It is games season and I am excited to be following the action after being disconnected the past couple of years. Lots of familiar faces and a new format with national champions invited to the games. Significantly more viewing options as well.
Thursday
Event 1: First Cut
4 rounds:
400-m run
3 legless rope climbs
7 squat snatches (130 | 185 lb.)
Time cap: 20 minutes
CUT to 75 Athletes
Only 31 men and 4 women completed this event and the separation was amazing. The commentary made it clear that the legless rope climbs were the separator. 144 men took the field and only 133 completed the first 3 rope climbs and 127 completed the first 7 snatches. (Vedharth Thappa - India National Champion got 2 rope climbs)The women had it even tougher with 131 taking the field, 117 did not complete a single rope climb, 91 completed the first 3 rope climbs and 83 completed the first seven snatches.
Event 2: Second Cut
800-m row
66 KB jerks (12 | 16 kg)
132-ft. handstand walk
Time cap: 10 minutes
CUT to 50 Athletes
This even saw a lot more finishers with 59 of 75 women finishing and 70 of 75 men finishing under the time cap. The handstand walk was the separator and the 44 foot sections made it painful to watch as athletes would collapse only feet away from the line where they could reset. Sanjana Sivasalapathi got through was stopped on the second round of snatches but made the cut, however she could not complete any of the 44 foot sections of handstand walking.
Friday
Event 3: Ruck
6,000-m ruck run
20-30-40-50-lb. pack
Time cap: 40 minutes
CUT to 40 Athletes
This event had the men and women using the same weight and all of the athletes finished the event. While running is not usually spectator friendly, loading up 10# every round and knowing the bottom 10 get cut will certainly make this interesting.
Event 4: Sprint Couplet
172-ft. sled push
15 | 18 bar muscle-ups
172-ft. sled push
Time cap: 6 minutes
CUT to 30 Athletes
I am looking forward to watching this as it needs to be fast and flawless.
Event 5: Mary
20-min. AMRAP:
5 HSPU
10 pistols
15 pull-ups
CUT to 20 Athletes
I was really impressed by the work capacity of these athletes. They also became human as I saw them fall prey to the same cramps and challenges as the rest of us.
Saturday
Event 6: Sprint
Sprint Course
I think this was a good test, but it amazed me how much the standings jockeyed based on fractions of a second. I also feel like the time penalties were harsh. If it would have impacted the final outcome, it would have been bad for the games.
Event 7: Split Triplet
5 rounds:
1 pegboard ascent
100 double-unders
10 DB hang split snatches (55 | 80 lb.)
10 DB hang clean and split jerks (55 | 80 lb.)
Time cap: 20 minutes
I thought the split snatch and jerk was a little silly, but appreciate what the games are trying to do.
Event 8: Clean
1-rep clean
♀ 215-220-225-230-235-240-245-250-255-260 lb.
♂ 315-325-335-345-355-365-370-375-380-385 lb.
*5-rep tiebreak at 195 | 295 lb.
This was awesome!
Sunday
Event 9: Swim Paddle
1,000-m swim
1,000-m paddle
Time cap: 50 minutes
Kind of boring to watch, but a very important test of fitness.
Event 10: Ringer 1
30-20-10 reps of:
Air bike (calories)
Toes-to-rings
Time cap: 7♀ / 6♂ minutes
Fun, fast event. I need to spend more time on the air bike.
Event 11: Ringer 2
15-10-5 reps for time of:
Burpees
Overhead squats (95 | 135 lb.)
Time cap: 5 minutes
Fun, fast event.
Event 12: The Standard
30 clean and jerks (Grace)
30 muscle-ups
30 snatches (Isabel)
♀ 95 lb.
♂ 135 lb.
Time cap: 12 minutes
Apparently the standard is to be able to complete Grace, do 30 muscle-ups and complete Isabel in 10 minutes. The top athletes certainly met that standard.
All in all, I really enjoyed watching the games. I especially enjoyed that nearly all of the events are accessible and things I could set up at home or at the local reservoir. I enjoyed the format and the large initial field. I think the cuts were appropriate as the intent is to crown the fittest on earth, not to hem and haw as to who is truly the 5th, 6th and 7th fittest on earth. I appreciate that athletes with sponsorship relations are uniquely challenged with this format for screen time.
I thought the payouts were generous with places 11-20 getting travel money and 1-10 getting legitimate payouts that are equal for men and women. Even the age groupers were offered generous prize packages.
The event only reinforces my approach to fitness. Set a goal - Stay out of the nursing home as long as possible. Work towards that with (1) nutrition, (2) metabolic conditioning - short, medium and long distances, (3) gymnastics - body control and range of motion, (4) weightlifting - control external objects and produce power and (5) sport - competitive atmosphere with more randomized movement and skill mastery.
Thursday
Event 1: First Cut
4 rounds:
400-m run
3 legless rope climbs
7 squat snatches (130 | 185 lb.)
Time cap: 20 minutes
CUT to 75 Athletes
Only 31 men and 4 women completed this event and the separation was amazing. The commentary made it clear that the legless rope climbs were the separator. 144 men took the field and only 133 completed the first 3 rope climbs and 127 completed the first 7 snatches. (Vedharth Thappa - India National Champion got 2 rope climbs)The women had it even tougher with 131 taking the field, 117 did not complete a single rope climb, 91 completed the first 3 rope climbs and 83 completed the first seven snatches.
Event 2: Second Cut
800-m row
66 KB jerks (12 | 16 kg)
132-ft. handstand walk
Time cap: 10 minutes
CUT to 50 Athletes
This even saw a lot more finishers with 59 of 75 women finishing and 70 of 75 men finishing under the time cap. The handstand walk was the separator and the 44 foot sections made it painful to watch as athletes would collapse only feet away from the line where they could reset. Sanjana Sivasalapathi got through was stopped on the second round of snatches but made the cut, however she could not complete any of the 44 foot sections of handstand walking.
Friday
Event 3: Ruck
6,000-m ruck run
20-30-40-50-lb. pack
Time cap: 40 minutes
CUT to 40 Athletes
This event had the men and women using the same weight and all of the athletes finished the event. While running is not usually spectator friendly, loading up 10# every round and knowing the bottom 10 get cut will certainly make this interesting.
Event 4: Sprint Couplet
172-ft. sled push
15 | 18 bar muscle-ups
172-ft. sled push
Time cap: 6 minutes
CUT to 30 Athletes
I am looking forward to watching this as it needs to be fast and flawless.
Event 5: Mary
20-min. AMRAP:
5 HSPU
10 pistols
15 pull-ups
CUT to 20 Athletes
I was really impressed by the work capacity of these athletes. They also became human as I saw them fall prey to the same cramps and challenges as the rest of us.
Saturday
Event 6: Sprint
Sprint Course
I think this was a good test, but it amazed me how much the standings jockeyed based on fractions of a second. I also feel like the time penalties were harsh. If it would have impacted the final outcome, it would have been bad for the games.
Event 7: Split Triplet
5 rounds:
1 pegboard ascent
100 double-unders
10 DB hang split snatches (55 | 80 lb.)
10 DB hang clean and split jerks (55 | 80 lb.)
Time cap: 20 minutes
I thought the split snatch and jerk was a little silly, but appreciate what the games are trying to do.
Event 8: Clean
1-rep clean
♀ 215-220-225-230-235-240-245-250-255-260 lb.
♂ 315-325-335-345-355-365-370-375-380-385 lb.
*5-rep tiebreak at 195 | 295 lb.
This was awesome!
Sunday
Event 9: Swim Paddle
1,000-m swim
1,000-m paddle
Time cap: 50 minutes
Kind of boring to watch, but a very important test of fitness.
Event 10: Ringer 1
30-20-10 reps of:
Air bike (calories)
Toes-to-rings
Time cap: 7♀ / 6♂ minutes
Fun, fast event. I need to spend more time on the air bike.
Event 11: Ringer 2
15-10-5 reps for time of:
Burpees
Overhead squats (95 | 135 lb.)
Time cap: 5 minutes
Fun, fast event.
Event 12: The Standard
30 clean and jerks (Grace)
30 muscle-ups
30 snatches (Isabel)
♀ 95 lb.
♂ 135 lb.
Time cap: 12 minutes
Apparently the standard is to be able to complete Grace, do 30 muscle-ups and complete Isabel in 10 minutes. The top athletes certainly met that standard.
All in all, I really enjoyed watching the games. I especially enjoyed that nearly all of the events are accessible and things I could set up at home or at the local reservoir. I enjoyed the format and the large initial field. I think the cuts were appropriate as the intent is to crown the fittest on earth, not to hem and haw as to who is truly the 5th, 6th and 7th fittest on earth. I appreciate that athletes with sponsorship relations are uniquely challenged with this format for screen time.
I thought the payouts were generous with places 11-20 getting travel money and 1-10 getting legitimate payouts that are equal for men and women. Even the age groupers were offered generous prize packages.
The event only reinforces my approach to fitness. Set a goal - Stay out of the nursing home as long as possible. Work towards that with (1) nutrition, (2) metabolic conditioning - short, medium and long distances, (3) gymnastics - body control and range of motion, (4) weightlifting - control external objects and produce power and (5) sport - competitive atmosphere with more randomized movement and skill mastery.
No comments:
Post a Comment