Lack of a Big Bob Does Nothing to Disrupt CrossFit Mayhem Freedom’s Domination
It was no surprise that CrossFit Mayhem Freedom took home four straight wins on the first day of team competition and continued their dominance with two more wins early Friday. What was surprising, is their win in an event with an object that the team doesn’t train.
One big thing: Event 6 forced the four-person team to push Big Bob across the field which weighs 667 pounds/302kgs. This size is nothing to sniff at, but CrossFit Mayhem Freedom pushed the implement with ease before sending their fastest athlete — Chase Hill — toward the finish line in a full sprint. He dusted the field and delivered the 6th straight win for the team with a time of 1:58.64.
Following the event, Froning confirmed a surprising piece of information — the team doesn’t have a Big Bob at CrossFit Mayhem Freedom or in the iconic barn at his house. This lack of equipment could disrupt other teams, but the quartet from Cookeville simply takes a different approach with their training style.
- “Just sleds. Not enough, actually,” Froning said after the event win. “That Bob is… you can’t really prepare for it, I think. It’s really hard.”
- Froning added during the interview session that the team communicates so well due to their constant work together. They focus on their fitness, but they put an equal emphasis on talking between movements and workouts to focus on strategy. The members of the team are now at a point where they can tell where they are at simply by examining body language.
The win in Event 6 was the 4th of the weekend featuring Big Bob. CrossFit Mayhem Freedom also faced off with the piece of equipment during Events 2, 3, and 5. They pushed Big Bob in two events and pulled it in the other two, capturing the win every single time.
Past domination: 2021 is not the first time that CrossFit Mayhem Freedom faced off with Big Bob and secured a win in an event featuring the implement. A past example is an event featuring the Assault bike and toes to bar alongside a Big Bob push.
- The 2019 CrossFit Games kicked off for the teams with Assault to Bob. This three-round workout featured air bike calories (25/18), 30 toes to bar, and a Big Bob push. CrossFit Mayhem Freedom conquered the event with ease, turning in a time of 15:55.92.
- X-Terminators, a team highlighted by Rob Forte, posted the second-fastest time of the afternoon at 16:25.03 while locking up 93 points in the process. CrossFit Krypton took third with a time of 16:41.16.
CrossFit Mayhem Freedom doesn’t always win Big Bob events. The team finished 9th in Bob Sprint (2018), 10th in Running Bob (2018), second in Handstand Bob (2018), 12th in Drag and Drive (2017), third in Berm Bob (2016), and 6th in Big Bob Drag Race (2015). Though the Froning-led team with a constantly rotating cast of athletes took first in 2016’s Double-Slug Bob.
Bottom line: Big Bob is a familiar piece of equipment for the athletes, especially CrossFit Mayhem Freedom. The team has battled with the implement a multitude of times in the past and come out victorious three separate times, including the two most recent events. Froning says, his team needs to work on sled pushes more, but the current amount of effort is still leading to victorties.
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