It's been a while since I've posted something new, hope it doesn't suck!
I've heard a lot of people say that this years Regionals Season was full of surprises, maybe...maybe not. Every year we see people make the same mistakes, neglect some movements in order to become better at others. As if there ever was an easier exercise than another. Maybe there is...maybe not.
I always tell any "mature" athlete that asks for my opinion about his training, that if by now you're not a pseudo-Olympic lifter, you won't become one...or at least in a year. And even then, your chances of winning the "heavy O-lift event" at Regionals or the Games is something that's not going to happen. So if we take into consideration that there will be 2 events with heavy Olympic Lifts (most of the time is just one), why spend a year obsessed about it?
The biggest problem I see in Athletes is they're not humble enough to accept they have a weakness...and if they do, they are not humble enough to accept the fact they need to pay more attention to address them. Others are victims of having bad Coaches, I'll get to that in a minute.
"If I was Samantha Briggs Trainer she definitely would be going to Carson to defend her title!"
The surprises we saw were not really surprises to me, I knew it was a matter of time we started seeing some of our favorite Athletes miss the Games. Now, the see the Defending Champ Sam Briggs miss the cut makes no sense to me.
THE LATIN REGIONALS.
The Latin American Region has grown so much since we were a part of the 2010 Regionals in Bogotá, Colombia. The venue, the number of competitors and most importantly, the level of the Competitors.
Two years ago Perú's Orlando Trejo surprised the CrossFit world when he was challenging the best CrossFit Athletes in the world week after week during the Open season. And it definitely put us on the map and let the world know we were ready to compete with the best in the near future.
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| Marcela Rozo. Latin America regionals |
The women's level has gotten better, but in general we're light years away compared to the best in each of the other Regions. But that's o.k., they are 4 years ahead of most of the females in the Region, so they're doing a hell of a job!
On the guys side, we're definitely closer to where we want to be. A lot of guys with a legit athletic background are getting in to CrossFit and are now training for the CrossFit Season. I think that's huge because the biggest problem I see as a Trainer is that a lot of the guys have a lot of weaknesses because they've jumped right into what I think is more complexed Training Programs and have negelected the basics.
This year we saw a new Champ and Orlando Trejo, the winner the past 2 years, move down to the number 4 spot. I've been kind of away from what's going on with a lot of the athletes, so have no idea if he wasn't healthy or if he just got dealt a bad hand with the WODs. The fact of the matter is, there's new blood entering the scene in all Regions and is going to be very difficult to repeat year after year as we've seen in the past. But the future is very promising.
"Wallballs, Burpees, Handstands, Box Jumps, Push-ups, Pull-ups, Running, Swimming and Deadlifts are not as Sexy as heavy snatches, but they will cost you a spot on the podium if you suck at them."
THE REGIONALS IN THE U.S. AND THE REST OF THE WORLD.
Surprisingly we didn't see a lot of the big names missing the cut in their respective Regions. Speaks a lot about how well a lot of these athletes train and most importanly how well they know their bodies.
Most of the standouts both on the womens and mens side made it to this year's Games. And the few that missed the cut, didn't miss it by much, which shows how competitive the "sport" has gotten and the little margin for error they have.
In Europe we say the CrossFit Princess get back in the game and earn her spot to Carson. The biggest surprise obviously was the defending Female Champ Samantha Briggs finish 4th and missing the cut. Even though she won 2 events, she missed the cut by placing 26th on one event. She finished: 5T, 26, 1, 2, 1, 1, 8. So, your "weakness" has to be better than what 95% of the field is doing. Period!
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| Lindsay Valenzuela, (2013 2nd place) and Samantha Briggs (2013 Champ) will miss this years CrossFit Games due to just a few bad finishes. |
"The biggest mistake CrossFit "Coaches" are making is most of them are programming as the rest of the world is doing and the reality is most of the well known Coaches still have it wrong!"
CROSSFIT AS A SPORT.
We have to first understand how CrossFit started and where it is now as far a Brand goes. But as a training methodology is where the biggest changes have happened...well, depends on your Coaches (hate to use that word!).
How people train has been affected by how the sport of CrossFit has grown. So, now we see almost every single box program as if they had 90% of their clients with the competitive fiber to make it to the Games. When the reality is they're not...even if they think they are.
Most of the people that discover CrossFit hated to train. Period. Notice I didn't say they hated "Globo Gyms", most do, but in the end most weren't going to parks to train, were searching for information about other ways of training.
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| Rich Fronning Jr. is even better this year, so it's going to come down to who did his work on and off the box to take his crown. |
Personally I've loved training my whole life, anywhere and doing anything I could think of or learn from other Trainers. I found CrossFit and like any other great tool I've found along the way in my Trainer timeline, I incorporated to my arsenal. But that's not how the average CrossFit "athlete" got into CrossFit. So in the end you have a gym full of well motivated guys and gals (which is awesome), but that have never been properly trained and assess their abilities. Therefor, you have a bunch of people with body alignment issues, muscular imbalances and even injuries that haven't been addressed before.
That's why is going to be very difficult to get those athletes to excell, because when the level of competition is really high, the little things are going to make the difference. Even though I personally think, muscular imbalances and body alignment issues are a bigger issue than any other physical problem we could think of.
"You don't become a better Football player by just playing Football, so I personally think you don't become a better CrossFit Competitor by just doing CrossFit".
The main problem I think a lot of athletes face and will face in the future is they are following programs that first of all don't address their necessities and because of lack of structure in their programs, they'll burn out eventually.
The other day I heard a guy say that injuries were a part of CrossFit...I've heard this a lot and it's actually sad. Because if nobody has told you have to take care of your body, that proper form comes first and whatever weight you lift second, then you my friend are in the wrong hands.
This is where a REAL COACH comes in and puts you in your place. He will create a program in which you'll excell, but most of all, in which you'll become a better, healthier version of yourself, not someone walking around with a bunch of unthreatened injuries.
I think we'll see a lot of non CrossFit trainers get in the game, because the smarter athletes are seeing maybe their local Coaches can't get them to take that extra step (talking about the top level athletes of course). At least in the new N.P.F.L. (National Pro Fitness League) I personally know of Trainers outside the realm of CrossFit have been contacted by athletes to prepare for the Combines. This is extremely positive, at least if the health of the athletes and their performace is the first thing on our minds.
If there's something we've learned since the first CrossFit Games is that some athletes don't learn and we'll definitely see veterans at the Game suck at things they've sucked throughout their Competitive careers, so there will be surprising results for sure. On the other hand, we'll most likely see the top athletes from recent years flirting with a podium finish.
All in all, the Games are always fun to watch. And if you look past if you like CrossFit or not, if you don't like what CrossFit has become, if you don't like CrossFit as a training method, it's fun to watch this sensational athletes (because they are!) go at it for 3+ days.
