CrossFit Games

This year, the CrossFit Games will be held July 16 - 18th, in Carson, CA.  For the next month we'll be following Team Flatirons CrossFit, in Boulder, Colorado, as they prepare for The Games.  In the past three years, the CrossFit Games have grown from a local contest into a global phenomenon.  The 2007 games had 50 athletes participating, in 2008 that number grew to nearly 300 with 800 fans and spectators, the 2009 games increased to 750 athletes with over 4,000 fans and spectators.  The 4th Annual CrossFit Games will bring thousands of spectators from all over the world.  Here's a word from Team Flatirons CrossFit:

Every year, CrossFit gyms around the world start to focus on the CrossFit Games as athletes train to try and qualify through sectional and regional competitions for a chance to compete in the World Games. The CrossFit Games have become known as the "Woodstock of Fitness." For 2½ days, the fittest people on Earth will converge on The Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, CA to be a part of the most work-intensive competition ever developed, Based in Boulder, Colorado, Flatirons CrossFit, has a team competing in the games for the second year in a row. This year we placed 6th at the North Central Region Qualifier to earn our spot. The team consists of three men and three women. We have three returning athletes from last year and three talented new athletes joining the team this year.

The CrossFit Games are four weeks away and while our athletes have been training and competing since The Games last year to prepare, the question still presents itself…?  How do you prepare for the unknown?  This is the premise for the CrossFit Games. To test an athlete’s ability to be prepared for whatever physical task they may need to accomplish.  No one knows what the workouts will be.  So how do you train for the unknown?

At Flatirons CrossFit our CrossFit Games athletes have been on a steady program of heavy lifting and short metabolic workouts. For lifting we focus on squats and dead lifts for pure strength building and the clean and jerk and snatch for explosive speed and power.  For metabolic conditioning we have been cycling through short heavy sprint workouts 4-6 minutes and slightly longer 8-12 minute workouts using compound weightlifting movements, sprinting and gymnastic movements (pull-up, push-ups, muscle-ups etc.) and kettlebells.  We have just started doing multiple workouts in a day with varying rest periods to help build recovery.  While we don’t know what the workouts at the Games will be, we do know that we will be doing multiple workouts in a day.

The other side to training is nutrition, and it may be the most important.  It is no coincidence that all the athletes competing at the Games and the top athletes at Flatirons CrossFit have the best diets. Eating quality foods such as grass-fed beef and organic vegetables and fruit contribute directly to performance gains in both strength and metabolic conditioning.  We’ve proven it.  All athletes at Flatirons CrossFit are encouraged and even manipulated into eating a diet that is high in protein and saturated fat and low in carbs. No sugar, starch or processed foods. The Games athletes have been paying particular attention to their protein and fat intake and increasing the amount they eat to deal with the added workload of training for the Games.

Meet Team Flatirons CrossFit