“I love coaching CrossFitters because it is just different. CrossFitters are required to do about 7,037 different things in their sport. Weightlifting is just a small part of that. However, strength, speed, movement, power, flexibility, agility—those things are all part of weightlifting AND will benefit CrossFit”- Aimee Everett, HWPO Weightlifting Coach
CROSSFIT GAMES
BREAKING: 2024 CrossFit Games Season Dates Announced
CrossFit HQ has announced the schedule for the 2024 CrossFit Games season, including the major changes to the Age Group and Adaptive divisions and to the number of qualifying spots at both the Quarterfinal and Semifinal stages.
In case you miss it below, the top 25% of athletes who compete in the Open will have the opportunity to move on to Quarterfinals. In previous years it was the top 10% who moved on.
At the Semifinal stage, the top 40 men and women from Quarterfinals in each region will compete. This represents a significant change from 2023 when 60 men and women competed in the Europe, North America East and North American West events, while 30 each competed in Asia, Africa, South America, and Oceania. This represents a 33% decrease in Semifinal spots in Europe and North America, and a 25% increase in Asia, Africa, South America, and Oceania.
Save the date, The Open: The 2024 CrossFit Open begins on Thursday, February 29, 2024. For those of you counting down training days, that’s 114 days.
Workout 24.1: February 29 – March 3
Workout 24.2: March, 7 – March 11
Workout 24.3: March 14 – March 18
The number of athletes participating in the Open has been on an upward trajectory after a dip in participation a few years ago. In 2021 there were 263,529 athletes registered, in 2022 the numbers reached almost 300,000, and last year, 323,014 individuals competed worldwide.
Quarterfinals: This stage of competition will include seven regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America East, North America West, Oceania and South America.
The Individual and Age Group athletes will be doing the same workouts, therefore, if an athlete wants to try to qualify for either one they just need to do the workouts one time.
A change from the previous season: The top 25% of individuals and teams in each region will advance to the Quarterfinals with a minimum of 50 athletes from each division. Formerly, only the top 10% advanced.
Top 25% of each age group from each region will also advance to Quarterfinals with a minimum of 200 athletes from each age group
Save the date, Quarterfinals:
Team Quarterfinal: April 3-8
Individual Quarterfinal: April 17-22
Age-Group Quarterfinal: April 17-22
Semifinals: At this stage of the competition there are still several unknowns regarding venues and dates, but general details have been released.
What we do know is the top 40 Individual men and women and the top 30 teams from each region will compete in person at Semifinals for a spot at the Games, a significant change from last year when the top 60 individual men and women from North America East, North America West and Europe qualified for the Semifinals competition.
It’s worth noting that 2023 CrossFit Games competitors Bethany Flores (52nd in North America West), Rebecca Vitesson (55th in Europe) or Jelle Hoste (44th in Europe), both would have failed to qualify to Semifinals last season had only 40 qualifying spots been available.
Top 200 athletes from each age group will advance to a virtual Age-Group Semifinal that will then determine who will go to the Games.
Top 20 athletes from each adaptive division will advance from the Adaptive CrossFit Open by WheelWOD to the virtual Adaptive CrossFit Semifinal also by WheelWOD.
Save the date, Semifinals:
Age-Group Semifinal: May 8-13
Adaptive CrossFit Semifinal by WheelWOD: May 8-13
Individual and Teams: TBD
One last thing: It’s important to note the number of Games qualifying spots out of Semifinals, the venues, dates, and number of qualifying spots by region for individuals and teams are still TBD.
CrossFit Games: As we learned earlier this year, the Games have a new home in Fort Worth, TX, from August 8-11, 2024, and the Age Group and Adaptive Games competitions will be held at separate dates and times.
💪🔥 FitFest 2023 VIP Events: The Birmingham, UK event featuring a Pro CrossFit Athlete showcase with some amazingly stacked teams announced a series of VIP events including workshops, Q&As with athletes, and a special elite workout on Friday, December 8. Learn more and get your tickets now.
One Hour to Go All In: The Gauntlet at TYR Wodapalooza is open for registration now. If you haven’t experienced it, The Gauntlet is a way for spectators to throw down in front of the crowds at TYR WZA and compete in some seriously tough workouts. Check out the divisions and register for a time slot now.
🚨 🚨 New Fitness Program Alert: Tactic Nutrition, run by Meredith Root and Alex Parker announced that they will launch a fitness program starting November 24 (programming officially begins on November 27). From the announcement:
“What is it? Put simply, it is uncommonly good fitness for common people. It is progressive functional training. Similar to the type of training we do but written for the general population.”
ICYMI: FitFest 2023 features three stacked teams of elite athletes. Learn more.
PROFILE
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
Get to Know HWPO Training and the Olympic Weightlifting Powerhouse Aimee Anaya Everett
Aimee Everett has set out to be one of the best weightlifting coaches in the world. Along that journey she’s come to Mat Fraser’s HWPO Training program as the head lifting coach, bringing an unmatched level of expertise to some of the best CrossFitters in the world.
Everett’s journey to where she is today wasn’t straightforward and without its roadblocks. Her life has been dedicated to the sport of Olympic weightlifting for 27 years and coaching for the last 15 years where she’s found immense joy and a newfound love for the sport.
Michele Letendre’s Deka Comp Specialized Program Preps Athletes for 2024 TYR Wodapalooza
Since retiring from elite CrossFit competition in 2017, six-time CrossFit Games athlete Michele Letendre has established herself as one of the top coaches and leaders in the field. She is currently the coach of five-time Games podium finisher Pat Vellner, she coached Laura Horvath as she took second place at the 2018 CrossFit Games, and has worked with Ellie Turner and James Newbury, all in addition to running her business.
Deka Comp: As the founder of Deka Comp, a company providing programming for individuals and gyms, Letendre has just recently launched a TYR Wodapalooza-specific training plan, for those athletes that qualified for the event and need guidance on how to perform best once they touch down in Miami come January. As arguably the most seasoned and decorated TYR Wodapalooza coach, (leading Vellner to three consecutive first-place individual finishes at the event, and one team in the team division), Letendre knows a thing or two about TYR Wodapalooza preparedness.
TYR Wodapalooza-specific Training: Dylan Malitsky’s programming for TYR Wodapalooza, throughout both the qualifiers and at the live event, are notoriously challenging, rife with heavy weights and high volume. The workouts are also notably unique, combining barbells and machines with lateral jumping, open water swimming, drag ropes, sled flips, and sandbag bear hugs, (among much more). Anyone who has ever attended the event or streamed it at home has seen that TYR Wodapalooza is big, bright, loud and fun, which in turn is reflected in the workouts.
Cut to me, in my office, reading about Letendre’s program, organizing myself for the day and scheduling out Instagram stories to promote Deka Comp and the details of the training plan. While I love all things TYR Wodapalooza, (and all things Miami), I have never competed in it, nor have I ever attempted to qualify. I consider myself a CrossFit athlete, in the sense that I compete against myself, my gym, the broader community during the CrossFit Open, and at the occasional live event. But, while I won’t be competing in Miami, I will be attending, and working there, and in turn, I’m very invested in the event as a whole.
So I thought, fuck it…
I’m going to sign up for this, and train for TYR Wodapalooza as if I were competing, to stay motivated, to give myself structure, and as a push to spend less time hunched in front of my computer and my phone. I’ve never before worked off a training plan, but instead just rolled up at my affiliate and casually played the cards that had been dealt to me that day with no goal or endgame in mind.
Long before CrossFitters were outfitting their closets with a collection of shoes, clothing and accessories with a wide array of brands, all competitive in the CrossFit space, there was one brand, one shoe, that identified a person as a CrossFitter. If you happened to see someone trudging through the supermarket, in shorts and a t-shirt, clad in Reebok Nanos, you knew they were either on their way home or on their way to a CrossFit gym.
Early on, Reebok recognized the brilliance in CrossFit and could see the potential of it becoming a global, competitive sport, one that would continue to grow in popularity year after year.
As Reebok has forged a close bond with the sport and the brand of CrossFit, so it has with many of its athletes over the years from Rich Froning and the Mayhem crew, to Saxon Panchik, Chyna Cho, Christian Harris, Amanda Barnhart and more.
The big picture: Being a global brand, with an international reach, Reebok has always had large markets in countries other than the United States, but it’s been recently that Reebok Europe has been re-igniting its focus in the CrossFit world.
Just recently released in the European market, was the latest iteration of the Nano, the Nano Bold.
Senior Reebok Product Manager, Tal Short, discussed the evolution of the iconic shoe and why it’s something that Reebok continues to revamp and improve:
“Reebok was born in the box and is always going to be in the box. We had to evolve with our community. Our goal is to inspire people to move… CrossFit has done such a great job in that, and we just want to be there to help support it.”
“At a certain point, we saw running more, as the sport evolved so has the shoe. We’re constantly updating it, and giving the community what they need and will want to use. We also are always trying to look ahead and apply what we know to what the community could need,” said Short.
Short expressed that Reebok Europe was anxious for this launch of the Bold, as this is a trend seen to be very popular worldwide. While neutral and simple colors are becoming commonplace for clothing, many gym-goers love expressing themselves with bright and colorful footwear. And the specific colors offered in the Nano Bold line are a nod to Reebok’s heritage. The palette, including teal and purple, is one that lifelong Reebok fans find nostalgic.
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It's assumed that as we age, we lose muscle mass. A group of older individuals (70+), that had been doing lifelong strength training, endurance training and no training, was compared to much younger individuals and the data was analyzed. Check out the full study to see what they found. (Spoiler, people who engaged in lifelong strength training did not experience any strength loss, compared to the young.)
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