Photo Credit: Eric Castanos.
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All of the workouts were less than 10 minutes, and you don’t have to be an analyst to notice. A major off-season competition lacking longer time domain tests in their programming is a reason why a core tenant of CrossFit is balanced, varied fitness.
Men worked an average of 46 minutes and women 50 minutes over the course of the three day competition for the top ten. This is a lower ranked event compared to a popular off-season event. It is common for one or two longer events to take up close to half of the total working time per athlete.
It is more than just the total time that is important, it is the ability to recover from a longer workout, which is why those show up earlier in the competition that is lost without at least one.
In talking about this on the ground with several coaches and athletes in Madrid, an interesting thought came up: Does every competition need to be all-encompassing?
Despite the nature of the sport having several different kinds of tests to crown the fittest on earth, perhaps not every off-season and non-qualifying competition needs to follow suit. It is possible that there is a place for more power-focused, sprint-strong or gymnastically inclined athletes to demonstrate their ability on the competition floor outside of the formal season.
The logistics of an event are a huge factor in what is possible from a programming perspective. The Madrid Championship had over 2,000 athletes across multiple divisions.
When programming an event like this, an off-season mass participation event, we try to create a weekend that is entertaining and showcases the athletes. Jake Marconi said that events of this size have a lot of logistical constraints that determine how short or long an event can be. Our goal is to make events that challenge athletes in as many ways as possible, becauseMadrid manages to create an incredible event that gives 2,500 athletes between a number of divisions.
It does not mean that a workout is always testing the same component of fitness.
A lot of the events at Madrid were short, but we made them challenging for different reasons. An event with chest to bar, echo bike, thrusters, and sled push is going to be limited by how bad you can hurt, while an event with HSPU is going to be limited by skill. After watching events play out in live competition, we always come out with notes on things we want to tinker with for the future so we can continue to create quality tests that athletes enjoy participating in.
The Madrid Championship has a photo.
It is refreshing to see that many factors influence how an event unfolds, some of which may be more intentional than you think. The Madrid Championship ran on schedule, which is a historically uncommon feat, and we look forward to seeing the tests evolve for each competition. If you missed any of the action in Madrid, you can watch the daily recap on Morning Chalk Up.
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