How do you some up a weekend that was nothing short of spectacular? I guess you just had to be there… but wait, many of you were! In our first competition together as Precision CrossFit we showed the Southern California community what we are all about. We battled to the end making it to the third day of competition where we witnessed some amazing performances.
It all started day one with our Team in WOD #1. Forty partner Dead Lifts and forty HSPU awaited both the men and women of Team Precision CrossFit. Greg and V started us off quickly going unbroken on every dead lift with Greg doing 20 and 18 strait HSPU’s! Winnie and Jess, two of the smaller girls out there, showed tons of heart getting through all there dead lifts before destroying each round of HSPU’s!! In similar fashion Katie PR’d WOD #1, which was Diane, time by 2 min. showing the So. Cal community that she came to play. Daniel struggled in his first wod as the amount of HSPU eventually caught up to him, but as always he never showed an ounce of quit in him. Doing enough reps to move on to WOD #2.
WOD #2 had proved to be brutal to the rest of the world as in many regions few teams and individuals had actually finished it. For the teams we had a 1000M. Row, 25 Pistols, and 15 Hang Cleans at 225/135lbs per person. For the Individuals we had twice the amount of everything. If the row did not get you then the pistols were gonna suck the life out of you before you reached the cleans. With V starting off on the rower he blazed through the pistols before chipping away ever so slightly at the Hang Cleans. Next up was Crystal who also made quick work of the row and pistols finishing both task’s just shy of V completing his final clean. Crystal made quick work of the Hang Cleans executing them with ease. I quickly completed my portion of the wod doing exactly what I intended to do in leaving the floor completely clear for Jess to finish. As Jess got off the rower for an instant she realized she was now on her own island. Everything was ridding on her for us to finish. 25 strait pistols and she was on her way to the hang cleans. Not the strongest in the bunch she rode her technique to the finish gaining us a 2 min. PR on the wod!! Up next was Katie in her individual heat. She blasted through her 2000M. row before going strait through all 50 pistols. With 30 Hang Cleans awaiting her the only thing that would get her through this wod was heart. She had tons of it being one of the only women to finish the wod with seconds to spare. Dan soon followed in his men’s indo heat with a score to settle. He killed himself placing top in his heat sacrificing his hands in the process. Bloody, bruised, and beaten he found a way to finish the wod as well. All heart without an ounce of strength left. What a first day!!
Day 2 proved to be even better. Not because of how we did but because our community showed up to support us. A sea of blue truly lined the stands around the venue while Crystal and I walked out on the floor to take on single arm DB snatches. But these were not just any DB Snatches they very heavy ones 100lbs for me and 70lbs for Crystal. We just needed 10 each for our team to move on to the next workout having finished WOD #2, but I wanted much more than that. I wanted us to finish the whole thing completing 30 snatches each. 3-2-1 Go! I could hear the roar of our community cheering. 10 strait and I was off for the races. Now it was Crystal’s turn 10 strait! Wow, we are moving now. Up again I go 10 strait. Back to Crystal 8 reps and she hits a bit of a snag trying to get one with her left arm. Clock is ticking and the Precision crowd is roaring. We all want those 2 reps and Crystal finds a way to deliver them. Last and final round I go as fast as I possibly can wanting to give Crystal all the time in the world to see if we can actually finish this wod. 10 strait and Crystal with little rest is back up. I know she has it in her. Everyone from Precision is cheering for 10 more reps from Crystal. 1 rep, then 2, then failure. Crystal has nothing left in the tank as her left arm just wont cooperate. At his point the entire crowd and fellow competitors are surrounding her. 1 more rep Crystal!! The crowd is roaring. Then time was suddenly up. 8 reps shy of finishing the wod. Crystal is in tears. I am so proud of her and so is everyone else from Precision. She did not only give it all her energy but she gave it all her heart and soul as well. That is what it is all about. She left it all out there! By far one of my proudest moments as a coach. But Crystal’s big weekend was far from over as Mrs. Crowe was about to start making her push to be the 15th fittest woman in So Cal!
We knew Dan and Katie would do very well in WOD #3 as both displayed to very different strategies. Dan’s was just go. Fire that DB up and never look back. While, Katie’s was about pace. Dan going first, battled to take 3rd in his heat pushing himself to his outermost limits. Katie slowly and meticulously chipped away at her opponents lead in her heat and would have taken first is she could have remembered how to move and touch her db at the end to stop the clock. Either way Katie took a top score in event #3 and executed her game plan, as she did all weekend long, with PRECISION. WOD #4 awaited us all next, a dreaded chipper.
I was particularly scared of this wod when I first saw it posted 3 weeks ago. For teams I felt it was a ton of work and relied mostly on the women’s performances. For the individuals I felt it was too many reps and too much volume for one person to handle. It proved to be a little of both for us with one amazing up and one very low down. When our team took the floor consisting of Winnie, Jess, V and Greg, I was not sure what to think. There were some good teams out there and I knew the wod required a ton of communication and team work. Last year we had finished close to last place in a similar chipper and I was not sure how we would fare. That lasted about 5 min until I realized that Jess and Winnie came to throwdown! Staying right on the heels of CrossFit Costa Mesa, Winnie demolished the pull ups and shoulder to over heads while Jess smashed the squats. After over 150 different squat reps, 150 pull ups, and 105 shoulder to over heads we jockeyed to take the lead in our heat. V and Greg took over pulling away on their first round of pull ups with Greg doing 40 strait reps!! From then on it was on as V and Greg turned it into an all out sprint getting further than most teams had gotten in the world on that wod. No team had finished it yet and when the clock ran out of the time we were 50 reps away from finishing the whole thing. It was not until later heats would the first 2 teams in the world finally finish the wod. Shows you how competitive So Cal is! With our team exceeding all expectations we finished 1oth overall in that workout. I was left speechless and so very proud. The wod was executed to perfection with Greg leading the way with his voice and presence. Allowing Winnie, Jess, and V to do what they do best… just go! What an amazing performance that was soon followed by one of the scariest moments of the weekend.
As Daniel’s heat started guys began dropping like fly’s. The heat, the amount of reps, the load on the body, it was proving to be too much. Guys were chipping away at the brutality of the workout when towards the end of the wod Daniel went down. Thinking the worse that it was his shoulder it proved to be his back locking up on him. As he was escorted to the medical tent. It was like a war zone in there bodies everywhere. One victim after the other with Katie yet to go. She knew what she was in for and we both definitely had a degree of panic when a girl was taken away in a stretcher during the heat before her. Katie survived the wod getting through the majority of it just a few reps away from finishing. With the day over and with us all physically and emotionally drained we were happy to pack it in for the day. It was awesome to have the support of the Precision community that day something we all thrived off of.
Day 3, the final day. With our team and Katie just a few points away from qualifying for the final wod we were going into what we knew would be our best wod yet. The snatch ladder. This is what we do, heck it’s what our box is known for. We do the oly lifts and we do them well. We knew in our hearts we could make up some serious ground. An early wake up call and the girls went first. Winnie, Jess, and Crystal hit the floor. All three knew what they needed to do. All three make it to 115lbs, a weight many before had trouble with, Crystal gets it, then Jess, but it claims Winnie. Not enough in the tank but a thrilling way to end stellar weekend for her. She executed every wod with PRECISION. She stayed cool and collected as always. An amazing competitor and fun as heck to watch. 125lbs. Crystal hits again, then Jess. Its up but she cant control it. Down goes Jess. What can you say about who I think could possibly be one of the biggest dark horse competitors in what ever region she ends up in next year for college. Amazing performance by Jess over the weekend. We are gonna miss you. It has been fun watching you grow this past year. Whatever CrossFit gets you is in for a serious treat. Crystal is now on an island all by herself. I had told her a thousand times how strong she was. How if she could just control the weight she would do something special. Well what better time then now at regionals. 130lbs then 135, 140, 145, Crystal is on fire! She took her time set up and stayed true to her technique tying her current PR. Then 150 lbs goes up. OH MY GOSH! OF MY GOSH! Crystal is doing it. Then 155lbs goes up. Crystal is the only girl out there. The CrossFit HQ media is asking me who she is. What is her name? What box is she from? An amazing performance as Crystal just misses 160lbs ending an amazing moment in not just Precision CrossFit’s early history but in So Cal Regional history as well. Incredible to watch. I have always said competition brings the best out of people. But in one workout Crystal Riggs made a name for herself in the CrossFit world. Just like Katie Crowe had done the year before. Its gonna be amazing to watch where Crystal is at a year from now. The last time I remember going that crazy in a CrossFit event is when I coached Lindsey to a victory in the CrossFit/USAW open two years ago. Steller weekend Crystal. Next up was Katie in the individual women’s heat. Same ladder however she had to do 20 double unders before each attempt. After a great warm up. Katie took the floor knowing that is she hits her numbers she would have a chance to crack the top 18 and make it into the finals. Katie worked through the ladder quickly hitting 15o lbs with ease before barely missing 155lbs. Katie’s body had taken a toll over the weekend making it hard for her body to brace that amount of weight above her head. In the warm up area Katie broke down in tears wanting so very bad to make the finals thinking that her lift was not enough. Little did she know, it was and with a 5th place finish Katie was in the finals at 18th place. All that was left to wrap up the weekend for the rest of us was the men’ lifts.
With the girls placing our team in 5th place after their lifts we had a serious opportunity to do some work. All we needed to do was hit our current #’s and maybe PR. If we did so, then maybe just maybe we would crack the top 12 and make the final workout. Warm ups were going well with the three of us poised to go really big when the unthinkable happened. On a warm up rep Greg’s leg buckled and he went down with a right leg injury. Screaming in pain V and I knew Greg was done from the moment it occurred. It was a tough pill for us all to swallow we were gonna go out there a man short and instead of trying to make a push for a spot in the finals. We went out there to represent our box, our team, our familes, our mom’s, and most importantly Greg. Greg had given it everything he had that weekend. It was a shame to see it all end for him like this. He was our general out there. A machine for us in every wod he competed in. An unfitting end to a true warrior. We all took the floor with Greg hobbling behind us. V and I both power up the fist rep then hold up Gregs arm for the crowd to cheer for him. A fitting good bye to our team mate. Next we drive 165lbs up. Then we move up to 175lbs. I drive it up knowing that V will be right behind me. We are gonna stick together as long as possible in this wod. Our last wod of the weekend together. V misses, than he misses again. V is out. Too soon for him and he knew it. But he had one heck of a competition. We asked him along with Jess to do 1 more wod then everyone else. We relied on his legs to get us through 3 grueling wods. He was flawless in WOD #1 and even more flawless with Greg in WOD #3. He showed reziliance in WOD #2 with the heavy cleans and although he was out early in WOD #5, he once again showed everyone why we call him mattimal!
Now on my own island, like Crystal was earlier in the day I found my rhythm. I felt as if I could possibly lift a hundred pounds more than I was a capable of. I was in my zone and could hear the Precision community and my friends from other boxes cheering me on in the crowd. I reached 215lbs, goes up easy. Then 225, like butter. Now 235lbs stands between me and the biggest lift so far in the whole competition. I take my time. Set up perfectly I go through my pre lift talk to myself. First pull feels light then the second pull. 235lbs is above my head! I got it settled and begin to drive up then my elbow begins to hyper extend followed by my shoulder and I let it go falling flat on my face. My shoulder and elbow are throbbing all the lifts prior and the 100lb DB snatch from the day before had taken their tolls on my body. I get up and try again, nothing. Its over, my Regional is done. I wanted 235lbs so bad its all I had trained for the past 3 weeks. I had it and I let it go. It hurt badly to miss it. But as I walked off the floor I was greeted by my teammates, my CrossFit family, my parents, my wife and all my CrossFit friends. I quickly remembered what competing was all about for me… fun and I had had a blast witnessing amazing feats from my teammates. With one more still to come from Katie later. But first Daniel was up next. Daniel ready to call it a day moved through ladder exploding the weight above his head. He had no legs to squat and no juice left in his shoulders relying strictly on his power to get each rep up ending his weekend at 195lbs. It was fun coaching my little brother through the weekend. He competed hard as always and very easily could have not competed after injuring himself in WOD #4 the day before. But that’s not Dan’s style and he showed that yet again. He is one of the best CrossFitters in So Cal and I am always so very proud of him. I love watching him compete and have traveled across the world to do so. Although, I am his coach. I am also his biggest fan.
The finals came upon us very quickly. Katie’s final workout of the weekend. Her goal was to reach the finals and she did so. 21 Muscle Ups and Dead lifts started off the workout as Katie quickly took the lead never looking back. She won her heat by almost and entire round proving to the So Cal community that she is a true force to be reckoned with. Her performance put her in 15th overall considering she came into the open ranked in the 50’s. It was a true pleasure training Katie to compete this weekend and she always did it with a smile. He competitiveness is uncanny and she will be a dominating force next year. What a weekend!
I am so proud of my team and everyone at Precision CrossFit. We showed the So Cal community who we were and came out in full support of one another. Our box will always be about community first and we will make the drive for anyone who wants to compete in anything. We are Precision CrossFit. Together we are one!
TEAM PRECISION CROSSFIT SO CAL REGIONAL POWERED BY WOD GEAR
DAN GETTING IT DONE DURING WOD #2
KATIE SMASHING HER HEAT DURING WOD #3
TOGETHER WE ARE ONE! FITNESS-STRENGTH-COMMUNITY
WARM UP:
400M. Run
2 Rounds
10 Pass Throughs
10 Back Squats
10 Good Mornings
5 Hollow Taps
SKILL:
3xMax Effort L Sit
Pair With
3×20 Sec. Handstand Hold
LIFT:
3×5 Front Squats (70%)
WOD:
1000M. Row
Then:
3 Rounds
20 Back Squat (135/95) (115/75) (95/65) (75/55)
20 T2B
Then:
1000M. Row
POST WOD:
Coach’s Stretch
