Last Saturday, I paired up with a 17-year-old pocket rocket for her first CrossFit competition and my first CrossFit competition in 3 years.
Success can differ depending on your goals; some people would have registered to win, others for fun, or, like Moni, it was to experience it for the first time. Two weightlifters who dabble in CrossFit, one more frequently than the other.
Spoiler alert, we didn’t win, but we had a great day and success. We worked to our strengths and had a supportive partnership. We devised a strategy for each workout, and we stuck to the plan or managed to adapt or tweak the plan as we went.
As weightlifters, we received comments, “I’m expecting big weights to be lifted in event 3.” Olympic lifting is slightly different in CrossFit, where they tend to do touch-and-go reps and have lax lockout rules. In event 3, the bar was not allowed to rest on the ground for any period of time, which meant we HAD to bounce the bar off the ground (The complex was a hang power clean + power clean + full clean). Something we never do, even in training, we reset before every lift. Still, it was our best workout, finishing 5th out of 14 teams with a total of 130kg. After the event, I was asked by another team how I went, and if I hit a PB, I said I guess so since I hadn’t done a complex like that before. I was happy to have completed the complex without compromising my form.
Another comment was, “if only they took body weight into account when calculating scores”. In weightlifting, they generate a Sinclair score, which takes the athlete's body weight and weight lifted. In CrossFit, the person who lifts the most weight wins regardless of size. The same deal applies to any exercise CrossFit programs. Hence, a comment like I wish they factored in that I’m lighter and therefore won’t lift as much weight as you is the same as factoring in height; a taller lifter has to move the weight over a greater distance, a heavier person will find bodyweight exercises harder than a smaller person, a taller person is further away from the ground in a burpee than a shorter person. I could go on; the list is endless, but what’s the point? It just is the way it is.
Moni and I tried to use our height differences as a strength. I’m 170cm, and Moni is 151cm. There were some workouts where we didn’t have a choice, like having to share an assault bike and have the seat on 0 and having to both carry the 35kg ball. The final workout was where we could utilise it—90 Calories of rowing, 80 deadlifts at 55kg. Unfortunately, the 60 burpees were synchronised, followed by 40 pull-ups and 20 handstand push-ups. The catch? One of us had to hang from the pull-up bar while the other completed the reps. We decided that I would row more calories while Moni would hang from the bar as long as she could. During each workout, we made sure we faced each other to communicate with our body language and voices (Ahhh, communication, the essence of life). Workout 4 was no different. We decided if we got to the handstand push-ups, Moni, being short-levered, would do those, although we later set a goal of finishing the burpees because we had an 18-minute time cap (SAVED by the cap!) We got 7 pull-ups of the 40, so the goal was exceeded, and Moni managed an all-time unbroken pull-up PB of 7 reps while I was hanging for dear life on the bar, relieved that she was smashing them in our final 30 seconds. We were stoked to be finished but even happier with our teamwork.
I was tired but felt accomplished, and my hamstrings were crying until I woke up on Wednesday morning. I was back in the gym on Monday under the guidance of my coach (basic and light to get myself moving). I will be participating in the last ACT Weightlifting Competition for the year tomorrow. I say participating because I haven’t been training for it, but I don’t intend to compete beyond 2023 (for now) and initially decided August was my last competition. BUUUUT, I don’t want to deny myself one last opportunity to lift on the platform surrounded by a wonderful bunch of women and the Weightlifting ACT community.
I think I’ve asked this before, perhaps in my post about failure. But I want to get the thoughts and conversation going. What does success mean to you?
Burpees in the word's of Bobby Boucheau's mum is the absolute devil. 😂
Progress is a success. That's it.
Growth, improvement, learning, whatever. Progress is success to me. Just getting better than I was.
Also, I've returned from running more times than John Farnham has retired from touring. haha.