Digging the Data

One of the things I love about CrossFit is that performance results are measurable. Monday group classes got to test themselves against the first of the 2020 CrossFit Games online events, two basic benchmarks that most members were able to complete RX’d: the Front Squat 1 rep max and the 1000m Row.

Row			Front Squat
	Name	Score		Name	Score
1	Hard Rock	3:52.2	1	Hard Rock	175
2	BB	3:55	2	HHH	165
3	FeProf	3:58.8	3	DT	155
4	DT	4:00.3	4	FeProf	140
5	HHH	4:05.4	5	Fierce	125
6	Spice	4:07.1	6T	Quicksilver	115
7	Quicksilver	4:08	6T	Boomer	115
8	Boomer	4:11.7	6T	Hawkeye	115
9	Fierce	4:13	6T	Spice	115
10	Iron Dam	4:15.1	7T	The Finisher	105
11	Pepper	4:17.7	7T	Joy	105
12	The Finisher	4:18.6	7T	Icy	105
13	Shades	4:28.8	8T	Shades	95
14	Shine	4:29.1	8T	Shine	95
15	Hawkeye	4:43	8T	Riot	95
16	Thorn	4:45	8T	Molly Gunn	95
17	Riot	4:50	8T	Sprite	95
18	Molly Gunn	5:05	8T	Loki	95
19	Joy	5:07.9	9T	Pepper	90
20	Sprite	5:15.7	9T	BB	90
21	Loki	5:17	9T	Thorn	90
22	Icy	5:36.3	10T	Whisper	80
23	Whisper	5:47.4	10T	Iron Dam	80
Range 1:55 Median 4:18			Range 95 Median 105

In the row Hard Rock, BB & FeProf in that order were the only 3 women to finish under 4 minutes earning first through third place. The scores ranged from 3:52 to 5:47 for a 1:55 spread with the median finish time at 4:18.

For the front squat our athletes, like the Games competitors were given 20 minutes in which to establish a 1 rep max. 3 time Games champ Tia Claire Toomey posted a 313lb front squat at a bodyweight of 128lbs! For our Empower women the weights lifted went from 80-175lbs, a range of 95lbs with the median weight lifted being 105lbs. At 140+lbs FeProf, DT, HHH & Hard Rock were well above the median with Hard Rock in 1^st place (175), HHH 2^nd (165) and DT 3^rd (155). There was little variation among the women with the majority of lifters tied at 90, 95 and 115lbs.

Row			Front Squat
	Name	Score		Name	Score
1	Rowdy	3:15.3	1	The Touch	285
2	The Touch	3:17	2T	Master Dray	255
3	Menace	3:20	2T	Brick	255
4	The Truth	3:28.9	2T	WOD Father	255
5	Lightning	3:30.8	3	Rowdy	245
6	Master Dray	3:31.9	4	The Truth	235
7	The Heat	3:32.1	5	The Heat	230
8	Dr. T	3:35.3	6T	Smokey	225
9	Venom	3:35.8	6T	Dr. T	225
10	Brick	3:37.5	7T	Road Warrior	215
11	Smash	3:39.9	7T	Menace	215
12	The Colonel	3:45	7T	Rocket	215
13	WOD Father	3:45.9	8	Electric	205
14	Electric	3:47.3	9	Venom	200
15	Smokey	3:48.1	10	Iron Man	195
16	Yeti	3:51.6	11T	Yeti	190
17	Method Man	3:52	11T	Jay-G	190
18	Iron Man	3:54.2	12	Smash	175
19	Jay-G	3:55.6	13T	Doc Disc	160
20	Rocket	3:56.6	13T	Method Man	160
21	Livewire	4:16	14T	Lightning	155
22	Road Warrior	4:17.6	14T	The Colonel	155
23	Doc Disc	4:20	15	Alpha Dog	145
24	Alpha Dog	4:27	16	Livewire	135
Range 1:12 Median 3:45			Range 150 Median 205-215

In the row it was Rowdy, then The Touch followed by The Truth as the only three men to row the 1K in under 3:30. The men’s scores ranged between 3:15 to 4:27 for a total spread of 1:12 and a median time of 3:45.

In the front squat the men had a much greater range than the women with a difference of 150lbs between the top (285) and bottom (135) lifts (none of us managed to come close to Tia). The Touch topped the list (285) with a 30lb margin over the three men tied for second spot: Master Dray, WOD Father and Brick (255), Rowdy was third (245). The median weight lifted for the men was 205-215lbs.

In CrossFit competition it matters little who wins any single event, your ranking from each individual event is added together for a total athlete score (lower is better) to determine your overall rank. It was fun to take athlete scores from Monday’s two events and give Empower athletes a total competition-style score to determine Monday’s overall WOD rankings just like the CrossFit Games.

Name		1000m Row		Front Squat 1 rep max
3	The Touch	2	3:17	1	285
4	Rowdy	1	3:15.3	3	245
8	The Truth	4	3:28.9	4	235
8	Master Dray	6	3:31.9	2	255
10	Menace	3	3:20	7	215
12T	The Heat	7	3:28.9	5	230
12T	Brick	10	3:37.5	2	255
14	Dr. T	8	3:35.3	6	225
15	WOD Father	13	3:45.9	2	255
18	Venom	9	3:35.8	9	200
19	Lightning	5	3:30.8	14	155
21	Smokey	15	3:48.1	6	225
22	Electric	14	3:47.3	8	205
23	Smash	11	3:39.9	12	175
26	The Colonel	12	3:45	14	155
27T	Yeti	16	3:51.6	11	190
27T	Rocket	20	3:56.6	7	215
28	Iron Man	18	3:54.2	10	195
29	Road Warrior	22	4:17.6	7	215
30T	Method Man	17	3:52	13	160
30T	Jay-G	19	3:55.6	11	190
36	Doc Disc	23	4:20	13	160
37	Livewire	21	4:16	16	135
39	Alpha Dog	24	4:27	15	145

For the men, The Touch took second overall in the row and first in the front squat for the win (3 points total) with Rowdy (1^st in row, 3^rd in the front squat) just behind with 4 points. The Truth and Master Dray tied for third with 8 points each.

Name		1000m Row		Front Squat 1 rep max
2	Hard Rock	1	3:52.2	1	175
7T	FeProf	3	3:58.8	4	140
7T	DT	4	4:00.3	3	155
7T	HHH	5	4:05.4	2	165
11	BB	2	3:55	9	90
12	Spice	6	4:07.1	6	115
13	Quicksilver	7	4:08	6	115
14T	Boomer	8	4:11.7	6	115
14T	Fierce	9	4:13	5	125
19	The Finisher	12	4:18.6	7	105
20T	Iron Dam	10	4:15.1	10	80
20T	Pepper	11	4:17.7	9	90
21T	Shades	13	4:28.8	8	95
21T	Hawkeye	15	4:43	6	115
22	Shine	14	4:29.1	8	95
25T	Thorn	16	4:45	9	90
25T	Riot	17	4:50	8	95
26T	Molly Gunn	18	5:05	8	95
26T	Joy	19	5:07.9	7	105
28	Sprite	20	5:15.7	8	95
29T	Loki	21	5:17	8	95
29T	Icy	22	5:36.3	7	105
33	Whisper	23	5:47.4	10	80

For the women Hard Rock stood out on top winning both events for first place overall. It was a three way tie for second place between FeProf, HHH and DT who all three scored in the top 5 for both events. BB took third place on the strength of her second place finish in the row. There were significantly more ties in the women’s division (15:6) than the men’s.

Of course, both rowing and weightlifting are events that, unlike running or pull ups, will confer an advantage to a particular type of athlete. The 2020 Games online competition balanced this by including several more workouts incorporating a wider variety of skills such as Friendly Fran, Damned Diane, Nasty Nancy and Awful Annie. The combination of these disparate tests will provide a much broader fitness profile but since most of us will be unable to complete those tests as prescribed within the space and time restrictions of a group class, it is fun to tabulate results from the two tests we all could complete on an equal footing.

And some of us like Gymkata & Mark had to be innovative and adapt the WODs. In their case it was an 800m Run and Zercher squats with a cinder block hung from a log! Way to innovate!

Don’t fret if you, like me, did not end up top of the heap Monday, there is much more to CrossFit than just rowing and front squatting. This was just a fun exercise in data collection not an accurate reflection of your overall fitness level. What is worth celebrating are all the great personal bests recorded Monday in both the row and the front squat! Great work everyone!

Wednesday Damn Diane
Fast on the heels of Tuesday’s Friendly Fran, Wednesday brings us another CrossFit Games WOD in the form of Damn Diane. We will be able to accommodate 9 athletes per class though there will only be 6-7 handstand push up stations available. If you do not have access to a handstand kick up station you can do pike push ups from a box or even substitute regular push ups. If we do have couples in class we will ask you to tag team this WOD by sharing a station so that we can accommodate more members. I promise there will be enough work for the two of you!