The Quarter Quell

OG Zeke, OG Med Ball, OG Vic City Gym!!

Hey Team,

So for most of us, the Open ended about two weeks ago... we did our 4 events over 3 weeks, put in solid effort, and then that was it. Well as you likely know, the Open is only the first stage of the Crossfit Games season, and in this particular season, it was followed up quite quickly by the second stage - the Quarterfinals.

This was the first time the Quarterfinals were put on, and the main objective was to increase the level of the tests to include more advanced movements, higher volume, and heavier weights. This would help to narrow the field down to the Semi Finals and then on to the Games themselves.

Fro the Open, the top 10% of individuals in their respective regions advanced to the Quarterfinals. From our Vic City community, we had 6 intrepid athletes who made the cut! These folks got to complete 5 more events over the course of 4 days, and they were quite the events!

Our roster for the quarterfinals included Coaches Tia, Phil, and Kristjan... leading from the front! We also had Zeke, Lucas, and Chris (of member of the month fame) competing in the Quarters. Lucas is a 6 time CrossFit Games athlete and actually trained himself into condition each week of the Open while the rest of us were getting broken down :).

In previous years, we would have brought our community around these athletes and created scenarios to cheer them on and watch their exploits. Unfortunately the conditions this year were not ideal for that type of experience, so most of the events went on after hours or off location with the small crew of athletes banding together to take them on.

Most troubling was the need for a 15' rope to climb for one of the events. Some other gyms have them but not many were able to offer the opportunity to use one. Tia teamed up with her husband Adam at CrossFit Zone, and the rest of our crew headed over to Lucas' parents house (with a disassembled then reassembled GHD machine courtesy of Phil).

When the dust settled after the Quarterfinals, it was great to see such strong scores from our crew and also how they banded together, helped each other, and made the events (and judging) happen. This is a small version of our larger community at Vic City and it was good to see it in action. I think they all enjoyed the process, and there were lots of smiles and laughs ... at least after the events!

Due to work and other commitments, Coach Kristjan decided to opt out of the Quarters, but showed his class in the Open with the third best score out of our mens group. Chris also had a ton of work commitments going on and the score submission timeline for the quarters did not allow for a lot of leeway for people with more than full time hours Mon-Fri! Nonetheless, Chris took on each event and got the full experience (and brutally sore abs) that everyone else experienced!

Out of the rest of the competitors, our athletes did extremely well. Michelle compiled their overall placings as well as their best events, show below:

Total Men in North America competing in the Quarters: 4124

Lucas: 256th place overall, best workout was WOD 5 (heavy snatches and high burpee box jump overs - 2:46), 148th

Phil: 2062nd overall, best WOD - Event 4 (4 rep max front squat - 327lb), 1139th

Zeke: 2642nd overall, best WOD - Event 3 (120 wallballs, 120 calorie row - 10:37), 1294th

Total Women in North America competing in the Quarters: 3407

Tia: 664th overall!, best WOD - Event 1 (handstand pushups, DB power cleans/sto, double unders - 9:35) - 405th

Well done to all! I was super impressed with all of the effort and rep quality shown by our athletes and it was so great to see them leading from the front and showing what is possible with consistent and smart training. Unfortunately the number of athletes advancing to the Semis was so small (top 120 men and women in our region) that this time around, none will be advancing to the next stage.

So if you see these folks around, be sure to say congrats on a job well done and for representing Vic City!

NOW YOU ALL WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO TAKE ON SOME OF THE EVENTS (IF YOU SO CHOOSE HAHA)

Cam

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TRAINING MONDAY TUESDAY

WARM UP: amrap 7 min -

Escalating reps - start at 1 rep per movement then add 1 each time you go through!

Samson lunge (per leg), Inchworm + pushup, lying thoracic rotation (per side), back roll to straddle stretch

STRENGTH: Every 1:30 for 15 mins: Deadlift

2 Deadlifts, 75% 1RM

percent may vary by individual, and you can increase as you go. lifts should be technically very solid! lower last rep to the ground to get the best strength gains.

OPTION 1: FUNCTIONAL BODYBUILDING

5 rounds for quality of: 10 Dumbbell Bench Press 12 Dumbbell Reverse Lunges 10 Ring Rows 16 Alternating V-ups

OPTION 2: INTERVAL CONDITIONING

The Tabata interval is 10 secs of work followed by 50 secs of rest for 15 intervals. Tabata score is the total distance performed in all of the intervals.