Competition

Rogue’s 4-Inch Wooden Bar Takes No Prisoners, Not a Single Woman Finishes Event

October 28, 2022 by
Photo Credit: Enrique Villaseñor (@enriquevmedia)
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Friday’s first event at the Rogue Invitational in Austin, TX proved that a couple inches matter. In a big way.

The event featured 64 total calories on the Ski Erg, 80 GHD sit-ups and 40 total bar muscle-ups, a task the fittest women in the world, like the ones competing in Austin this weekend would usually breeze through.

Curve ball: These muscle-ups had to be completed on a four-inch in diameter wooden log, compared to the usual 1.25-inch diameter metal bar, causing the women to perform their reps in singles, and leading to many failed reps along the way.

The result: Only one woman completed all 40 bar muscle-ups—2022 CrossFit Games rookie Emma Lawson—however Lawson was unable to sprint across the finish line before the 12-minute time cap. Closely behind her was birthday girl Arielle Loewen and Kara Saunders, both mom-strong, and both of whom had just had one rep to go. 

Leaderboard for Event 2:

  1. Emma Lawson (Cap+0)
  2. Kara Saunders (Cap+2)
  3. Arielle Loewen (Cap+2)
  4. Amanda Barnhart (Cap+6)
  5. Emma McQuaid (Cap+8)

See the full leaderboard.

Worth noting: The four-inch bar also affected the men, but not to the same degree. Eleven of the 20 men managed to finish the event before the time cap, while the other nine did not, including top five finisher from the 2022 Games Jeff Adler.

  • The fastest time belonged to the reigning Fittest Man on Earth Justin Medeiros, who finished in 11:00.18, while Chandler Smith, who was in Heat 1, posted the second best time of 11:04.54.

The big picture: As much as it’s never fun to watch athletes get stopped dead in their tracks in the middle of a workout, moments like Event 2 in Austin also provide opportunities to showcase how well an athlete can adapt on the fly, like Lawson, Loewen, Medeiros and Smith showed. 

But more importantly, moments like the one we witnessed on Friday are huge for propelling the sport forward. You can bet if log muscle-ups show up in Madison, WI this summer, every single athlete on the floor will have mastered the movement.

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