WOD Magazine - Issue 1

WOD MAGAZINE

2013 Reebok CrossFit Games:How did the Aussies stack up?

Australias First CrossFit Magazine

Chad MAckAY: The Importance of

Strength in crossFit

The Early Days of CrossFit In AustraliaAdvice on Programming, scaling and nutrition

Your CrossFit Stories, Box Directory, Gear Reviews and more...

Amanda Allen: PERFOrMANCE & RECOVERY

What You Need To Know About Running Your Own Box

Issue 1

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Stand Up and be counted Aussie dominate Molokai crowning multiple champions

LAUNCH ISSUE MARCH 2014

Spartan Race World Champio

nships

Northface100 record holder Brendan Davies shares his training tips to a better trail race

Trail running

Our boy Matt grabs

second and puts Aussie

OCR on the map

Aussie CrossFit on the world stage Chad and Karas world team selection and amazing journey to 2013 CrossFit invitational.

OCR TRAINING TIPSHIGH PERFORMANCE ATHLETES

S4H LIVE EVENTS

SUBSCRIBE NOW AT WWW.SEARCH4HURT.COM.AU

SEARCH4HURT MAGAZINE LAUNCHING MARCH 2014

Training advice from the best

Extreme endurance features

Race and Gear Reviews

AS SEEN ON

Available at www.search4hurt.com.au

Own season one of the original TV series


Stand Up and be counted Aussie dominate Molokai crowning multiple champions

LAUNCH ISSUE MARCH 2014

Spartan Race World Champio

nships

Northface100 record holder Brendan Davies shares his training tips to a better trail race

Trail running

Our boy Matt grabs

second and puts Aussie

OCR on the map

Aussie CrossFit on the world stage Chad and Karas world team selection and amazing journey to 2013 CrossFit invitational.

OCR TRAINING TIPSHIGH PERFORMANCE ATHLETES

S4H LIVE EVENTS

SUBSCRIBE NOW AT WWW.SEARCH4HURT.COM.AU

SEARCH4HURT MAGAZINE LAUNCHING MARCH 2014

Training advice from the best

Extreme endurance features

Race and Gear Reviews

Contents

CONTENTS12 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games Feature

42 2013 Reebok CrossFit Invitational2013 Reebok CrossFit Open - What to expect45The History of CrossFit in Australia

2013 Champions - Rich Froning..........................................................................................................................222013 Champions - Samantha Briggs...................................................................................................................23Interviews with 2013 Australian Games Athletes...............................................................................................24Rob Fortes 2013 CrossFit Games Experience.....................................................................................................38

466 | WOD MAGAZINE

Programming and Scaling......................................................................................................52Performance and Recovery.....................................................................................................56The Importance of Strength in CrossFit.................................................................................60Putting the Pro in Regionals...................................................................................................62Running Your Own Box.........................................................................................................66Athlete Spotlight - Amanda Allen..........................................................................................68CrossFit Nutrition Basics........................................................................................................72This One Time, at CrossFit - Bonnie Sein..............................................................................78My CrossFit Journey - Megan Drapalski................................................................................82Finding New Strength - Virginia Vij.......................................................................................86The CrossFit Experience of Robert Carlin..............................................................................78Rising Up to the Challenge - Logan Poon...............................................................................90CrossFit Southern Highlands kicks Crohns in the guts..........................................................92

Recipes.............................74 Challenge WOD..............83International CrossFit....93Reviews............................94Box directory...................98

Image by Frankie Lee M

atthews Photography

www.wodmagazine.com.au | 7

WOD MAGAZINE

Editor - Ben [email protected]

Design - Natasha [email protected]

Media Sales - Adam [email protected]

WordsAdam Richardson

Adam StraneckiAmanda Allen

Ben QuinneyBonnie Sien

Bronwyn SparkesChad Mackay

Corrine ChalmersGinny Gallegos

Ian SeboaJames WilsonLeigh TaylorLogan Poon

Megan DrapalskiNaomi Benedetti

Rob ForteVirginia Vij

images21 15 9 ClothingAdam LesniakAdam StraneckiBonnie SeinBronwyn SparkesCorrine ChalmersCrossFit IncFrankie Lee MatthewsGinny GallegosJames WilsonJoel VoglerLogan PoonMatthew TownsendMegan DrapalskiNaomi BenedettiNatasha QuinneyRobert CarlinSam FitzpatrickVirginia Vij

Some opinions expressed in WOD Magazine are not necessarily those of its staff or contributing editors. Those opinions are reproduced with no guarantee of accuracy although WOD Magazine endeavours to ensure those opinions and comments are factual.

WOD Magazine, 2013. All rights reserved.

The global CrossFit community has a wonderful voice, we hear about amazing and truly inspirational stories every day through various social media outlets, print and video but most of these stories have a distinctly American focus.

The idea behind WOD Magazine was born from a personal desire to read, listen and watch more about Australian CrossFit whether it was highlighting the very best Aussie athletes as they compete locally and abroad or showcasing the life changing stories of CrossFit-ters from local boxes around the country.

With the magazine, its Facebook and Twitter pages and our website we hope to help build a unique community, to enable Australian CrossFit-ters to have a voice of their own. Through community involvement we plan to deliver Australian stories of tri-umph in their own words, opinion pieces from community members, training pro-gramming advice and mental insights from top level athletes.

In the coming issues for 2014 we will bring you advice on what to expect at your next competition, the CrossFit Open, what to look out for at the regionals in either a spec-tator or competitors perspective and what to expect at this years big show - The 2014 CrossFit Games.

If you feel like you have something to say, or are just interested in joining in the con-versation shoot us an email at [email protected], follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and make sure to sign up to our newsletter on our website (www.wodmagazine.com.au) to make sure you are kept up to date with news from us or our sponsors.

2014 is going to be a huge year for Australian CrossFit and we look forward to being a part of it with you.

Cheers,

Ben Quinney

Contributors

From the Editor

Front Cover: Chad Mackay by Sam FitzpatrickBack Cover: Rich Froning by CrossFit, Inc

8 | WOD MAGAZINE

WOD MAGAZINE

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wodmag

Reebok CrossFit Games2013

Feature

12 | WOD MAGAZINE

Reebok CrossFit Games

early 17th century: from Latin competere, in its late sense strive or contend for (something), from com- together + petere aim at, seek

Compete [kuh m-peet]

(Oxford Dictionary)

Photograph courtesy of CrossFit, Inc

Event sumary and results compilation based on CrossFit.com oinline archive by Ben Quinney


Day 1 Wednesday 24/7/2013 The Pool Row 1 Row 2Chad Mackay 7th 5th 11th

Rob Forte 19th 39th 8th

Brandon Swan 8th 29th 34th

Kara Webb 2nd 15th 27th

Ruth Anderson Horrell 37th 7T 3rd

Pip Malone 29th 41st 20th

Day 2 Friday 26/7/2013 Burden Run ZigZag Sprint LeglessChad Mackay 23rd 33T 17th

Rob Forte 6th 42nd 34TBrandon Swan 43rd 22T 45th

Kara Webb 9th 8th 25TRuth Anderson Horrell 2nd 33T 34TPip Malone 32T 38T 39T

Day 3 Saturday 27/7/2013 Naughty Nancy C & J Ladder 2007Chad Mackay 35T 7T 36th

Rob Forte 19T 38T 25th

Brandon Swan WD WD WD

Kara Webb 18th 4th 33rd

Ruth Anderson Horrell 5th 8th 30th

Pip Malone 9th 15T 37th

Day 4 Sunday 28/7/2013 Sprint Chipper The Cinco 1 The Cinco 2

Chad Mackay 6th 21T 7TRob Forte 31st CUT CUTBrandon Swan WD WD WD

Kara Webb 11th 19th 19th

Ruth Anderson Horrell 15th 14th 24T

Pip Malone 37th CUT CUT

Games results

2013 ReEbok CrossFit games How did the Aussie's stack up...Workouts

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Ten rounds for time of: Swim 25 yards3 Bar muscle-ups

Swim 25 yards

Even

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ZigZag

Sprin

t

For time: Row 21,097 metersRow 1 is time at 2,000 meter checkpointRow 2 is time for entire 21,097 meters

For time: Run 2.1 milesFlip the PiG 100 yards

600 yard log carryDrag the Iditarod 66 yards

50 yard Sprint with 4 obstacles4-round bracket style tournament

For time: 27, 21, 15, 9 Thrusters (43/29.5kg(

4, 3, 2, 1 Legless rope climbs

Four rounds for time of:Run 600 meters up and over berm

25 Overhead squats (63.5/43kg(

1-rep Clean and Jerkevery 90 seconds with progressively

heavier barbells(

For time: 1000 meter Rowthen, fIve rounds of:

25 Pull-ups7 Push jerks (61/38.5kg(

For time: 21 MedBall GHD Sit-ups15 Snatch (75/45kg(

9 Wall burpees

Three rounds for time of:5 Deadlifts (184/120kg(

5 weighted One-legged squats, l (24/16kg(5 weighted One-legged squats, r (24/16kg(

Then 24 metres Handstand walk

Final 2 begins one minute after Final 1

Three rounds for time of: 5 Muscle-ups5 DefIcit handstand push-ups

Then 27.5 metres Overhead walking lunge (72.5/45kg axle bar(

Chad Mackay 11thRob Forte 33rd

Brandon Swan 45th

12th Kara Webb15th Ruth Anderson Horrell36th Pip Malone

Men WoMenOverall placings:

T = tied, WD = Withdrawn, CUT = Athlete didny advance to next workout14 | WOD MAGAZINE

Event 1: Swim & Muscle UpThe 2013 CrossFit Games started off well for our Aussie athletes on Wednesday morning with the first pool event ever seen in the games. As Aussies we have a reputation for being good in the water and Kara Webb proved herself more than capable as she held her own in the 3rd and final heat as she finished in 2nd, just in front of Sam Briggs and only 36 seconds behind the winner Michele Letendre.

The NSW central coast local and self described surfer Chad Mackay put in a very solid per-formance in the 3rd and final heat coming in 4th in the heat and 7th overall in the pool while Queenslands Brandon Swan came in 2nd in his heat to finish 11 seconds behind Chad taking out 8th place. While the Australians all looked comfortable in the water the big upset of the event was watching Rich Froning Jnr struggle through his 10 rounds to finish in 30th, his worst placing in any event in his CrossFit games history.

Event 2 & 3: 2k and Marathon RowLater that same day Chad Mackay would again show the world he was a force to be reckoned with after coming 5th in the 2k and then 11th in the marathon row while Rob Forte was methodical throughout the row coming in 39th in the 2k but held his pace to finish 8th in the 21km. After suf-fering a little in the pool earlier in the day Jason Khalipa put on a show taking 1st in both events, finishing his 2k in 6:21 13 seconds in front of Rich Froning and grinding out 21km on the con-cept 2 in just 1 hour and 18 minutes.

For the ladies NZs Ruth Anderson Horrell tied for 7th place with Talayna Fortunato in the 2k but put in an amazing performance to finish 3rd in the 21km only a minute and a half behind the winner Sam Briggs.

Event 4: Burden RunAfter a day of rest on the Thursday the Aussies faced the Burden Run Friday mornuing. While Garret Fisher dominated the running portion Rob Forte held pace with the front pack of athletes. Once the athletes hit The Pig Garret Fishers lead disappeared while the more powerful athletes made up ground. Jason Khalipa was the first to finish with the pig and get to the log while Rich Froning was breathing down his neck back in 4th place.

Once he got to the log it was the Jason Khalipa show all the way, Jason stayed out in front and even had time to rest a little pulling the sled. Our own Rob Forte managed to sneak in front of Rich Froning in the final seconds to finish 6th while Chad Mackay finished 23rd and Brandon Swan 43rd.

Sam Briggs dominated the Burden Run from the very beginning, opening up a huge lead in the run portion. Sam maintained her lead throughout the Pig Flip and was the first woman to pick up the Log and head towards the soccer stadium. Kaleena Ladeairous overtook Sam during the Log carry and was the first woman to begin the 60 metre sled drag. Although identified by the commentators as Valerie Voboril, New Zealand native Ruth Anderson Horrell had been making steady progress on the leaders throughout the event and moved into 3rd place during the Pig Flip and the log carry and never stopped moving once she got to the sled drag and actually overtook Sam Briggs to finish in 2nd place. Kara Webb finished strong to take 9th place and Pip Malone put in a solid performance to finish in 32nd place.

Event 5: ZigZag SprintKara Webb was the only Australasian woman to progress past the first bracket of the Zigzag sprint as she finished 1st in her qualifying heat and was even relaxed enough to wave to cameras after-wards. Kara then finished 3rd in her quarter final heat and 5th in her semi-final giving her 8th place overall. Michelle Crawford had been dominant in each of her heats and really turned it on in the final to take 1st followed by Lindy Wall and Stacie Tovar.

Brandon Swan was the only Australasian male to enter the second round of the Zigzag sprint by winning his qualifying heat. Unfortunately Swan finished last in the quarter finals heat leaving the competition open for quicker athletes like Marcus Hendren, Dan Bailey and Aja Barto to dominate.

2013 ReEbok CrossFit games How did the Aussie's stack up...SUMMARY


Event 6: LeglessPip Malone was the only Aussie in heat one of the Legless event competing against some big names of previous CrossFit Games includ-ing Kristan Clever and Gretchen Kittelberger while both Ruth Anderson Horrell and Kara Webb were competing in heat 4 along with all the top athletes of this years games including Christy Phillips and Sam Briggs. Sam took an early lead with four quick rope climbs in the first round while Kara and Ruth kept pace with the majority of the athletes in the heat.

As Sam Briggs gave up the lead on the third rope climb of the second round Christy Phil-lips and Alesandra Pichelli took full advantage and pulled ahead fighting for the lead. The stadium erupted in the final moments of the event as Pichelli took 1st place with her amaz-ing legless kipping rope technique.

Brandon Swan was the lone Australian male in heat two of the Legless event. Lacee Kovacs was the standout athlete for this heat as he put in a dominant performance easily climbing the ropes without his legs. Both Rob Forte and Chad Mackay faced off in heat four with some big name athletes like Josh Bridges and Neal Maddox. Rob and Chad held pace behind Josh Bridges through the first round of four rope climbs and made it to the second round of thrusters as Bridges got started on his second round of rope climbs.

Rob and Chad held 3rd and 4th place through-out the first half of the heat and as Bridges ap-proached his final set of thrusters Rob fell out of the top 6. Chad was still fighting for 3rd place with Travis Mayer and Daniel Petro but ended up taking 6th as he was beaten by a very narrow margin up the final rope by both athletes.

The final heat of the day was an all star whos who of CrossFit with Jason Khalipa, Rich Fron-ing, Ben Smith and the rest of the top athletes for 2013. Going into the event Jason Khalipa was holding 1st place on the leader board and Rich was sitting in 4th but after his failure on the rope climb in 2010 Rich had something to prove.

Going into the final set of thrusters and rope climbs Rich, Marcus Hendren and Jordran Troyan were fighting for the top spots in the heat as all three athletes were eyeing off each other at the last rope climb and as Jordan Troy-an began to celebrate his win Marcus Hendren dove over the line to steal the top spot leaving Troyan with 2nd and Rich with 3rd ahead of all the other athletes in front of him in the stand-ings enabling Rich to climb a little closer to the top spot he is so familiar with.

Clean & Jerk LadderLindsey Valenzuela

2013 ReEbok CrossFit games How did the Aussie's stack up...

16 | WOD MAGAZINE

Event 7: Naughty NancyComing into day three Kara Webb was sitting in 8th place overall. In the first heat Pip Malone was in the top five women to put down the barbell at the end of the first round and was the 3rd athlete to reach the overhead squats in the second round. Malone took 2nd place during the overhead squats in the third round and looked to be going strong heading into the fourth and final round. Pip was able to hold her own against Tiffany Hendrixsen until the final set of overhead squats and ended up finishing in 3rd.

The second womens heat saw the top 21 athletes push themselves hard right out of the gate, after the first run Kaleena Ladeairous was in first place while Ruth Anderson Horrell was among a dozen athletes in the pack just behind her. As Sam Briggs was fighting for 2nd place in the event she was several places ahead of the current games leader Christy Phillips giving Sam an opportu-nity to score some valuable additional points to put towards her run at the top spot on the overall ladder. Ruth Anderson Horrell finished strong and took 4th in the heat and 5th overall.

Before the mens heats of Naughty Nancy began Brandon Swan was advised by event medical staff to not take the field after his grip failed the night before and he fell and injured his knee during the Legless event. After taking their advice Brandon withdrew from the competition.

Rob Forte took an early lead coming down the hill during the run in the first round in heat one and was in the lead going into the first set of overhead squats but lost the lead when he had to brake them up and was overtaken by Tyson Takasaki. Coming down the stairs on the second round Rob was holding pace in the top 3 but began to fall behind during the second round of overhead squats. Ben Stoneberg overtook Takasaki on the stairs in the final 600 metre run of the heat but Takasaki took the lead back on the downhill section to get to the overhead squats first as both athletes went rep for rep neither athlete putting the bar down. Ben Stoneberg won the heat in a sprint to the finish and Rob Forte came in around 7th or 8th in his heat.

Heat two once again saw Chad Mackay again take on the top athletes in the final heat. Lacee Ko-vacks took an early lead in the second round but Josh Bridges was hot on his tail. Chad Mackay looked to be suffering in the second round as we saw him walking up the hill in the middle of the 600 metre run placed somewhere in the middle of the field. Josh Bridges then took a command-ing lead heading into round three after making the second set of overhead squats look easy. Going into round four Jason Khalipa and Rich Froning were battling for 2nd place and the overall lead for the competition. Froning took 2nd place, Khalipa 3rd and Chad Mackay finished 35th with 11 reps remaining at the end of the 20 minute time cap.

Event 8: Clean and JerkPip Malone entered the ladder at 185 pounds (84kg) and was a little shaky putting the weight over her head on her initial lift but managed a successful jerk on the first platform. Malone looked much more confident with her 195 pound lift a few minutes later and again for the 200 and 205. Malone took three attempts to lift 210 but exited the ladder in the overall lead for the event at the time.

Kara Webb entered the ladder at 205 pounds (93kg) and successfully cleared the ladder through to 230 pounds while Ruth Anderson Horrell looked good on the clean at 220 pounds but was not able to get the bar overhead. Kara gave it everything she had on two attempts at 235 pounds but was unable to shoulder the bar exiting the ladder very happy with her lifts for the day.

Event winner Amanda Goodman had the heaviest lift of the day for the women at 235 pounds (107kg) while Lindsey Valenzuela and Elizabeth Akinwale both managed to clean 235 pounds but not get the bar overhead.

The Aussie men began the clean and jerk ladder with Rob Forte working his way up to a partial lift at 295 pounds (134kg). Chad Mackay entered the ladder at 285 pounds and made his first lift look easy. Chad kept his cool and didnt struggle with any of the lifts through until 325 pounds where he had a little wobble after jerking the bar. At 335 pounds Chad had a solid clean on his first attempt but was unable to get the bar over his head, he took a second attempt but had obviously ran out of energy and was unable to clean the bar for a second time.

The event winners Lucas Parker and Aja Barto were both able to clean the 355 pound (161kg) barbell but were unable to jerk the bar overhead. Rich Froning came in 3rd place after successfully lifting 345 pounds (157kg) and finished 4 places ahead of Jason Khalipa allowing Rich to take 1st place on the overall ladder for the first time in the 2013 CrossFit Games by just 6 points.

2013 ReEbok CrossFit games How did the Aussie's stack up...



Event 9: 2007Coming into the last event of Saturday Kara Webb was in 7th with Ruth Anderson Horrell holding 11th. Pip Malone competed in the second heat of the event with some big names including Camille Leblanc-Bazinet and Debo-rah Corner Carson and came off the 1000 me-tre row at about 4:25 with the rest of the field. Once the row was finished though it became the Camille show as she dominated on the pull up bar going the first two rounds unbroken on the 25 pull ups. Malone kept pace with the bulk of the athletes and was in the middle of the pack during the third set of pull ups but fell behind in the fourth round and ended up finishing in 9th place for the heat.

Ruth Anderson Horrell and Kara Webb took on the 2007 workout in the fourth and final heat with the top 11 female athletes of the competition. Kara and Ruth came off the row-er and began their pull ups with the bulk of the women and during the first round Ruth was hovering around 5th or 6th place. As Valerie Voboril dominated the heat to finish 1st overall Ruth finished in 8th place for the heat and 30th outright while Kara finished in 10th place for the heat taking out 33rd.

As the men began the 9th event Chad Mackay was in 8th place. Rob Forte entered the field in lane one sitting next to Matt Chan for the sec-ond heat and got off the rower in about 3:40 with most of the athletes. Rob was holding pace with Matt Chan during the second round of pull ups but began to drop off heading into round three and ended up taking 6th place for the heat.

Chad Mackay took his spot in lane ten next to Scott Panchik in preparation for the final event of the day and put in an excellent perfor-mance on the rower finishing 1000 metres in about 3:30 and looked solid on the pull up bar in round one. As Chad moved onto the bar-bell for the first time the top five athletes had already began their second round of pull ups and Josh Bridges then ran away with the heat while Rich Froning managed to stayed in front of Jason Khalipa and Garret Fisher.

Unfortunately for the Big Australian work-outs with high rep pull ups are not kind to ath-letes as with arms as long as Chad Mackay and as a result he took 11th place in the heat and 36th overall.

Event 10: Sprint ChipperPip Malone was the last athlete to finish the GHD medicine ball sit ups in heat one for the ladies and ended up finishing in 8th place and 37th overall. Kara Webb took lane four and Ruth Anderson Horrell took lane fourteen for the third and final heat of the sprint chipper. Both Ruth and Kara finished the sit ups within seconds of the leader Alessandra Pichelli but the competition was so close that it was going to come down to who could complete the nine six foot burpee wall jumps the quickest. Jen Jones finished her snatches first but Sam Briggs won the heat in a sprint to the finish. Kara Webb crossed the line in 9th place and Ruth Anderson Horrell took 11th in the heat to claim 11th and 15th overall places respectively.

As the men lined up for the sprint chipper Rob Forte gave it everything he had in heat one but finished the GHD sit ups towards the back of the pack. Rob looked good as he strung together a few touch and go snathces but fell off the pace a little heading into the burpee wall jumps cross-ing the finish line in the middle of the pack for heat one. As the top athletes finished their sit ups in heat three Chad Mackay was right there with leaders, as they worked through their 15 snathces Chad was within a couple of reps of the leader Rich Froning. After the burpee wall jumps Chad crossed the line in 5th or 6th place for the heat and finished in 6th place overall only 21 seconds behind The Champ Rich Froning.

Both the mens and womens fields were cut down to 30 athletes after the Sprint Chipper resulting in both Pip Malone and Rob Forte being unable to compete in the final two workouts of the 2013 CrossFit Games.

2013 ReEbok CrossFit GAMES How did the Aussie's stack up...LEGless

Rich Froning

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18 | WOD MAGAZINE

Event 11 and 12: The Cinco 1 and 2Coming into the final two events of the games Ruth Anderson Horrell was sitting in 12th place and took lane six in heat two. Ruth had no problems with the 265 pound (120kg) deadlifts and was in second place behind Elizabeth Akinwale going into the third round of deadlifts. Ruth was the fourth woman to begin the handstand walk behind Jen Smith and Stacie Tovar but Rebecca Voigt stormed down the 24 metre black mat on her hands leaving Ruth struggling to cover the distance eventually taking 6th place before the one minute reset for the next event.

Ruth Anderson Horrell was still working her way through her muscle ups and deficit handstand push ups when Michelle Letendre got started on her overhead bar walking lunges and was unable to complete them within the seven minute time cap taking 8th place with 17 reps remaining.

As the final womens heat of the games got underway Kara Webb took lane ten and looked strong during the deadlifts and weighted pistols but had fallen behind the leaders by the time the women got to the handstand walk. Kara put in an outstanding effort on the handstand walk and managed to finish just inside the seven minute time cap leaving her only one minute to catch her breath before Cinco 2 began.

Kara seemed to struggle with the muscle up and deficit handstand push ups at the end of what I can imagine was a very long weekend as we saw her walk away from the rings to catch her breath on more than one occasion. As Talayna Fortunato and Lindsey Valenzuealla began their overhead walking lunges Kara continued to work on her muscle ups and handstands. In the end Kara placed 19th in both the Cinco 1 and Cinco 2 events to finish the games in 12th place outright.

As the men took the field for the final time Chad Mackay was holding onto 9th place in lane one. With 184kg on the bar Chad got through the deadlifts without any trouble but looked to struggle a bit with the weighted pistols. As the seven minute time cap concluded Chad had made it about four fifths of the way down the handstand walk taking 9th in the heat and 21st overall.

Chad looked much more comfortable on the rings during Cinco 2 but as Rich Froning ran away with the outright victory and was celebrating Chad had only just began the overhead barbell walking lunge and came 10th for the heat and tied for 7th place overall.

2013 ReEbok CrossFit GAMES How did the Aussie's stack up...

CINCO 1Sam Briggs



2013 ReEbok CrossFit GAMES How did the Aussie teams and masters stack up...

Day 1 Tuesday 23/7 Day 2 Wednesday 24/7 Day 3 Thursday 25/7

Nancy Push Drag Pull

Pullgatory Deadlift / Box Jump

Clean & Jerk Final

Men 40 - 448th Matt Swift 8th 10th 11th 6th 1st 7th

20th Brian Beck 19th 17th 16th 20th CUT CUT

Women 40 - 441st Amanda Allen 1st 1st 1st 3rd 4T 3rd

13th Megan Smith 16th 8th 5th 17th CUT CUT

Men 45 - 49No Australian Athletes - - - - - -

Women 45 - 4913th Lynne Fitzharris 5th 7th 18th 16th CUT CUT

Men 50 - 5410th Matt Nicholson 13th 6th 7th 8th 7T 7th

18th Russell Kapper 17th 11th 18T 18th CUT CUT

Women 50 - 545th Lynne Knapman 4th 7th 11th 5th 7T 2nd

12th Nicolette Dunstone 5th 8th 16T 8th 12th 9th

Men 55 - 598th Alan Hindmarsh 10th 10th 12th 5th 12th 3T

Women 55 - 5915th Jen Stagg 12th 13th 15th 14th CUT CUT

Men 60+2nd Garry Jones 4th 5th 3rd 1st 5T 3rd

Women 60+6th Vivienne Henderson 5th 9th 13th 4th 12th 5th

Day 1 Friday 26/7/2013 Burden Run Iditarod 1 Iditarod 2 Iditarod 3 Legless12th CrossFit Active 26th 13th 25th 18th 18T14th CrossFit Melbourne 13th 35th 6th 12th 18T35th CrossFit Horizons 34th 19th 29th 29th 11T

Day 2 Saturday 27/7/2013 Squat Burpee Ascending Chipper 1 Ascending Chipper 2CrossFit Active 18T 21st 12th

CrossFit Melbourne 11th 31st 27th

CrossFit Horizons 36th 37th 41st

Day 3 Sunday 28/7/2013 Stadium Relay FinalCrossFit Active 8th 2nd

CrossFit Melbourne 7th 3rd

CrossFit Horizons 40th CUT

Mast

ers

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2013 ReEbok CrossFit GAMES How did the Aussie teams and masters stack up...

CrossFit is known for not specialising. It doesnt favour the athlete that is only strong or fast. It favours the well-rounded individual, and even then, it favours no one. You cannot prepare for CrossFit because it is the unknown and the un-knowable. Therefore, it would stand to reason, that no one could dominate the sport. Until three years ago this reasoning held strongen-ter Rich Froning Jr.

In 2010 an untried rookie took second place at the CrossFit Games, missing first place because of a single deficiency in his repertoire: the rope climb. When he returned to the CrossFit Games in 2011, Froning, in his own words, bombed the first event before coming from behind to win the Games convincingly. In 2012 he got off to a much smoother start, hitting first place before the end of the second day, a lead he wouldnt re-linquish.

Coming into the 2013 CrossFit Games, the ques-tion on everyones mind was whether or not the first ever back-to-back male Games champion could make it three in a row. Unlike 2012, it was a question that remained in everyones minds until the final day. Unlike 2012, Froning got off to a poor start, finishing 30th in The Pool, well behind Jason Khalipa in 13th who would go on to post three consecutive first place finishes in the following events to create a sizeable lead. Khali-pa then placed poorly in the Zig Zag Spring and Legless, which allowed Froning to move up the ladder; however, in arguably the toughest Cross-Fit Games ever it wouldnt be till the last day that the reigning champion would truly put his mark on the competition. Froning finished the Games with three consecutive wins to finish the competition 72 points ahead of second placed Jason Khalipa to become the first ever three-peat CrossFit Games champion.

Coming into the 2013 CrossFit Games, CrossFit HQ posted a video, How Do You Beat Rich Fron-ing? and the verdict after the Games was fair-ly convincing you dont. In that video Chris Spealler is quoted saying that you wont see an-other athlete like Froning for 100 years when his time has come and gone. This then begs the question: will the Games first ever three-peat champion become the Games first ever four-time champion in 2014? Is there any known athlete who has the arsenal to beat Rich Fron-ing? For Fronings three years of domination, no man has stood on the podium with him more than once. No male competitor has been able to demonstrate the level of consistency of Froning.

Its not only how do you beat Rich Froning its who can beat Rich Froning. Will it be the new-comer, Garrett Fisher, who finished in 5th at his first CrossFit Games? Or will it be a tried and tested CrossFit warrior like Josh Bridges or Ja-son Khalipa that wrestles the title away? The 2014 CrossFit Games are still 10 months away and a lot can happen in that time; however, it seems like a relatively safe bet that Froning will become the first ever four-time CrossFit Games champion.

2013 ReEbok CrossFit GAMES champions Ric

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g 3 times CrossFit Games championWritten by Megan DrapalskiPhotograph courtesy of CrossFit, Inc

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2013 ReEbok CrossFit GAMES champions

even CrossFit bro?) Fronings, ef-forts to secure a three-peat at this years games but shocked everyone when she announced part way through this years open, that she would have to withdraw due to a back injury.

In the early stages of the 2013 open there was a lot of buzz about how Annie and Sam were stacking up, and the entire CrossFit com-munity was looking forward to seeing them battle it out at Car-son. In yet another strong show-ing of character Annie was forced to make the same tough decision Sam had made just 12 months pri-or. It would not have been easy for someone in Annies position, a 2 time defending champ, to pull out and forgo the opportunity of get-ting a hat trick.

Having had a serious back injury myself (well before I CrossFitted guys so lets just all relax) it can

Its March of 2012 and Saman-tha Briggs, a career firefighter in Manchester England, is coming off the back of a 4th place finish in the 2011 CrossFit Games and has had to make one of her hard-est decisions of her life. Due to a major knee injury (a fractured patella) Sam has had to pull out of the 2012 CrossFit season. This decision takes Sam out of conten-tion for a podium spot in Carson California for 2012 but she vowed to be back.

Taking the time to recover, and train smarter as Sam put it, helped her to re-focus and stop over training. According to Sam it was her tendency for long hours in the gym that had contributed to her initial injury, although as her trainer puts it Sam is Sam and she might still put in an extra work out here or there. After Sam recovered she came back stronger and more determined, she took the time to really focus on her weaknesses and at the end of the 2013 open was sitting in first place worldwide.

Having time to rehab, re-train and rebuild post injury may have been just what the doctor ordered (the B, is for bargain!) as Sam won a tough fought battle at this years Games and took the title of Fittest woman on earth for 2013.

Knowing when you are injured and actively preventing yourself from doing anymore harm isnt an easy thing to do for any athlete. CrossFitters tend to think, nah Im good bro, just a bit sore, Ill push on, I will be fine when in re-ality the smartest and safest thing to do when you are injured is stop. Unfortunately that old ego often steps in and we solider on. Well in this case (thank Shirley - sorry to make such an old reference, kids ask your parents) Ego [really] is a dirty word. Being able to actu-ally pull yourself out, stop what you are doing despite missing out on a few more reps or even a chance to compete at the games, this takes true character.

There is however, a piece of the paleo pie missing, the smiling Vi-king, Iceland Annie Annie Tho-risdottir.

Thorisdottir, the 2 times Games champion for 2011 and 2012, was preparing to match Rich (if you need his last name, do you

samantha briggsInjury, recovery, winning the games, and the

looming rumble in carson...

be quite debilitating and frus-tratingly slow to recover from. So even though the mind would have been willing I could bet that the body would not. If the events in Sams life over the past year and her amazing turn around is any-thing to go by, then Annie, being a super badass Viking ninja, will come back stronger than ever af-ter 12 months to recover, refocus and re-train.

I cannot wait to see the epic throw down between these to giants of CrossFit in next years Open season. Not to blow things com-pletely out of proportion, but watching these two going head to head could be bigger than the AFL grand final (yeah, Im from Victo-ria, what of it?), the Bathurst 1000, the ultimate Frisbee world cham-pionship, the Darwin ice hockey league and dub-step cat all rolled into one. Think about it.

Written by James WilsonPh

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In your life before CrossFit you were a professional tri-athlete, cyclist and canoe-ist. Can you give a quick summary of your sport-ing achievements prior to CrossFit?

Primarily my sports were Triathlon, Cycling and then High Kneeling Canoeing. High Kneeling Canoeing was proba-bly the hardest thing Ive every done! I won state and national titles in each of these sports not to mention a World Masters Triathlon Title. I also qualified for the Paralympics riding tan-dem on the track with a blind athlete by the name of Sarnya Parker. Ive also been reason-ably competitive in mountain biking, adventure racing and orienteering.

You have said that the day you walked into CrossFit Adeliade was the day your life began to come togeth-

2013 ReEbok CrossFit Games Aussie athlete interview... AM

ANDA

ALlen

er can you elaborate on that?

Im a misfit, Ive had a tril-lion jobs including being a firefighter, model, radio an-nouncer, marketing manager in the wine industry, profes-sional triathlete, corporate team building facilitator, fundraiser for Greenpeace and massage therapist. The list really does go on and on! Ive moved houses, states and countries too many times to remember; Ive tried my hand at a few sports over the years; I tried drinking, sometimes excessively; tried being vege-tarian; I took a guru, bought a rural-hills property and tried total immersion in a yogic style of living.

Ive never been married and I have no kids. I have always felt that I didnt belong any-where in particular and that I probably never would and by

40 years of age I was starting to become ok with that! As it turns out I did belong some-where after all, Ive just tak-en the long road to get there while all the while eliminating things from my life that are not me. The best part about my particular situation is that Ive found where I belong and there is no shadow of a doubt about it. Misfits now surround me every day, people equal-ly as individual as me who share a common passion for discovering the depths of their characters and physical capa-bilities through the sport of fitness that we know and love: CrossFit!

One of the common threads I have found in many of the how I found CrossFit sto-ries I have read is a sensation of finally finding yourself through CrossFit what does CrossFit and your abil-ity to do CrossFit mean to you?

There is something remark-ably real, gritty, and honest and humbling about CrossFit. I really resonate with this as a way of life, as a way of be-ing an athlete and as a way of relating to others. Ive become entirely myself in this environ-ment. CrossFit invites or even demands me to be me, I do not have pretend to be something other than me, or be only the palatable bits of me. I love that CrossFit seems to be constant-ly asking me what Im made of, I always want to know the answer, to plumb the depths of my character and take a peak at my foundations. Im always ready to chalk up and find out if Ive got what it takes this time - no matter the fear or doubt I feel. Im never more fully alive than in the thick of a workout out, surrounded by my CrossFit family.

As someone who has seem-ingly always been very com-petitive was CrossFit ever

Photograph courtesy of Joel Vogler Photography

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2013 ReEbok CrossFit Games Aussie athlete interview...

the general strength and conditioning lifestyle that it is for many people or was it always a sport in your eyes?

I actually took up training at CrossFit Adelaide a couple of times a week to get strong for Canoeing so it wasnt really a thing when I began it. I real-ly enjoyed it but at that stage my focus was on qualifying for world in canoeing! When I didnt make the Worlds team thats when CrossFit became a thing. This was basically the week the 2011 Open began and I never returned to Ca-noeing, I couldnt, I was totally enamored by everything about CrossFit.

What does your average day look like?

Work 6-10, train 10-12, work 12-1, train 2-4, recovery/mas-sage/float 4-6, dinner & ad-

min 6-8, bed 9.

How often/long do you train?

Basically 4 hours per day M-S, split morning and afternoon, with a long run & long stretch on Sundays!

What does your training look like? Strength vs Met-cons

It keeps changing, right now Im going back to basics with my strength, fixing my squat and other gymnastics weak-nesses, I now have an Olympic coach twice per week, I love met cons, but thats backed off a bit to just a couple a week.

Do you have a period-ised training program?

My coach Ben Norman pro-grams for me with input now

from a couple of other special-ist coaches; so the basic answer is yes, but in my case, although I program for other athletes all I do with Ben and my program is turn up and kind of do what Im told to do. I love that, I dont have to think about it, just do it!

How much sleep do you get?

I should be sleeping right now! LOL! I get 8-8.30 hours per night, I try to have a 30min nap if I ever get a chance during the day - its not very reliable! But the 8:30hrs works well...less than 8 almost never happens, the wheels fall off quickly if I compromise even one night on my much needed and valued sleep.

What do you eat?

Apart from bacon?

Oats & rice are my preferred carbs, Ive reintroduced them

pen this year, I have a plan in place that fills me with excite-ment and confidence. I want to return to the main stadium to compete against the best women in the world as a 44 year old! Imagine how cool that would be!

We had several questions come in from our Facebook page:

Tihane asked Favorite and most effective recovery methods?

Massage, floating and 8 - 9hrs sleep per night! No competi-tion or doubts there!!!

Marlene asked How do you stay mentally focused during training, games preparations and while com-peting?

I love, love, love CrossFit! This passion fuels everything, during everyday, every session and every competition I am fully present, engaged, delight-ed and determined! Ive spent many years looking for where I belong and what I am good at and I have no doubt that CrossFit is that thing for me. It makes it all very easy to maintain a healthy perspective and total commitment and focus and honestly, in times of doubt, I do check in with my-self during competitions and training. Sometimes its simply necessary to remind myself if why I do this, which only takes a moment and my head is clear and ready to support me on my mission again!

Joel asked You have won Australias first CrossFit medal. What is next?

Its time to take my perfor-mance to another level and re-turn to Regionals and Games with NO WEAKNESSES!!!

And finally Ciara asked What will you do different-ly in 2014 to make sure you qualify in the top 3 spots at regionals to ensure you make it back to the games?

I have a new and better plan than I did previously with some wonderful new specialist coaches onboard to work with me along with my primary coach Ben Norman. Addi-tionally I have the support of new sponsors - SMAI, JAW, PROFESSIONAL WHEY and WOD GEAR. They truly care about me as a person and have shown immense support as I journey toward 2014. They help so very much! And I guess finally I have a deepened belief in my abilities and the support from people around me. I trust the process!!!

more recently as I have found that I need them! Lots of green veggies, lots of beef, chicken, lamb; almond milk, berries, Maca, black coffee and I take Professional Whey - WPI, Dextrose, Glutamine, BCAAs, Creatine, Taurine, Beta Ala-nine, L-Carnatine post work-out!

Your CrossFit games per-formances to date have been amazing in the 2011 CrossFit games you placed 19th outright and in 2013 you won the new 40-44 masters age bracket. Given the choice, which category would you prefer to compete in for the 2014 games?

Its no secret to anyone where I have my heart set! My goal, determination and utter focus for the last 2 years have been on returning to the Open divi-sion and that is my goal again this year. Im so excited, this will be year #3 of CrossFit and I know great things will hap-

"I love that CrossFit seems to be constantly asking me what I'm made of, I always want to know the answer, to plumb the depths of my character and take a peak at my foundations. I'm always ready to chalk up and Find out if I've got what it takes this time - no matter the fear or doubt I feel. I'm never more fully alive than in the thick of a workout, surrounded by my CrossFit family."


Chad "

The Un

it" Ma

ckay

According to your profiles on the CrossFit Active and CrossFit Games websites you attribute your drive to being brought up in a sport-ing family.

What sports did you play as a kid?

Baseball, Tennis, Little Athlet-ics and Surfing.

Have you always been com-petitive? Did you ever com-pete in any other sports?

Growing up I was always fair-ly competitive until I stopped playing Baseball and Tennis

at 16 years old. My compet-itive drive to be the best ath-lete I can be started when I found CrossFit in 2008 and was further fueled by my first comp in 2009. My family has always been competitive, my Dad played Rugby League for the Roosters and represented Australia in 1974.

How and when did you find CrossFit?

My boss at the time and now business partner Luke Starr introduced me to CrossFit in 2008.

Was CrossFit ever the gener-al strength and conditioning


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From the brief peak we got in your Search4hurt episode it looked like you were eat-ing Paleo. What sort of diet do you normally follow?

I eat clean food all day every day. My diet includes meat, veggies, salad, some fruit, nuts and a little dairy.

Your CrossFit games per-formances to date have been amazing in the 2012 Cross-Fit games you placed 9 and in 2013 you placed 11th. Are you doing anything different in your training for the 2014 games?

I will continue to work on both strengths and weakness throughout the year. I will be dedicating more time to im-prove my gymnastic skills and running efficiency, as these ar-eas need more fine-tuning.

We had several questions come in from our Facebook page:

Adam asked How much is your weekly food bill?

$300. Money well spent.

Chris asked What do you feel is your biggest weakness that you are working on?

Gymnastic and running.

Jason asked Do you size up every day objects and think I could life that?

At times, yes. I had to push a car last week that couldnt get into reverse up a small incline, but not sure if I would want to try and lift it.

And finally Andrew asked What do you think about to push through the pain and lactic barrier?

I think about my game plan and being as efficient as pos-sible when it gets hard. When it gets really hard my family comes to mind and there is no greater motivator than your family.

lifestyle that it is for many people or was it always a sport in your eyes?

It has always been a sport for me due to the competitive na-ture of the workouts.


Start at 5.15am, Coach from 6am-7.30am, Business relat-ed work from 7.30am-10am, Training from 10am-2pm, Cli-ent sessions from 2.30-5.30pm then Training 5.30-6.30pm.


3-5 hours a day.

What does your training look like? Strength vs Met-cons?

Strength and Metcon every-day, with every other day O-lift, Strength and Metcon.

"Growing up I was always fairly compet-itive until I stopped play-ing Baseball and Tennis at 16 years old. My competitive drive to be the best athlete I can be started when I found CrossFit in 2008 and was further fueled by my fIrst comp in 2009."

Do you have a period-ised training program?

Yes. My strength and Olym-pic lifting is period-ised.


7 - 8 hours per night.




Kara

"Big

Dub"

Web

b According to your profiles on the CrossFit Roar and CrossFit Games websites you have only been CrossFit-ting since 2011. In that time you have competed in the Australasian regionals each year and have won them the last 2 years. What is your sporting background?

Yes I have been doing CrossFit since CrossFit Roar opened in February 2011. I dont really have a sporting background though and certainly not at an elite level.

All I can say is that my mum got me involved in school sports from day 1 and I always loved it.

I did swimming training be-fore and after school and I played whatever was going during school. I did that until about year 9 of high school and stopped doing anything all together.

I spent some time just being a teenager doing stupid things and then realised when I was 19 that I felt a bit fat and le-thargic from all of the I just turned 18 drinking and par-tying. So I joined a regular gym that my mum was going to and started to just try and get some health about myself with the help of my now Coach Brian who was my PT at the time.

By the time I started CrossFit I guess I just had a good enough level huffy puffy fitness to allow me to work hard at CrossFit but still a very blank canvas in the way of skills and strength.

Do you think your sporting background put you in an ideal position to move to CrossFit in 2011?

I think the most important thing for a successful attitude towards life and just gener-al wellbeing in life is playing sport and being involved in physical activities as a child. I am so grateful my mum got me involved or I wouldnt be the CrossFit athlete or the per-son I am today.

You need to develop body awareness, coordination, and a love for being physi-cally active from a young age otherwise life is much more difficult when you are older.

Have you always been com-petitive? Did you ever com-pete at an elite level in any of your other sports?

I have always been competitive in that I like doing well. I like everything I do to be the best Photograph courtesy of CrossFit, Inc


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a competitive sport until after regionals 2011. At the time I didnt even know that was possible.

I just really enjoyed how I felt and the confidence I regained from doing it.

Once I heard of the opens and thought oh why not and gave it a try and made it to re-gionals, then competed there and realised wow competing is awesome, I just kept train-ing the way I was and didnt do anything specific other then Brians gym program-ming. I turned up everyday and worked my butt off. Then coming into the 2012 season I realised that I had gotten pretty good so Brian put some programming together for me leading into the opens and here we are 2 wins later.

What does your training look like? Strength vs Met-cons

Brian keeps everything fair-ly balanced for me. I need to work on certain aspects of CrossFit but you never want to sacrifice anything. Its im-portant to improve what needs to be improved without losing something else.

I do only train one aspect per training session though. So I wont do strength and a met-con in the same day/session as such, but I will combine the two into something like and every minute on the minute kind of style with something heavy.

The way I train resembles very

Then I pick it back up and start training CrossFit. Which means whenever I am train-ing I am training at 100%. It doesnt matter what that is, it needs to always be my best.


I am a great sleeper and really make it a crucial part of my life. I sleep typically 7 hours 20 minutes on weeknights due to when I have to get up to coach. If its a little later for bedtime then I will make it up with a nap in the day. I typically need 8 hours and that works per-fectly for me. Any more or less and I am a monster!

Sleep is where the magic hap-pens so if I dont get it then I cant recover, adapt, and be better when I come to train

so fun because I never do those kinds of WODs. I just enjoyed doing something different.

I do love Olympic lifting though. Out of everything I have learnt in CrossFit as an athlete and a coach I just feel as though Olympic lifting made sense straight away. It feels right and natural so I am definitely a sucker for it. Un-derstanding something defi-nitely makes it more enjoyable. I could Olympic lift any day!

A couple of days ago it was announced that you have been chosen to be part of Team World at the Cross-Fit Invitational in Berlin on October 26th. What does your preparation for this event look like? Will it be hard ramping your training back up so soon after the games?

My training wont change. My number one priority is the Games and so I will do what I need to do for that. I have already picked up my training so there wont be any change there and I should be fit enough for this anytime of the year really.

I am actually thinking it will be a great booster for that time of year. Its easy at the end of the year to get lost in training since it feels like the games are so far out of sight. I think this will be a perfect way to keep the momentum of some tough training going and to really keep me focused.

What would be your number 1 tip to someone completely new to CrossFit on day one stepping into the box for the very first time?

Take your time and LISTEN! Hopefully if you have found a good affiliate to train at there are coaches to support your new journey with the sport. The number one difference I see between people who do well and people who stay the same are those that take the time to listen and learn will always pull away from the rest.

No matter what, I do whatever Brian tells me to do. I trust in him as my coach and as some-one who has my best interests in mind.

If you turn up, listen and ask questions and take in as much as you can and apply yourself for that one-hour then you will go far. Training time is just that so enjoy it and forget everything else and do YOUR best and not anyone elses.

"whenever I am training I am training at 100% (. It doesn(t matter what that is, it needs to always be my best."

next time.

I even go so far as to pull my bed back, have dinner cooked, PJs out ready all before I leave to train and coach in the after-noon so that when I get home I can be ready as quickly as possible and have time to wind down for a proper night sleep. NERD!

You came 2nd in the first event of the 2013 games, the swim & bar muscle up event and 4th in the Clean & Jerk ladder. These events seem very different are swimming, bar muscle ups and clean & jerk all amongst your favourite movements?

I really enjoy most movements really. I think the swim WOD came down to the swim and just being an Aussie and being comfortable in the water gave me an advantage to keep going in that regard. Also it was just

of my ability but if I see some-one else do something better then me then I figure, surely if I work really hard that it pos-sible for me too.

The highest I competed was in primary school in the Met-ropolitan North swimming events. Back then I originally wanted to be a competitive swimmer but as I got older there was so much pressure around that and at age 12 I just wasnt ready for it.

I just really enjoyed swimming and wanted to be good at it be-cause I was having fun, but as soon as the expectations were there I just didnt enjoy it any-more.

That comes with age I guess. I have learnt to have both now.

How and when did you find CrossFit?

Brian was training me at a regular gym and he did his CrossFit level 1. He was hooked, he explained it to me and then I thought it was awe-some. That would have been in maybe late 2009 or something like that.

He began giving me CrossFit style workouts, things that were rounds for time with the basics, box jumps and ket-tlebell swings etc and I loved it so much I couldnt stand the thought of running on the treadmill for 20 minutes, riding on the bike for 20 min-utes and getting on the bloody stairmaster any longer.

When Brian left the gym to do his own thing out of his home, I started training with my now husband under my mums deck. We didnt have any gear except a skipping rope, a 16kg KB between us, and later we got a set of rings and medicine balls.

Brian had said he was trying to open an affiliate so we were just waiting. I taught myself whatever I could in the mean-time and went and trained at Brians place once per week for a partner WOD with Jase.

When he told us he was open-ing in February 2011 I was so excited I couldnt wait. I have trained at CrossFit Roar pretty much every single day pretty much since opening.

Was CrossFit ever the gener-al strength and conditioning lifestyle for you that it is for many people or was it always a sport in your eyes?

CrossFit was fun and it was fitness. I never thought of it as



I train once per day usually in the afternoon. I do a regu-lar CrossFit WOD each day, but it is just something that is programmed to suit something that I need to be working on. A few times per week I might have a starter or finisher to my WOD, for example 1 set max-unbroken muscle ups.

I am in the gym for my ses-sion for about 2 hours but I NEVER train that long haha. I spend more time warming up and dawdling lol but typically if its a metcon it might be any-where from 5 minutes up to 30 minutes and a strength is just a regular strength session.

I dont do anything weird or out of the ordinary.

much a balance of strength sessions per week and metcons just like a regular gym pro-gramming.

Do you have a periodised training program?

I dont really have anything to do with my programming as such. Brian goes through with me what the year ahead will look like roughly. I guess you could call it periodised programming to a degree in that we have to work around the games season and be ready when I need to be ready and take advantage of the time I can use to make gains when I dont have anything on.

For example when I got back from the games I had a chunk of time dedicated to repairing my body and re-activating everything. I worked at 80% weight and focused on moving beautifully again.



According to your profile on Reebok CrossFit Frankston and the CrossFit Games websites you have a sporting background in motocross, Jiu Jitsu and bodybuilding. Do you think the combination of these sports makes for a good CrossFit-ter? Not really, most of my time was spent racing motocross, which is more of an endurance sport. If you come from a sport that requires you to be more explosive and powerful then youll have a great base going into CrossFit.

You have finishing 3rd, 2nd and then 1st in the Australasian regionals in the last 3 years what is your secret to dominating the regionals? I would say that training consistently has played a huge role in my success and also adapting to the growth of CrossFit. The level of competition today is a lot tougher than it was 2-3 years ago so that means you have to put in the extra work to stay on top.

Have you always been competitive? Can you tell us a little about your competitive motocross days? I dont think I was always that competitive although that changed when I started winning races and developed some self-belief. My motocross days was a great learning curve, we had to be very mentally tough and focused at a young age to do well in the sport. There is a lot of ups and downs in the sport and you have to learn to deal with them and keep moving forward.

How and when did you find CrossFit? My dad started CrossFit first by looking up Commando Steve off the Biggest Loser. He told me about it so I gave it a go and loved it straight away. I started in November 2009 and did my first competition at CrossFit Brisbane in March 2010 and after that weekend I knew thats what I wanted to keep doing.

Was CrossFit ever the general strength and conditioning lifestyle for you that it is for many people or was it always a sport in your eyes? At first it was but that changed after about 4 months because I got the taste of competition. Although now its about both, making sure I get fitter and

Rob

Fort

e stronger for the rest of my life not just during my competitive years.What does your average day look like?

How often/long do you train? I usually train once a day for about 2 hours.

What does your training look like? Strength vs Metcons. I usually start with a couple of strength exercises then I hit a WOD or two after that.

Do you have a periodised training program? No, I do pretty much the same thing all year round.

How much sleep do you get? On average about 8 hours.

In 2013 games you came 6th on the Burden Run and 8th on the 21km row would you consider yourself an endurance athlete? Yes, Ive always done really well at longer events, I dont train for this stuff much, Im trying to get the rest of my game to the same level as my endurance and mental capacity.

Did you learn anything new from 2013 CrossFit Games? Are you going to do anything differently in this years training? Yes, Ive learnt that you have to broaden your experience as an athlete not just focus on the typical CrossFit WODs. I will try new things and broaden my experience as an athlete.

What would be your number 1 tip to someone completely new to CrossFit on day one stepping into the box for the very first time? Dont be intimidated, take your time, concentrate on moving well and have fun.


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"I would say that training consistently has played a huge role in my success and also adapting to the growth of CrossFit. The level of competition today is a lot tougher than it was 2-3 years ago..."

2013 ReEbok CrossFit Games Aussie athlete interview... Photograph courtesy of CrossFit, Inc


2013 ReEbok CrossFit Games Aussie athlete interview... Rut

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According to your profile on the CrossFit Games web-site you train and coach at CrossFit Invercargill. I have not been able to find much information on CrossFit In-vercargill can you tell me a little about your box?

Weve renamed as CrossFit Wild South now, and I now have some other partners I have bought on board. This has meant that Im not jug-gling as many jobs within the business. Im now head coach and I only coach 4 - 6 hours a week. I do the entire box pro-gramming, and I take care of finances.

You have performed incredi-bly well over the past 3 years finishing 2nd at the Austral-asian regionals every year

since 2011 and have finished in 17th and 15th at the games in 2012 and 2013. Do you have a competitive sporting background before Cross-Fit? I used to do mountain run-ning and cross-country events like the coast to coast and tri-athlon. These were just things to keep in shape really until I found CrossFit 5 years ago.

Have you always been com-petitive? Did you ever com-pete at an elite level in any of your other sports? No last year I competed in Olympic Weightlifting for NZ but that was really after I be-gan CrossFit.

How and when did you find CrossFit? 5 years ago my brother in law Chris McSweeney and I started experimenting with the WODs. I couldnt tell you my first workout, I think we kind of slowly transitioned from variable cross training to WODs until we were hooked. The next thing we knew we were signed up for the First Aussie regional and well now Ive competed in 5 Re-gionals!

Was CrossFit ever the gener-al strength and conditioning lifestyle for you that it is for many people or was it always a sport in your eyes? I initially was interested in it to accompany my triathlon training. Then I just stopped entering triathlons because I just didnt get the same buzz from them any more. I guess even when Chris and I first started working out together it was always a competition. Un-fortunately he and my sister moved away to set up Cross-Fit Kapiti but it pushed me to set up an Invercargill box so I could WOD with like-minded people.

You train most of the year in New Zealand but are coached by Dusty Hyland and Jules Dempsey out of CrossFit Dogtown can you tell us how this came about? Jules used to lift when I start-ed but injury meant he had to step back from lifting and we were coming home from Nationals one day and he said I can make you strong I was like sweet lets do it, and we got in to it, and now he has a whole bunch of athletes that are doing awesome.

Dusty I met doing at Gym Cert at Schwartz a few years ago he said Ive just started training Lindsey Valenzuela you should come train and I was like ok, I came home and

2013 ReEbok CrossFit Games Aussie athlete interview... rang Dog Town a month lat-er and now I think Ive had 4 trips to train there. I guess Ive just been offered opportunities so took them.

Tell us a little about Lindsey Valenzuela did you also train with Sam Briggs this year before the games while she was training with Lind-sey? Lindsey has been an awesome training partner in the last couple of years. Unfortunately I was injured so close to the games this year that I didnt get in much training with ei-ther of them, but I did get to hang with them a little. They are both great people. Sam is really down to earth, she is totally chilled, but also totally made of metal, it was obvious she was unbeatable this year.

Im really proud of both of them, they both have put in so much work to achieve really great things, and I know they will both continue to do so.


Wake 5-6 breakfast is first, fol-lowed by emails. Head to the gym. I usually get some Ruth-less Ltd orders out to people during this time, and approx-imately an hour of the box pa-per work done. Run errands. Train before or after lunch, really varies, then get in some more paper work. I coach usu-ally a lunch or an evening class and then lift with Jules in the evening.

One day a week I travel around an hour and work as a vet as a small animal practice, this is my day of body rest too, sometimes I get in a lunch time swim or a light row or run but usually I take it off.

Get home around 8pm, show-er, dinner and bed by 9.30 10pm.

How often/long do you train? 3.5 hours often split into CrossFit and lifting, sometimes as one session.

What does your training look like? Strength vs Metcons

The last 2 years has been most-ly strength. The metcons have been there and more so from the open to regionals and then obviously to the worlds but strength has been No1.

This year I feel I have a good base, so my focus is continuing to improve my cardiovascular ability, my power, and agility. Ive also had to work through a lot of rehab on my neck and thoracic spine so thats a con-stant part of my training.

I want to be lifting 5 - 6 days a week, but just not the same amount of volume as I was doing.

Do you have a periodised training program? I guess more strength has oc-curred in the last 6 months of the last 2 years, and more metcons in the first 6 months of the year. I feel Ive more just been building that base so I feel quite excited this year that I can keep maintenance strength and just tidy up some other areas rather than let my fitness slip a little like I nor-mally would be at this time of year.

How much sleep do you get? 8 hours.

You came 2nd in Burden Run and 3rd in Row. Would you consider yourself an endur-ance athlete? Initially yes, thats been my background but Ive also had some excellent performances in shorter WODS like Jackie and the rope climb WOD at regionals where I momen-tarily held a world record. I really consider myself a Cross-Fit athlete. Ive stopped any thoughts like this isnt my type of WOD. Ive been tack-ling weaknesses for the last 5 years so I would like to remove myself of that label. I think the advantage I have had on some of those workouts is having the mental strength to push through. Like when you run over a mountain you are often coming around a corner and seeing more mountain and you just have to be like ok Im fine I can keep going.

What would be your number 1 tip to someone completely new to CrossFit on day one stepping into the box for the very first time? Get the basics perfect. Dont be in a rush to get your muscle up or that heavy snatch, tidy up your shoulder position, make sure your strict pull ups look awesome. I am still working on perfecting even the most basic movements like air squats and push ups. Dont just think oh yuk more air squats, just get better at them.

Also be prepared to work the stuff you suck at, not the stuff your good at. If you want to be a good CrossFit-ter trying to improve on your sub 2.30 Fran is probably not going to make you awesome but fixing that ugly overhead squat might.

"I've stopped any thoughts like (this isn't

my type of WOD(. I've been tackling weaknesses

for the last 5 years so I would like to remove

myself from that label. I think the advantage I have had on some of

those workouts is having the mental strength to push through. Like when you run over a mountain

you are often coming around a corner and

seeing more mountain and you just have to be

like ok I(m fIne I can keep going."


According to your profiles on the Reebok CrossFit GCS and CrossFit Games websites you have only been CrossFit-ting since 2012. Since then you have finished 3rd in the 2013 Australasian regionals and 36th in your first CrossFit Games appear-ance. Do you think your 20 years of gymnastics put you in an ideal position to tran-

2013 ReEbok CrossFit Games Aussie athlete interview... Pip

malo

ne

sition into elite level Cross-Fit competition?

Having a lot of years experi-ence in elite sport definitely helped me in preparation for the 2013 season. Ive been able to maintain the discipline, determination and stamina required to get through region-als and make it to the games. Competing in CrossFit and preparing for the unknown however is unlike any other sport Ive done.

You have also competed at a high level in Canoe Slalom - have you always been com-petitive? I have been competitive from as early as I can remember, my

first competition was gymnas-tics at age 4.

How and when did you find CrossFit? I found CrossFit in 2011. I met someone in a regular gym that told me about it because they thought Id love it. They intro-duced me to an affiliate and I loved it from the first session.

Was CrossFit ever the gener-al strength and conditioning lifestyle for you that it is for many people or was it always a sport in your eyes? Coming from Olympic sports it was strange at first, watch-ing a competition, learning how a games season works,

and the concept of the open being online. But I thought it was incredible, I still do. I watched a video of Camille Leblanc-Bazinet in the 2011 CrossFit Games and did my first competition less than 6 weeks later. When I first start-ed CrossFit-ting I knew in-stantly it was what I wanted to do. I finished my last gymnas-tics national season about 4 months later then I retired and switched my focus to CrossFit.

What does your average day look like?How often/long do you train? On average I train 4 hours a day.

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What does your training look like? Strength vs Met-cons Everyday is a hard day, every day I burn my lungs, and ev-ery day I move weight.

Do you have a periodised training program? I follow the givemcoldsteel.com program.


When Im not studying, as much as possible. 8 hours a night is the minimum require-ment although studying can mean a few all night-ers a week, which doesnt help my training at all!

You came 9th in the Naughty Nancy event at 2013 games, are running and overhead squats among your favorite movements? The running was where I had to push myself way out of my comfort zone. I was hurting. The overhead squats were pretty light and comfortable for me as they one of my favor-ite moves.

What are your training plans for the 2013/2014 season? Are you going to change anything after your experi-ence at the games this year? I will stick to my coaches pro-gram and plan, and utilize ev-

erything I have learnt from my rookie year in the last CrossFit Games season.

What would be your number 1 tip to someone completely new to CrossFit on day one stepping into the box for the very first time? Listen to the coachs instruc-tions and learn how to move safely. Every workout is achievable at any level of fit-ness. Dont compare yourself to others. Just have a go and you will surprise yourself with what you can get out yourself when you step out of your comfort zone.

"Every workout is achievable at any level of fItness. Don(t compare yourself to others. Just have a go and you will surprise yourself with what you can get out yourself when you step out of your comfort Zone."



2013 ReEbok CrossFit Games Aussie athlete interview...Ma

tT Sw

ift

According to your profiles on the CrossFit Brisbane and CrossFit Games web-sites you have a background in Triathlons, various mar-tial arts, cycling and weight-lifting. How much do you believe your background has contributed to your CrossFit success to date?

I played a lot of sports growing up but I was never very good any one thing. I think from a very early age I liked the idea of being able to do lots of different things rather than focusing on any one thing, so personality wise I am probably well suited to the generalist nature of CrossFit. Having a broader sporting background probably helps a lot with ac-quiring the different skills of CrossFit. Triathlon helped de-velop my running, Karate and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) were a great lesson in the importance

of technique, Cycling teaches you how to suffer, and Weight-lifting has obvious transfer to a lot of what we do. It definite-ly helps having played sports growing up, but I dont think it is necessary for success in CrossFit. I think it is more the case that people who by their nature are attracted to playing lots of sports are also attracted to what CrossFit has to offer.

Have you always been com-petitive? Did you ever com-pete at an elite level in any of your other sports?

The second question is easier to answer than the first. I have only ever competed at what I would call a serious recre-ational level, never elite. My previous sporting results are really good evidence that I can do most things ok but no one thing well, so CrossFit was a perfect fit. As for being com-

petitive, I have always liked competing and testing my-self, and I love the feeling of competition, but a common complaint of every coach that I have had is that I am not competitive enough. This is one of the specific things that I am working on in training at the moment, I am learning to push harder to win. Play-ing the game well has always been more important to me than coming first, but that is something that doesnt serve me well at higher level compe-tition, so now I am learning to be more driven to win.

How and when did you find CrossFit?I stumbled across the crossfit.com website in 2005. I was training in BJJ and looking for information on kettlebell training for martial arts. I found a link to CrossFit and initially recoiled because it

went against everything that I had been taught. After follow-ing the site for a while out of curiosity I dabbled a bit in the workouts but didnt get it until I saw the Nasty Girls video in December 2005. That video blew my mind and echoed like a challenge to be able to match what Nicole, Eva and Annie could do, which of course I couldnt. It started an obses-sion with the program and very quickly I worked out that I wasnt very fit at all! The more it humbled me the more addicted I became.

When you started Cross-Fit-ting back in 2005 was there a competitive scene anywhere in the world yet? How about Australia?

In 2005 there were only a handful of people doing Cross-Fit in the country! I remem-ber being so excited to meet

36 | WOD MAGAZINE


up with other CrossFit-ters and just being able to do a WOD with someone. Before I affiliated in 2006 I travelled to Sydney to do a WOD with Andrew Cattermole from CrossFit Sydney in a park. At around the same time Fiona Muxlow from CrossFit Towns-ville came to Brisbane and we did a WOD in a commercial gym. Those were really the only experiences I had train-ing with someone else that actually knew what CrossFit was. There was no concept of CrossFit competition. In 2007 we started to hear about ba-sic competitions in the States and then the first CrossFit Games at Aromas, but even when the Games were an-nounced I didnt think it was going to develop into a Sport. The beginnings of organized competitions were really just opening day celebrations when an affiliate moved into a new

box. We held our first com-petition in 2008 as a house-warming party for our first building in 2008 and called it the Hardnup Challenge. It was meant to just be a couple of workouts and a BBQ for our members but Steve Willis and Mick Shaw from CrossFit Effects brought up their crew to support our opening and almost by accident we found ourselves running a semi-se-rious competition. The first serious competition that I did was the 2009 Australasian Regional Qualifier. Although it is everywhere these days, CrossFit competition is actual-ly a very recent phenomenon.

Was CrossFit ever the gener-al strength and conditioning lifestyle for you that it is for many people or was it always a sport in your eyes?

For me CrossFit will always be my strength and conditioning program. I do it because it keeps me fit and healthy, and it makes my life better. The sport side of it provides a lot of fun and motivation, but it is just a tiny piece of what the program has to offer. If the entire competition side disap-peared nothing would change in my training or attitude to CrossFit. There is no doubt that competition has been in-strumental in the development and popularity of CrossFit, and the Games are an incred-ible experience as both com-petitor and spectator alike, but nothing can compare to seeing someone turn their life around and become strong and healthy. The sport side is just a visible expression of how driven this community is to be better all the time.

What does your train-ing look like? Strength vs Metcons Do you have a periodised training pro-gram? How much sleep do you get?

My training volume has ramped a lot since last year. I train 5 days in a row during the week and then rest on weekend. That cycle fits in nicely with family and work and means that I hit each week rested and ready to go. I only train once a day in a 2-3 hour block usually from 2pm to 5pm. My program is not periodised as such but I do tend to work around themes and at the moment my lift-ing is percentage based and I dont max out anywhere near as much as I used to. There is a lot of variety in what I do, however each session does follow a standard format that involves about 5-6 different training pieces. The first cou-ple of pieces are strength or lifting, followed by the WOD which is usually the third piece for the day, and then a couple

of pieces dedicated to specific conditioning or skill work. So every day has both strength and metcon work, and over time I am handling more and more volume within that

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WOD Magazine - Issue 1