Integrity.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Integrity: We all know what it means, we all know where I'm going with this.
In this years' 2011 CrossFit Games Open, CrossFit HQ has charged every single athlete to hold themselves to the highest standard, and to be an individual of the highest integrity. This means completing the Open workouts honestly, truthfully, and without error. I would speculate that 95% of all individuals competing in the Open are doing this - most without hesitation.
But here's where I become weary. There are multiple (4?) athletes that have posted a 600+ rep score on Open WOD #2. For those of you unaware, the WOD was:
9 Deadlifts (155#, 100#)
12 hand release pushups
15 box jumps (24"/20")
AMRAP in 15 minutes.
So, those who posted a score of 600+ reps completed 16 rounds + at least 9 deads, 12 pushups, and 3 box jumps. Holy smokes. That's fast. Really fast. So fast, I had to check the games site (yes, it was actually working this morning) to see if their names were Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and Catwoman. Nope. Just normal folks.
Break it down guys...that means you have to do a round every 54ish seconds. Doable. But where do you transition? Let's say you're stupid fast and it only takes you 1 second to transition from one exercise to the next. That means you are letting go of the bar and flopping right into your no roll, no worm, no snake pushup, then getting into your box jump burpee style, and flying off the box and immediately into position for your next round of deads. Of course you are not taking any breaks either. So in reality you're looking at spending about 47-50 seconds working and the rest transitioning. We'll go with 48 seconds. If you break it down mathematically based on the ratio of reps to time per round that means you get 12 seconds to do your deads, just over 15 seconds to do your pushups, and barely more than 20 seconds to do your box jumps.
Everyone stop reading, grab your watch, start it and do 12 pushups. How long did it take you? Remember you were fresh. Now do it again but release your hands at the bottom. Don't forget to lock out at the top. Now how long did it take you? It took me 12.47 seconds. Fresh. But my heart is beating faster now. So I can only lose 2.5 seconds on those pushups in each round to acheive my 600+ reps??!!!
If someone can just show us a video of this happening I would be happy as a kid in a candy store. I'm not saying it can't be done. I'm not trying to call anyone out. I'm not complaining because my measly 10 rounds + 35 reps is pretty darn poor. I just really want to see this done. It would surely be an amazing feat to watch.
With that said, are you an individual of the highest integrity? Athletes? Judges? This stuff is for real this time guys. I'd hate to be #61 at the close of the Open because JoJo over at CrossFit BS didn't care if the athlete #60 wormed a few of his pushups.
cg
6 comments:
Charles, I like how you titled this integrity. It really cuts to the chase. Pat Barber had a video, I think on SICFIT, where he urged gym owners and community leaders to have strict tough judges who wouldn't be afraid to no-rep because these movements can be hard to judge.
That said, there is video of Dan Bailey. I took it and it's at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM-XTrLf5hA
Dan went 575, he had a number of no-reps including at least 3 agonizing no-rep Box Jumps at the end that kept him from 16 rounds, by 1 rep. Seeing Dan's performance I think 600+ is possible, but extremely rare.
As for judging and Crossfit BS being lame, yeah it is possible but one of those 600s was at Crossfit Invictus, I've never been but know people who know them and they are really well respected in the community, so you can probably bet that that score is legit.
I think the real, untold, story of this WOD are the thousands of mediocre performances that were poorly judged and that's kept the athlete with a shot - the guy who sits 120th in the region because he didn't suffer as bad as he should have, and with 4 WODs to go it's still all up in the air.
- dmac
I blogged about the same thing for week 1-with uh, more colorful language:)
I agree with you, totally. Hope it all comes out in the wash...but I'd love to see one of those videos, too.
Standards are strict at our Box, but everyone feels proud of the reps. we earned. Too legit to quit!
Good luck and keep blogging!
Nicole Smith
www.pantiesinawod.blogspot.com
I guess my concern would be that you say you are not calling anyone out yet you are specifically talking about the 4 athletes that scored 600+ reps, one of those being my wife Jess. By calling her out and questioning her performance, you are also questioning the integrity of my affiliate. Is it really that hard to believe that there are 4 people in the world that were able to do 600+ reps? Because no one had ever heard of Jess, people assumed that it couldn't be legit. They have no idea how she trains or what her strengths are. They assume since she is female, can it really be possible to do over 190+ CrossFit Push-ups? Obviously you don't know Jess if you think that. Then people want to question my judges integrity and my own. I remained silent and talked Jess out of doing it again on less than 36 hours rest. She is a very humble athlete who doesn't jump on every blog and doubt performances of people that score better than her in a WOD. It's unfortunate that she is more stressed now because of all the people doubting her when she should be stoked of her accomplishment.
Steve Pinkerton
Owner, CrossFit Vitality
steve@crossfitvitality.com
Very Good Post Charlie... I Agree With You 200%
Good coaches believe in and stand up for their athletes. Charlie and Steve are both doing that.
Great coaches ask the hard questions. Charlie simply had the courage to say in public what a lot of people didn't.
If what Charlie (or anyone)says gets under your skin or you take it personal, there is probably something there for you to take a look at. Just saying.
Finally, Charlie is speaking for what matters to him. Whether you agree or not, you have to give him props for that.
“Our lives begin and end the day we become silent about things that matter” MLK
I wrote a blog post about it http://greystoneguides.com/blog/
Word up Mattison. You put that very well. Both coaches are dead on.
The great thing about CrossFit is that Jess is going to get to prove herself in just a few months. If she's legit (and I've seen the women of CrossFit do some pretty amazing things so I'm on board with Jess) then the whole CF community can eat their words in July.
Take whatever is said for what it is - an opinion (that was well supported by someone that has a degree in CIS and Mathematics). Accept the challenge and go out there and prove'em all wrong.
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