For the majority of us CrossFit is about every day fitness. It is coming in, clearing your head from work, feeling good about yourself and maintaining your health.
For others, a small percentage of the population, it is a lot more than that. It is their ‘sport’ and they dedicate their lives to it, not just one hour per day but every single minute of every single day. Not only are they training for 3-4 hours per day, they are taking great care and precision in their nutrition, their recovery and their sleep. For a lot of competitive athletes their journey to be the fittest will end at regionals this weekend.
For those of you that are new to CrossFit may not have ever heard of the CrossFit Games. The CrossFit Games are the world’s premier test to find the Fittest on Earth.
The CrossFit Games were created to fill a void — no other true test of fitness existed. From Ironman triathlons to the NFL, all other athletic events neglected to accurately test fitness. Even decathlons, while testing a relatively wide range of abilities, missed vital components of physical fitness.
The CrossFit Games events are made up of a broad range of functional movements. These movements also form the basis of the exercise programmememe we know so well, CrossFit. However, make no mistake—the CrossFit Games are designed to test, not train, fitness.
The Games season is broken up into three stages. The first stage is the Open. This five-week, five-workout competition is held in the winter in CrossFit affiliates and garage gyms around the world. The top athletes from each of the 17 regions then qualify for the second stage of the competition, regionals. The regionals are a live, three-day competitions that are held over three weekends in May. The top athletes from two or three regions combine, and compete for the five qualifying spots for the CrossFit Games. The season culminates in the 2016 Reebok CrossFit Games at the StubHub Center in Carson, California on July 19 – 24, 2016.
This weekend kicks off the Meridian regional competition, from the 27th – 29th May. It is a pretty inspiring and humbling thing to watch the top athletes do what they do best, taking some of the movements we do every day in the gym and carrying them out under competition conditions with such efficiency is a great watch! Learn more and have a watch this weekend on the CrossFit Games website!