I Wish I CrossFitted When I Was 15

15-Year-Old Karissa Rempel Is Going To Regionals

Have you heard of Karissa Rempel’s story? Check it out on the Games site here.

How crazy is that? Huge props to her! And her dad Dave is going to the Canada West Regionals as well on their affiliate’s team.

Man, if I knew about CrossFit when I was 15, I’d be a beast at whatever sport I did. Then again, I stopped playing team sports going into high school. So…

Are These Kids Too Young?

While I’m sure Karissa has all the right training and guidance to ensure her safety during these workouts, I’ve always wondered if you’re too young to train around that age. Yeah, there are kids programs out there which involve some of the basics of CrossFit, but I was shocked to find out that a 15-year-old was Rx’ing stuff and going to the Regionals.

At first I thought minors weren’t allowed to compete, but I found this old blog post for the 2011 Games that says minors can as long as they request the proper forms and have them signed and submitted by a legal parent or guardian.

I was just wondering about this whole age thing because I remember of kids in high school being told by their coaches not to do any weight training until a certain age. At that time in your life, your body’s still growing so you don’t want to mess any of that up, right? Once again, I’m not an expert. Just working off of the things I heard back then haha.

Regardless…

Huge props to Karissa and Dave Rempel for making it to the Regionals! I’d love to make it one day and I’m sure a lot of you readers would like to as well. You guys are an inspiration and make me want to get over my hate of running right NOW.

2013 CrossFit Games Opens…I’m coming for you 😛

Commentary On 2012 Regionals Commentary

Wait, What Commentary?

If you haven’t watched it already, here’s the CrossFit Games Update on the Regionals by Caity Matter Henniger, Rory McKernan, and Pat Sherwood:

Yes, it’s 30 minutes long. Yes, I watched the whole damn video. Yes, I’m that obsessed with CrossFit. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you probably are too 😛

So Why Commentary On Their Commentary?

I always find these Games Updates rather amusing. There’s a SportCenter-like feel to it, especially with the flashy menus and cheesy music, but they don’t take themselves so seriously and they know it. There’s that gritty feel to it that’s very much of the CrossFit culture. It’s just raw, despite the production values.

Let’s Get Started

Diane

Okay, the first thing they were really talking about was the WOD Diane for Individual Event 1. I’ve never done Diane before, nor would I be able to Rx it. 225# deads are around that threshold where a high number of reps would possibly fuck up my back. And handstand push-ups? Before my trip, I was able to do 1 legit HSPU! Now I weigh a bit more, just getting inverted is a hassle…

Everyone was saying that deads are pretty straightforward for the people who’ve made it to Regionals, so the HSPU’s will definitely be a bottleneck. That’s skill right there and some efficiency management.

“Efficiency management”? Well, it’s just something that came to mind. Not sure if there’s a legit term for it. Basically, in the case of this WOD, do you do strict HSPU’s or do you kip? Strict HSPU’s are obviously faster, but you need to take into consideration your abilities and how long you can maintain your shoulder strength for the duration of this WOD. Oh, you’re a beast at handstand push-ups and know you can plow through each one strict? Then by all means do that. You’ll have a speed advantage. However, for some, kipping through the whole WOD could serve beneficial. Starting off strict might gas the athlete out. Switching to the kip later on would help, but that initial wearing down from the strict HSPU’s would bring down his or her overall time for Diane.

That’s why it’s all about knowing your abilities.

8:11 – “HOLY SHIT!”

At 8:11 in the video, Rory starts talking about Individual Event 2, which is row a 2K, 50 pistols, and 30 hang cleans (225#/135#). Once done spitting that out, all Rory could say was, “HOLY SHIT!”

Then Pat nonchalantly responds, “Yes, thank you…” and continues on with his thing.

In this next screen, look at that smile on Rory’s face lolz. He knew that Pat had the perfect reaction to his “Holy Shit” and you know for sure Pat just enjoyed saying “Holy Shit” for the cameras. Better yet, Caity’s trying so hard not to crack up. She had a small laugh, but I could definitely see her blowing up in laughter. I would’ve done the same.

It’s subtle scenes like these that keep me coming back to these Update shows.

9:43 – “Balls To The Wall”

At 9:43, Caity talks about strategy for Event 2. Should you go…

Sure, there are obvious reasons why I find her saying “balls to the wall” so amusing. But, for those of us who watched the 2010 CrossFit Games online, some of us will never forget this gem of commentary during the final heat of Event 2 “Hell-in”. From what I remember, the female announcer was talking about pacing for the current workout and drops the phrase “ball to the wall”.

Her co-anchor didn’t seem too happy about the phrase, so he apologize to the audience at home for the language, since kids might be watching. Well, he should’ve said something about people constantly saying “shit” in the earlier portions of the stream haha. Oh the pre-ESPN2 days 🙂 #nostalgia

Edit: I found the video! Check out my post on the whole scene.

15:03 – Can I Get In On This?

Coming back from the commercials at 15:03, you see the trio having such a fun convo. Can I get in on this? For real. I think it would be so much fun just to shoot the shit about the CrossFit Games with these guys and gals. At least for all the Updates I’ve watched, every guest host seems to have been a good time.

21:42 – Why Chivalry Is Dead

Team Event 4 involves a “human rack” where a pair of men or women will have to hold the other sex’s barbell during a set of 50 pull-ups. ROUGHHHH.

When you think you can go for a break from the pull-ups and some squat variation, you need to lift up that weight onto your shoulders for your partners. Okay, for the men, that’s bad enough. For the women? It sucks cause they have to carry a much heavier weight on their shoulders. Ladies go first, huh? Yeah, workouts like this show why chivalry died a long time ago. You can thank Dave Castro for that 😛

It’s okay though, Rory says this workout provides “equal opportunity” lololol:

So I Think You Get It By Now

I don’t watch these Updates for technicalities or to learn stuff about CrossFit. Yeah, you might pick up on a few workout tips or random trivia info every once in a while. True…

…but I just watch the Updates for the lolz.

Thanks guys!

Get Some: 2012 CrossFit Games Regionals Workouts Announced

2012 CrossFit Games Regionals: Heavy Weight

If you’ve taken a look at this year’s Regionals workouts, you know right away that these WOD’s are really for the elite. No, I’m not talking about the “elite of the elite” going for the VIP Games tickets. Still haven’t checked out the Regionals WOD’s? Here they are for you to digest:

Individual Competition

Friday

Individual Event 1
“Diane”
21-15-9 reps for time of:
Deadlift (225# men / 155# women)
Handstand push-ups

Individual Event 2
For time:
Row 2000 meters
50 One-legged squats, alternating
30 Hang cleans (225# men / 135# women)

Saturday

Individual Event 3
Four rounds for time of:
10 One-arm dumbbell snatches (100# men / 70# women)
Sprint

Individual Event 4
For time:
50 Back squats (135# men / 95# women)
40 Pull-ups
30 Shoulder-to-overhead (135# men / 95# women)
50 Front Squats (85# men / 65# women)
40 Pull-ups
30 Shoulder-to-overhead (85# men / 65# women)
50 Overhead squats (65# men / 45# women)
40 Pull-ups
30 Shoulder-to-overhead (65# men / 45# women)

Sunday

Individual Event 5
Snatch Ladder with double-unders

Individual Event 6
For time:
Three rounds of:
7 Deadlifts (345# men / 225# women)
7 Muscle-ups
then,
Three rounds of:
21 Wall ball shots (20# men / 14# women ball to 10′ target)
21 Toes-to-bar
then,
100′ Farmer carry (2 – 100# men / 70# women dumbbells)
28 Burpee box jumps (24″ men / 20″ women box)
100′ Farmer carry (2 – 100# men / 70# women dumbbells)
3 Muscle-ups

For a more detailed breakdown of the individual workouts and some awesome videos, check out the official page of the Individual Regionals workouts here.

Team Competition

Friday

Team Event 1
For time:
20 Partner deadlifts (455#)
20 Handstand push-ups
20 Partner deadlifts (315#)
20 Handstand push-ups
20 Handstand push-ups
20 Partner deadlifts (455#)
20 Handstand push-ups
20 Partner deadlifts (315#)

Team Event 2
Each member of the four-person team must do the following for time:
Row 1000 meters
25 One-legged squats, alternating
15 Hang Cleans (225# men / 135# women)

Saturday

Team Event 3
For time:
10 One-arm dumbbell snatches (100#)
Sprint
10 One-arm dumbbell snatches (70#)
Sprint
10 One-arm dumbbell snatches (100#)
Sprint
10 One-arm dumbbell snatches (70#)
Sprint
10 One-arm dumbbell snatches (100#)
Sprint
10 One-arm dumbbell snatches (70#)
Sprint

Team Event 4
For time:
75 Back squats (95#)
50 Pull-ups
25 Shoulder-to-overhead (95#)
75 Front squats (65#)
50 Pull-ups
25 Shoulder-to-overhead (65#)
75 Overhead squats (45#)
50 Pull-ups
25 Shoulder-to-overhead (45#)
75 Back squats (135#)
50 Pull-ups
25 Shoulder-to-overhead (135#)
75 Front squats (85#)
50 Pull-ups
25 Shoulder-to-overhead (85#)
75 Overhead squats (65#)
50 Pull-ups
25 Shoulder-to-overhead (65#)

Sunday

Team Event 5
Snatch Ladder

Team Event 6
For time:
20 Muscle-ups while partner holds 225#
60 Wall ball shots (20# ball to 10′ target) while partner holds chin over bar
100′ Buddy and 100# dumbbell carry
40 Box jumps, alternating on 24″ box
100′ Buddy and 100# dumbbell carry
2 Muscle-ups
20 Muscle-ups while partner holds 135#
60 Wall ball shots (14# ball to 10′ target) while partner holds chin over bar
100′ Buddy and 70# dumbbell carry
40 Box jumps, alternating on 20″ box
100′ Buddy and 70# dumbbell carry
2 Muscle-ups

Click here for the official Team Regionals workouts page.

Later today I’ll be writing more commentary on these workouts, the vids going through the workouts, and even the commentary vid from HQ. Yes, I’m going to write some commentary on commentary. You dig?

So what do you all think about this year’s Regionals? Crazy shit, huh?