I have to be honest, I am guilty. Guilty
of being biased. You see I have had something of a change of heart in the last
day regarding my last post. More of a realization actually. What I realized is
that I have been looking at the Crossfit Games from the wrong perspective.
Mine, as a weightlifting Coach.
|
HEIGHT:
|
WEIGHT:
|
|
Men:
|
Men:
|
|
2011 –
70.1
2012 –
69.8
2013 –
69.7
2014 –
69.3
|
2011 –
188.7
2012 –
198.0
2013 –
195.2
2014 –
191.4
|
|
Woman:
|
Woman:
|
|
2011 –
65.0
2012 –
65.2
2013 –
64.9
2014 –
64.8
|
2011 –
139.1
2012 –
143.5
2013 –
142.1
2014 –
141.8
|
Crossfit
is not Olympic weightlifting, and it is not trying to be. I should not have
imposed my expectations and beliefs upon it. I have been looking at it from my
own viewpoint and perspective this whole time, which was wrong.
My
opinion on Bodyweight exercises and whether it is easier for lighter lifters
hasn’t changed. My opinion on whether it is unfair to have lighter lifters
snatching the same weight as heavier lifters hasn’t changed. What has changed
is my perspective on the games itself. All along it should have been the
Crossfit athletes themselves I should have been looking at.
So I
decided to do a little research. When the 2014 Crossfit Regional’s workout
was revealed this year many people assumed it would favor the smaller lighter
athletes based on its emphasis on Gymnastic skills. It featured a max distance
handstand walk, 150 pistols, 21 ring muscle-ups, 54 strict handstand push-ups,
54 burpees, 10 legless rope climbs, 50 ring dips, and 64 pull-ups. Below are
the average Heights and Weights of the Crossfit Games individual Qualifiers
over the years 2011-2014
Based on
the above statistics it would seem that there was no significant decrease in
qualifiers average weight. What does that say about the theory that Bodyweight
exercises are easier for lighter athletes?
I decided
to look further and found this great article over at www.theboxmag.com.
(Link
below) The writer asks several top level Crossfit athletes their feelings on
the one-size fits all philosophy on the Crossfit games. One athlete in
particular gave his comments on being a smaller athlete competing in the games.
Chris Spealler, at 151 lbs in undoubtedly one of the best light athletes
around. When asked;
Do you
think the Games are fair for all competitors?
"No,
I don’t think CrossFit is fair. Anybody who does think its fair is stretching a
bit. But I don’t think it’s designed to be fair. They do a good job of
balancing things out, but I don’t think that every Game’s is fair."
As a
lighter guy myself I feel Chris’s pain here. He seems to feel aggrieved by the
fact that he has to compete against guys that are so much heavier than him. Who
can blame him? He does however also seem to thrive on it. In the article he
says he likes being the underdog, and goes on to say that he would like to see
at least one event in each competition where the load was based on an athlete’s
bodyweight.
What
struck me most about his answers was that when asked whether he was interested
in competing in bodyweight categories at the Games his answer was unequivocally
NO. In fact all of the athletes pretty much unanimously agreed.
So what
this tells me is that the athletes, those that are competing in the sport of
Crossfit are happy with the current formula, and are not interested in having
bodyweight categories.
The
numbers and the norms don’t lie. If you want to succeed at the Crossfit Games
as a Man you need to be 69.8 inches tall and around 195 lbs, and 65 inches and
142 lbs as a Woman. (Unless I finally hit that growth spurt at 40 I am sh1t out
of luck)
You see
Crossfit is not looking for the best weightlifter; it is not looking for the
best tri-athlete or gymnast. No, Crossfit is looking for the best ATHLETE at
all of the above. The best at doing all that encompasses Crossfit, hence their
motto “The Fittest on Earth”
To read
the full article with interviews from several athletes over at theboxmag.com
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