Congratulations to “The Warrior” Jacinto B on earning his ticket to the 2012 CrossFit Games. Jacinto is a former CFSBK coach, friend of the program, Active Recovery attendee and hero to all. Jacinto will be competing in the Masters (60+) age division, this will be his third trip to the Games.
The Open Is Over!
Congratulations to all who participated in the 2012 CrossFit Open. The workouts proved to be difficult and many showed admirable resolve in the face of intimidating movements, loads and rep schemes over the last 5 weeks. Our in house Open Champions are as follows:
Key: Name, Total Reps over all 5 workouts, (rank in the North East)
Men’s Division
1. Joe O’Neill: 876 Total Reps (r: 213)
2. Michael Mishik: 854 Total Reps (r: 257)
3. McDowell Myers: 839 Total Reps (r: 269)
4. Christian Reiss: 792 Total Reps (r: 525)
5. Dan Betz: 741 Total Reps (r: 646)
Women’s Division*
1. Melissa Loranger: 784 Total Reps (r: 149)
2. Ellie Myers: 753 Total Reps (r: 214)
3. Jessica Fox: 748 Total Reps (r: 279)
4. Kate Denny: 725 Total Reps (r:246)
5. Christine Denahan: 691 Total Reps (r: 462)
6. Kiki Proctor: 687 Total Reps (r: 367)
Masters 45-49 Division
1. Daniel Baldini: 453 Total Reps (r: 987)
Masters 50-54 Division
1. Robert Semmens: 619 Total Reps (r:96)
Team CrossFit South Brooklyn:
Ranked 58 out of 168 teams in the North East Region
Ranked 633 out of 1,774 teams Globally
*Scoring Note
Official CrossFit Open ranking is based on regional placement in each workout, not total reps. Because we’re comparing our in-house athletes, the order above is based on total reps. There are 6 spots included in the women’s divsion since Kiki’s Regional rank is within top 5 in our gym.
Top 3 Women World Wide
1. Kristan Clever 1,200 Total Reps
2. Julie Foucher 1,182 Total Reps
3. Annie Thorisdottir 1,159 Total Reps
Top 3 Men World Wide
1. Rich Froning 1,240 Total Reps
2. Sean Thomson 1,156 Total Reps
3. Kenneth Leverich 1,102 Total Reps
If you participated in the Open, please answer the following 3 Questions:
1. What did you get out of competing in the Open?
2. What did you think of the workouts?
3. Do you plan on participating next year?
______________________
5 Down CrossFit Games
Camille Leblanc-Bazinet sets a world record 173 Reps on 12.5 CrossFit Games
well, last year I was disqualified half-way through because I couldn't lift the weight off the ground so I suppose I'm making progress! I'll try again next year if everything still works…
Melissa Loranger Ranked 149!!!!
Great job everyone! Really inspiring and impressive work. I wish I hadn't hurt my shoulder on 12.2 I was having a lot of fun getting excited about Saturdays, and would have liked to see where I got had I been able to finish. Oh well. Next year.
As for the questions:
1.) I learned that USUALLY I am stronger than I give myself credit for and I should often try to go heavier than my initial gut feeling. However, with that said, sometimes, even if you WANT to be able to do something, your body might not be there yet — so don't ruin the next month of your training injuring yourself in the process. Balance. Is. Good.
2.) I thought the workouts were good (albeit very shoulder centric in the beginning…). I loved that even if you were fairly new to CrossFit and not a big time competitor you were at least able to push yourself and feel challenged.
3.) Yes.
Management- Tuesday needs an 8AM or 12PM class!
Strength Cycle A
Ran to the box and then my hip courted the LAX ball. I think those two are becoming serious.
Squat
WU 45×5 95×5 115×5
3×5 @ 145 These felt really good. Form seems to be more consistent.
Bench
WU 45×5 75×5
3×5 @ 95 These were less awkward this week and, dare I type it, light.
Deadlift
WU 95×5 135×5
165×5 My favorite lift. I really really love it. Must remember to chalk.
I only did a few of the Open workouts. The snatch taught me that I'm stronger than I think I am and the burpees taught me that half the battle is in my head and that sprinting is not my thing.
I always struggle with the RX's. Sometimes I wish there were weight class RX #'s.
This Open has been an up and down experience for me. Its really hard to have expectations. In the midst of competing I was disappointed in some of my scores, and really thought I'd "score" higher on some of the workouts. After completing the last workout of the open, I realized that like Dan B said above, this year i was able to complete all workouts as Rx'd. I'll take that as a massive +.
I'll def be competing again next year.
1. More perspective of what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. It was good to see how much I've progressed in the past year and what I need to work on in the next year.
2. I thought the workouts could have been programmed more appropriately. I don't think that they were a true test of who the best crossfitters are in the general population. I'm skipping the argument about the "top 10", they would be "top 10" regardless of what showed up.
I think the programming was heavily based on a lot of similar movements, week 4 and 5 were basically the same (wall balls & thrusters + muscle ups & chest to bar pull ups). Not to mention workouts 1 & 2 were throw aways. Did we really do 7 min amraps of burpees and snatches? I can only imagine that next year will be 10 mins of push ups. I don't really like the open format, it promotes poor standards and leniency in judging. I'm also biased because I competed in the sectionals a couple years ago where all the workouts were CrossFit workouts and judging at least was consistent and monitored at the event.
Another thought is that the open wods missed out on some specific skills/strengths. There was no heavy lifting in any of the metcon style wods. I think the leaderboard would change pretty significantly if we saw some heavier movements such as deadlifts, cleans, and squats. Not once was a handstand push up tested. I think that's a pretty classic body weight strength movement that requires some coordination and body awareness. I'm pretty sure if they had throw those into a workout the leaderboard would have shuffled dramatically. Also, because of the open and video standards, we'll never be able to test a run or a row, which I personally think is a huge factor to being fit.
All that being said, I enjoyed workouts 3 and 4. Those were classic workouts. I just miss the old days.
3. Naturally
1. What did you get out of the open?
The open gives me a chance to compete against myself, see how I stack up against the rest of the world and do some workouts/reps/loads that I wouldn't have normally done. For example I'd never done 135 Snatches in a metcon, ever, and to find out that I could actually do them, albeit slow, was very exciting for me. I also really enjoy the combination of spectator and participant roles that you get with the open. I was checking the leader boards every day, multiple times a day to see what was possible in these workouts and where the standings were going. Something about doing the workout and then being able to see the best in the world do it was very engaging for me.
Leading up to the open I was really excited to compete and test my fitness. My training, nutrition and sleep were all really good going into it but I stopped prioritizing my fueling and sleep around 12.2 and my scores fell off considerably. I did too many workouts on an empty stomach, off little sleep or with not enough warm-ups.
2. I thought they were okay, I didn't have problems with any specific workout but overall I wasn't crazy about the programming. I would have liked there to have been more classic triplet/couplet AMRAPS and 1-2 more heavy movements. The snatch, and to a degree the push presses were the only exercises that required a higher level of strength.
From my perspective, the point of the Open isn't to test fitness across all time and modal domains, it's limited to about 5-20 minute amraps and rowing and running can't be included for video submissions and equipment considerations. I think the point is to send the fittest to regionals and then the Games where wider ranges of capacity, skill and movement can be tested. Judging from who is being sent to regionals, they did just that.
3. I will 100% do it next year. I think the Open is fun and a great community event.
I didn't compete and am 100% satisfied with my decision not to. I still attempted all of the WODs, but since I was not a competitor, I was able to scale as appropriate so that I could get in a good workout even though I don't yet have strict pullups (I have A strict pullup, but not plural!), had a minor pec injury that prevented me from doing wallballs, etc. Maybe I'd feel differently if I did CrossFit 5x/week instead of 3x — but I think, given the limited number of times I work out in this way, I don't want to throw any of those away on a session of staring at the bar.
And, I still got to discover that there are things I thought I couldn't do that I can, in fact, do — for example, those 75# snatches, and I was also surprised at how many 65# thrusters I had in me. So I don't think I needed the competition in order to get that little extra out of myself.
That being said, of course I aspire to compete next year. I didn't want to, this year, because I knew there would be at least one or two full-stop roadblocks (like T2B or C2B pullups) if I had done everything Rx'ed. But I hope by next year I've increased my abilities enough that I can say with confidence that there shouldn't be any of those — that there might be movements that will slow me down, but not be a complete bar to progressing further.
1. What did you get out of competing in the Open?
I found some things I could do that I have never been able to do and faced that I am just not strong enough right now to really compete on the scales they put forward.
2. What did you think of the workouts?
Some were good some were eh… parts I loved but they also included things I did not think I could do or could only do limited amounts of.
The press killed what would have been my strongest movements… (Boxjumps and toes to bar)
3. Do you plan on participating next year?
yes
It's really difficult facing weights that are in excess of 2/3rd your body weight in high rep movements. That alone was my biggest hurdle. As I come up on my 1 year with crossfit I have seen myself get stronger in that time but I think I could be stronger. Not sure if my wallet can take the 5X a week (or my body) but I might try it in May.
Keith, i can suggest some excellent dining establishments to help you fix that 2/3 bodyweight problem. Dominos breadbowl pasta is an excellent starting point. Those weights will be only 1/2 BW in no time!
i liked the open . i think i pushed myself harder than i usually do and it gave me a chance to compete against friends at other boxes. like mike i would have preferred some deadlifts or HSPUs. Will most likely do it again next year
Congratulations to all of our athletes (especially the leaders)!!
My responses to the 3 questions (apologies in advance for kind of being a Debbie Downer):
1. I learned that I’m not quite ready for Rx-ed WODs, but I’m closer than I thought I was. I had a good experience with 12.3, which I shared previously. Overall, the experience gave me a lot of agita because I felt like I spent every week just trying to figure out how I was going to get through the next WOD. Granted, I live in a near constant state of agita, so take that with a grain of salt.
2. I didn’t get overly excited about any one WOD, although I liked 12.3. I missed 12.4 on account of the flu, so no comment on that one. It seemed to me that they were all shoulder-dominant, but a lot of things feel shoulder-dominant when you have teeny shoulder muscles 🙂
3. As of right now, probably not. I’m glad I gave it a shot this year, but I don’t think I’m up for Crossfit competitions in general. A lot of my goals were derailed during the past 5 weeks. I was always sore or preparing to be sore, which made it hard to work on my personal goals of push-ups and pull-ups. I almost lost my one chin-up that I’ve worked so hard towards, which isn’t worth it to me.
Luca: HA!
1. I realized that a lot of my training has not totally been in line with classic Crossfit programming. I especially learned that I need to bias Olympic lifting a little more, and that I have either lost or significantly diminished my ability to really gas it.
2. I was generally unimpressed with the programming. Even with the constraints mentioned in other posts, suckas had a whole year to think up some diabolical stuff that could be both accesible and twisted. Instead we got "do burpees for 7 minutes."
3. Sure.
Congratulations to everyone that competed, and to the gym for getting so many people involved. From the outside looking in, it seemed like coaches put forth a big effort for people to participate, and, in reading the blog, several of the gym's premier athletes really urged others to compete.
I first started coming to crossfit when it was in the BOTTOM of the lyceum, and there was, I believe, one rack, a small set of weights, a couple of kettlebells. If it wasn't the very very beginning, it was really close.
This place has evolved and I'm happy for everyone involved.
I don't see myself competing simply because I just have other priorities and too many things going on outside of the gym between work, coaching, etc. That's not at all a copout, it's a rational choice by me based on goals. It's a thrill to see everyone get after it together!
Congratulations to all.
Squat
275×3
315×3
365×3
405×2
Last night Margie told me she thought I could do a double at 405, she was right
5/3/1
225×5
255×3
285×7
That was a 5RM a year ago
Kroc Row
120×28
With those results I call a test on Jeremy. Actually I call to test the meat in the Oaxaca Tacos.
Awesome J.
squat rep out: 150×11 (PR)
quite happy with this. legs were completely fresh (hooray Wendler!) and the weight moved so well I didn't have to employ my planned strategy to shoot for a triple and then try to get a second one.
I'd have racked at ten if it hadn't been for Jeremy insisting I had another. he was right-actually my legs had several more, but my arms didn't.
in any case, thanks, Coach.
as a side note: I was wearing my heart rate monitor out of curiosity during the set. one set of 11 squats spiked me up to a HR I had considerable difficulty achieving on the ERG despite several focused minutes of trying. I understand that (and expected it) intellectually, but it was cool to see it for myself.
Didn't officially sign up to compete, but did all of the workouts–scaled like a gila monster.
First thing I learned was that a plan is way better than no plan. (um, burpees)
Second thing I learned is that the women's Rx is about what I can handle. (push presses, box jumps, thrusters, etc.)
Third thing I learned was that I'm gonna need some more lats for next year. (toes to bar, chest to bar)
Fourth thing I learned is that thrusters use all your muscles, which then scream out simultaneously for oxygen–selfish muscles.
I definitely enjoyed all the WoDs and am really happy that I did them all. I am totally down for next year! Gonna now look back and see what my total rep count was.
590