Part 5: Couplet - Men’s 09 Games

I got a new morning routine now. Wake up, running, shower, drink a lot of water, breakfast and a CF Games episode :)

I'll second that. I'm loving these CF Games videos. It makes the week go by so much faster. :P

I sit around and wait for these to come out. They get me so pumped. PR on Mon. Got my first pullup yesterday, going for PR on cleans today.

These videos are so good. Love them.

God I love how Rob Orlando always has a smile on his face, not matter what he is going through. I'm not kidding when I say that you can take a serious life lesson from that. Mikko is similiar, he just never seems fazed by anything, amazing guy.

The best these videos are so motivating. I watch them over and over.

awesome stuff!! Love watching this, and haha yeah I wait around all day for these to come out

Good job catching me coming out of the shop tucking the results inside my jumper at the end of the day.

such a remarkable comeback by Khalipa. if he works on his running then it wouldn't be surprising to see him back in the top 3 again this year. guy has heart like none other.

just quietly....how bad was event 5? 3 x 30 wall ball and 30 squat snatch.

90 wall balls after 4 other events in a day is as bad as it gets

Awesome Stuff!!!
These guys are incredible- talk about digging deep...
More Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Watching this live it looked like a terrible workout (in a good way). Some of the best athletes at the games DNF'd. It was basically 180 front squats (which would be bad enough) but then add in the coordination and flexibility of the wall ball version of a FS and a OHS. I have been scared to do this workout back at home.

But for a serious discussion on how different people dealt with this workout. It seems like most of the people who had trouble with it had back problems (Everett, Chan, and few others). brOPT had leg cramping problems I think. While some people seemed to think that was a result of sliding the bar down past their knees, I think it has to be some hamstring flexibility issues that cause a rounding and yanking on the lower back at the BOTTOM of the squat. I know that's what gets me ... and by "me" I mean Aaron on his wife Erika's account. Thoughts?

Aaron:

I agree with your hypothesis (regarding prior issues with back problems and tight hamstrings), but I also think that the prior events exacerbated those issues for all the athletes. Huge percentage of the athletes commented on their hamstrings tightening up during the last few meters of the sandbag sprint in the earlier video or that their glutes were burning after the run. I think that was what did brOPT, Josh Everett, Chan and others in.

I think Mikko and Rob Orlando are two completely different animals

Mikko, wow...he is a different animal, I think its curious that he said he never really had lower back fatigue during the games (like almost everyone else, with good reason) and in the article that talked about his workout regimen he said he rows on the c2 A LOT, like 2k to 5k in the mornings I think. Maybe the secret to building a lower back that can withstand extended volume of work over time? I don't know if anyone else at the games put in that much time on a rower, I'd be curious to find out. I know I'm gonna start rowing a lot more.

These videos are beautiful, but I would have liked to see a little bit more of the eliminated athletes' reactions to not making the top 16. Not to be ghoulish, but because seeing how people cope with defeat is the only way to put victory in any kind of context. It's a difficult idea to explain, but anyone who's seen GenghisCon's MMA highlight videos will know what I mean. Also, I feel bad for Spealler and Pat Barber - they did the best they good, but Crossfit increasingly looks like a medium/big man's game.

Great point Joel,

I have a bunch of excuses and reasons for why you don't see the athletes that got cut, but that won't make me right.

I appreciate the constructive criticism and think you make a great point.

cheers
sevan