Crossfit Games Recap From Coach Tia

Hey team,

The Nobull CrossFit Games have come and gone, and the Fittest on Earth have been crowned.

This was my 5th time going to watch the Games live, and of all the years I have been, this was

by far the most emotional, for many reasons. After a year of uncertainty, and athletes not being

able to compete live or in front of fans, you could see how grateful they all were. For many this

was there first time in front of a Live crowd in almost two years, and things were starting to feel

more normal for everyone. But even with this, Covid is still among us, and a few athletes had to

withdraw due to testing positive for Covid when they checked in to the games. Kari Pearce and

Bethany Shadburne had to withdraw, two of the top female athletes in the sport. Kari after a

podium finish last year was coming back looking stronger than ever, and Bethany, after winning

the West Coast Classic, looked the best she ever had. This was obviously heartbreaking for

them, and I would’ve loved to see them shine on the competition floor, and there training

partner, Danielle Brandon, paid the price for this, having to test every morning of the week, had

her own warm-up area separated from all the other athletes, had her own lane on the

competition floor, and couldn’t interact with any of her competitors. She fought hard all

weekend, and think this may have fueled her fire. She took an event win in the Handstand walk

obstacle course, sprinting on her hands, making it look effortless, and ended up 11th overall. It

was nice to see her able to celebrate with everyone at the end of the weekend.

Annie Thorisdottir, the CrossFit Sweetheart, put on an impressive performance, with having a

baby last year, she comes back, and surprises herself with a 3rd place finish! You couldn’t help

with getting emotional watching her, she put her whole heart out there and competed to the best

of her abilities. The Snatch was probably my favorite, watching her so surprised with her lifts

and just having a great time! When she finished the last even and dropped to floor in tears,

knowing she had clinched the podium position, you got goosebumps. This Mom didn’t know if

she was going to be able to compete at this level anymore, and when she interviewed after, she

said “We owe it to ourselves to try” and she didn’t want to leave any regrets, and she’ll have

quite the story to tell her daughter one day! In my opinion, after Tia, Annie is the best female

athlete in CrossFit, with 6 podium finishes, 2 1st place finishes, and been doing it since the very

beginning, it’s so impressive and shows you, each year you can continue to grow and get better.

Another top moment for me, was watching Scott Panchik win Spirit of the Games, before the

week started, Scott announced his retirement from CrossFit and that this would be his final

week. He is one of the sports legends and has been around for 10 years. And previous to this

year he had only had 1 event win, and this year he added two more to his name! He has been

one of the most consistent male athletes in the sport, and although he’s never stepped on the

podium, he represents what the sport is all about. He always is smiling, cheering on his fellow

competitors, owns his own gym, and has passed the torch down to his younger brothers Saxon

and Spencer. The last event when he took his last steps onto the competition floor, you could

see the emotion on his face, and he got a standing ovation. After a tough week of fighting

through a knee injury, he didn’t let that stop him, and fought through every event, and placed

11th overall.

This year was also the first year with Adaptive Divisions in the games. Which I was able to catch

the final day on Thursday. These athletes are so inspiring, and show, that there is no limit to

what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.

Tia Toomey became the most dominant Athlete of all time, with the most event wins ever by an

individual and now 5 titles to her name, she showed she is unstoppable and that she is on a

different level then her fellow competitors.

Justin Medeiros became the first male athlete to win since 2015, and although I was cheering

for one of our Canadian boys to win, Justin showed that he had very few weaknesses, although

only 1 event win, he only had 2 events outside the top 10 and showed that consistency is key.

He put on an impressive performance all weekend long.

Mayhem Freedom, also proved to be the most Dominant team, with very few errors and 8 event

wins. One of my favorite moments of the weekend, was watching Andrea and Rich come from

behind in the Thruster Wall Walk workout, and do their last set unbroken to pass the team in

front, to get the event win. There is something special about Rich Froning, after years of

watching him, he just knows what he needs to do to win, he paces everything perfectly, and

when he tells you to go unbroken you do it. I was lucky enough to meet some Mayhem people,

including Andrea Nisler, and they were all very humble and kind, and are a great representative

of what CrossFit and community is all about.

We also had many Canadians representing, with 2 podium finishes in the men’s side, Pat

Vellner (2) and Brent Fikowski (3), as well as Alex Vigneault in 8th. Emily Rolfe placed 15th

overall on the Women’s side, and many more athletes. It was fun representing and cheering on

the Canadians all weekend long! As well as flying home with Pat in the seat beside me!

Out of all the 5 times I have been, this was by far the most special.

Finally getting to travel again, being somewhere familiar, and spending the week watching what I love, there is nothing like it. Although Covid made for it stressful at times, it was all worth it. I always come back, more

motivated, ready to get better, but as well I am more grateful. The games, yes, we are watching phenomenal athletes, but the Community aspect is my favourite part, you’re surrounded by like minded people, and you all share this special bond, even though we are all strangers, we are all friends at the same time. The energy that you feel from these people is incredible and there is nothing like it. If you are tempted to go and have thought about, I suggest doing it in the future. I hope you all got inspired like I did and use this as motivation for yourselves. Yes we may not all be that top 0.01% haha but we can still use it to better ourselves and never give up towards what we want to accomplish in life, to quote Annie one more time, “We owe it to ourselves.”

The 2022 season starts now!

Coach Tia

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TRAINING FRIDAY/SATURDAY

WARMUP: 3 rounds (Start with empty barbell, and add weight each round)

7 deadlifts

5 hang power cleans

3 push jerks

WOD Prep:

clean n jerk build and prep

WOD: LEADERBOARD "GRACE"

RX 30 clean and jerks (135/95)

-Classic Crossfit WOD. Try to do this RX if you are close and can handle 155/105 clean and jerks for smaller sets.

FG3 115/75

FG2 95-75/65-55

FG1 Modify as needed

CP1 185/125

CP2 225/155

ACCESSORY:

4 rounds for quality movement

8 single leg RDLs

8 ring rows

12 alternating v-ups

12 bent over reverse flies