Max Clean Madness – 9 Men Broke 400-Pound Barrier at WFP Tour Stop II
At the 2019 CrossFit Games, the eighth workout of the weekend was a max clean.
The format was a ladder of set weights, where athletes were eliminated if they couldn’t lift a barbell. The final weight for the men was 380 pounds, a weight only Mat Fraser cleared. For the women, Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr won the workout with a lift of 265 pounds.
The question that year was whether Fraser and Toomey-Orr could have lifted more weight.
- Probably. Once they hit their final weight, they stopped – they had no reason to chase higher numbers.
The big question: When the World Fitness Project announced there would be a max clean event at Tour Stop II, the chatter began almost immediately. But the question wasn’t whether any of the men could surpass the 400-pound mark, but how many would actually do it.
The details: Athletes had eight minutes to establish their max clean in “Pro 4A,” then took a two-minute rest. This was followed by “Pro 4B,” a 500-meter row, and a 21-meter farmer’s carry lunge. Each event was scored individually.
- Between the Pro and Challenger divisions, nine men lifted 400 pounds or more, and 15 men hit or surpassed Fraser’s 380-pound clean from 2019.
The highlight was none other than Gui Malheiros. He attempted what he thought was 430 pounds, but it was actually 440 because the placard was wrong.
- He missed, took weight off, and successfully cleaned 430.
On the women’s side, across the Pro and Challenger divisions, nine athletes either matched or surpassed Toomey-Orr’s 265-pound clean from 2019, with Kyra Milligan and Anikha Greer topping out at 282 pounds.
The format at Tour Stop II was quite different from the 2019 Games, as athletes had an eight-minute window to attempt as many lifts as they wanted, instead of a ladder with a fixed endpoint.
- If Fraser and Toomey-Orr had been tested the same way, what would they have lifted? What if the lift happened on their fourth workout instead of the eighth? What would have been a true max clean for these two G.O.A.T.s that year?
The bottom line: As the sport evolves, athletes retest benchmark workouts, resulting in faster times. Movements become more efficient as athletes practice and master them. And athletes are getting stronger, producing higher numbers each year.
Credit: Scott Freymond
