workouts

My First CrossFit Competition

Courtney

I survived my first CrossFit Competition!

It was actually quite a whirlwind day, so I’m going to recap as best as I can. I got a ton of pictures while everyone else was working out but was so “in the zone” prepping for my workouts that I forgot to ask the hubs to take pictures of me… #bloggerfail

This event was on really short notice, like less than 2 weeks. It was partner workouts, so teams of 2 same gender partners. There were going to be 3 WODs and rumors were flying that they were going to be kinda crazy – like high volume rope climbs. We did our best to prep, especially because 2 of our athletes were SUPER new to CrossFit… like 2-3 weeks new! The competition was advertised as Scaled and RX, we were comfortable with the ability of all our teams to do scaled workouts. When we arrived it turns out none of the other male teams were going scaled, so our guys all went to the RX division. We were told the only difference was going to be the weights… That made me a bit nervous… There are just some CrossFit movements that should NOT be in a scaled competition… and every.single.one. was going to be in this competition. The first WOD was announced shortly after we arrived:

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10 rounds of Cindy (5 pullups- 10 Hand Release Push Ups – 15 Air Squats)
THEN
Diane (21-15-9 Deadlift/Hand Stand Push Ups)

I knew the weight wasn’t going to be the problem for me. We split the Cindy into 5 rounds each, I did the first 5 then my partner did the last 5 and I was going to do all the deadlifts while she did the HSPU. Being new to CrossFit, she had practiced Handstand Push Ups 1 or 2 times, and always with a 45lb plate and abmat. Here in the SCALED division they had the scale as a 10lb plate. Uhm, really? I don’t feel like that is really scaled. You might as well be doing RX. We ended up getting them to let us scale them from a pike on a box after several minutes of attempting them against the wall. We were neck and neck with one of the teams from our old box, CrossFit O’Fallon. With the weight being 135 for the deadlifts I was able to do them pretty quickly to make up for some time. We finished 10 seconds after the team from O’Fallon. I was just glad to be done with one of the workouts. I recovered pretty quickly and it was time to watch the guys. They did great!

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(ladies – yet another reason to crossfit… I mean come on, look at them… )

After some recovery time it was time for the second WOD to be announced… This was the one I was dreading. I knew it was going to have rope climbs and I just haven’t mastered that yet. My lovely partner had practiced a few times, but this was a stupid amount of rope climbs…. for real.

800m relay run (each partner runs 800m)
10-8-6-4-2 Squat Cleans (womens scaled weight was 95… mens RX weight was 155)
5-4-3-2-1 Rope Climbs
200m Partner Carry

Uh yea…. 15 rope climbs… in a SCALED competition. Anyway, I knew I wasn’t going to be the fastest on the run. Luckily my partner made up quite a bit of time. I was going to do all the squat cleans and she was going to do the rope climbs. She did a few like a boss, but then we told them (mid workout) we HAD to scale it. So they had us do 4 scaled climbs from lying on the ground to standing up for every 1 full rope climb prescribed. Some of the other teams had to scale it down too. I don’t know of any CrossFit around here that does that many rope climbs in a workout (except for maybe the one that hosted the competition? Just saying… ) Anyway- I powered through the squat cleans. I was super proud of how quick I was able to get through them. Then came the partner carry. I was the one carrying my partner. It was tough but we powered through and finished in 20:11.

We knew going into this that my partner had irritated her elbow earlier in the week. She felt good going into the competition but the Handstand push ups, rope climbs, and the way I was holding her for the partner carry just aggravated that. We decided to drop out before the last WOD, since it was going to be a lot of overhead stuff. I’d rather pull out of this competition and have her heal up than push it for now reason and be out of commission for a long time. After 2 brutal WODs I wasn’t disappointed about sitting out on the last one.

1000m Row
50 GHD Sit Ups
50 Shoulder to Overhead
50 Burpees
50 Toes2Bar

I feel like we could have actually rocked this one pretty well, except maybe the Toes2Bar. Which, in my opinion, is a movement that should NOT be in a scaled competition. I don’t even know what places our teams came in, and honestly it doesn’t matter to me. I was super proud of our teams for pushing through and giving their best. We want to play hard, but we play smart too. It is way better to pull out of a competition than face serious injury. Overall, I was pretty frustrated with this competition… it really seriously should NOT have been advertised as a scaled competition at all. Hand stand push ups, rope climbs, toes2bar, GHD sit ups with hands touching the ground… those are NOT scaled moves. Honestly, had we known the programming we wouldn’t have sent our teams with newer people on them. It was $30 a person, but there was nothing provided…. no tshirts, no food or drink… just using their facility for a few workouts. It was a great experience of the adrenaline that comes with a competition setting and recovering between multiple WODs and we had a great time just hanging out with each other all day.

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We were super proud of all our CrossFit 70 Athletes – both those competing and those who came out to support our teams. Love our community!

Have you ever competed before?

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29 thoughts on “My First CrossFit Competition”

  2. Nice job guys!! Yeah, those scaled weights are CRAZY! I’m trying to think what the weights were during the competition that our box hosted. I think Rx hand stand pushups were replaced with kettlebell swings for scaled. And when we had rope climbs in our most recent competition, Rx did 5 rope climbs per round and Scaled I think did 3. And even that I thought was a lot! Def a great decision to pull out, no need to get hurt during a fun event!

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    1. I was actually OK with the weights…135 for a deadlift wasn’t too bad and I KILLED the 95lb squat cleans. These dang body weight movements just kill me though!

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  3. Congrats on your first competition.
    You have worked so hard to get where you are. That seems a lot, especially if there are new people. No t shirt for the first competition!? Good thing you took pics!

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    1. THANK YOU! I think signing up for a competition was a huge step for me and seeing how well I did on certain parts was awesome… I just need to get better at the parts I wasn’t good at!

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  4. The one competition I’ve been in had a definite difference between the Rx and scaled classes. No HSPU, T2B, or high volume rope climbs (we chose how many to do, more reps = higher score). I’m curious what box you went to since I live in the STL area. And you’re right, Crossfit guys are nice to look at! 🙂

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      1. CrossFit Edwardsville (in Glen Carbon, IL). We hosted a Fittest Team in the MetroEast competition and it was so much fun! There’s already another scheduled for next year – teams from your box should come! All of the info is on our Facebook page I think.

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      3. No and I don’t think anyone from my box signed up for it either. I’m not really sure why! Where are you guys located? I’d love to come out on the weekend sometime and WOD with you!

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  5. No, I have not competed, but feel like if I keep up with Crossfit, in another year I will be able to. I still have about 20 pounds to lose before I can run successfully.

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  6. Congrats on your first competition, even if it was a bit of a let down. So glad you are being smart about it, I get nervous with CrossFit because so many people just go hard and end up injured. I’m hoping to get into it, but I need to find the right group (one like yours!). Good for you guys!!

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    1. Unfortunately CrossFit has gotten a bit of a reputation for being dangerous… but we are all about training smart! Just like anything there are dangers when not done the right way, just make sure you find a CrossFit approved affiliate and you will be fine. It’s SO fun!

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  7. Congrats on the competition. Sounds like you really were smart and safe about it instead of going crazy and pushing through at risk of injury!

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  8. I participated in HOA3 in Springfield the week before I discovered I was pregnant. That is one of the best competitions I have ever seen. There were rope climbs, pull ups and TTB in the competition, but they were all AMRAPS or a low number divided between 4 team mates. The stuff that was in this competition seriously sounds ridiculous and not right for a scaled competition. Glad to hear you had a good time though and way to be smart and keep your partner from hurting herself. Now that is a great coach 🙂

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  10. Hooray! Congrats to you and the rest of the CrossFit 70 crew.

    We went to a competition once that also was not well advertised. They said if you could do most workouts RX, you could be in the RX division. Then the RX weights got posted and they were really heavy for some things and so I had to drop down to the scaled division. Still a good experience, though.

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    1. Yea- I feel like RX and Scaled can be so different from Box to Box… For me the weight was fine I’m just not good at the body weight stuff yet. I’m improving but still not there with pull ups and rope climbs. Overall I think the competition experience is great for crossfitters to go through at least once!

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  11. The competition sounds awesome (to be competing) but those workouts do not look very scaled! Either way, yay for first competition!! 🙂

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