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 1st place (175), HHH 2nd (165) and DT 3rd (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 (1st in row, 3rd 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!

Equipment: Barbell

Warm Up
1 min Barbell Romanian Deadlift
1 min Judo Push Up Rock
1 min Deadlift
1 min Full Body Rock

Tech
Build up to deadlift weight
Warm Up handstand progression

WOD: Damn Diane
3 Rounds
15 Deadlift totaling 3075/4725lbs*
15 Strict Deficit HSPU

*For example 25 deadlifts@125/190lbs = 3075/4725lbs

Cool Down
Hands & Knees Rock
Scap Rotations/Retractions
Dragon/Pigeon Pose
Upper/Lower Body Rolls