what some people are saying on this board is, that all those judges, officials, and even the Coach himself have no idea what they are doing out there.

You can break it down if you want and compete with people who are the same height, weight, build, experience level, same color hair, and have the same first name as you if want…

What I saw out there were 300 people who were ready to take on all comers and challenges.

3,2,1…Go!

Here are a few numbers for everyone. Of the top 38 female and 119 males their was 2281100 pounds lifted. (that doesnt count for missed reps, the pull ups or the burpees) That is 10550 # women and 15800 # for men for the two days. That doesn't count all the participants that didn't finish or scaled weight. I would love to have the actual numbers for everyone. Now that is a feat. I am proud of being a part of this weekend and calling my self a crossfitter. Everyone needs to make the trip to the games and bring a friend.

And the comment about not washing the shoes I dusted the shoes off on to a piece of paper and put it in a jar.

And the next time I am lifting a five hundred pound patient off the floor on to my cot into the back of the ambulance I will have to look back at the games remember how some of the greatest athletes busted out amazing feats and pull from that just to make it through that run. That is why I became a crossfitter but now after the games that is why Im hooked .

#161 Lee in Nevada

Congrats on competing. Good to hear from a fellow 50+ year old. Your results are impressive! Any other 50-60 year olds competing? How did you do?

Interesting discussion here. I just hope to achieve the best level of fitness I can at 51, and also to be able to run a half mile or so, jumping ditches and fences, then be able to shoot or take down and subdue the bad guy.

My CF total is OK, but have a long way to go metcon wise.

M/51/6'/200

oops! my posts say that I'm 26... I'll be a monster by then.

I like the sound of age classes; it gives our athletes something to be proud of - "I was in the top 5 in my age class". And of course we should always be pushing ourselves to be the best overall and OUR very best.

I dont like the idea of weight classes for the Games, for a smaller local thing then perhaps. More WODs like "Linda/3 Bars of Death" are what we should see more of at the Games. I dont believe in cutting weight or anything because it isnt beneficial to the athlete. While they weigh-in and look lean, they are actually at their weakest. Weigh in as you stand, immediately set up your bars, then 3-2-1-GO!

C: 15, 12, 9 of 95 # thrusters, kipping pu's. (Porch)

A: 21, 15, 9 of 25# thrusters; 7, 15, 9 gravitron pu's at setting 14. Her first day of CF! (Puppies)

Felt the urge for another strict Fran today- my sister in law timed me...5:56 PR

F/125/5'3"

Love "The Zone"!

Who wins CF Games after 1 year of dedicated CF training? Same WODs:

1. Lance
2. LeBron
3. Tebow

It's a no-brainer(TT). But each would be better off for it. That much is for certain.

The games will favor a strong guy, not too tall, not too big, with a heart like Secretariat.

They don't have a 10K in the Hopper card deck do they? I know I've seen it pop up a few times. Interestingly, the Games WOD's timed out pretty close. As long as you have a Hopper, you'll have debate. But that's a good thing for CF.