“For me to be the best version of myself, I have to simultaneously believe that I'm overrated and invincible.”- Mat Fraser
PROFILE
Will Moorad: Older, Wiser, and Full of Fire
CrossFit athletes have had some extraordinary accomplishments this year, one of the biggest being the qualification for the CrossFit Games for the 10th year by Noah Ohlson, Cole Sager, and BKG.
Celebrating the consistency these three men have demonstrated in this sport is a fantastic feat. But there is another guy who has been around for ten years, competing on the Regionals stage for the first time in 2013–Will Moorad.
Moorad too, is one of the OG CrossFitters who has been around to witness the sport’s exponential growth. While some of these athletes have had straightforward upward and consistent journeys, Moorad has had to weather many more ups and downs.
On the heels of qualifying for his fifth CrossFit Games out of the competitive North America East Semifinal, Moorad heads to Madison, cool, calm, and collected, ready to draw on his experience and the lessons he has learned in the past few years.
Moorad’s first big hurdle came knocking on his door at 2017’s Wodapalooza. He had finished in the top eleven in the four Regionals before this competition and even finished 14th at the Games in 2014, so Moorad was ready to return.
Moorad: “I had a pretty bad reaction to one of the workouts, got really sick, and just was throwing up and stuff. And I have never thrown up from a workout. I’ve been an athlete my entire life and know how to push hard, obviously, but never thrown up, which is a weird thing. But you know, there is a first time for everything.”
Moorad went back to the hotel hoping to sleep it off, but after a rough night with back pain and intense nausea the following day, his wife, Cass, an ICU nurse, got him together, and they went to the local hospital. As many people in the community know, Moorad was in the middle of complete kidney failure at the time. They treated and monitored him in the hospital and even took a biopsy to learn more.
CrossFit is now using a new platform to integrate its data sources.
CROSSFIT GAMES
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
Torian Pro Stays True to its Roots as a Community Event
It’s been a month since Australia’s biggest CrossFit event, the Torian Pro, took place on May 26-28, 2023, in sunny Brisbane, Australia.
The “Pro” as the event is affectionately referred to, was host to Oceania’s Semifinals for the Elite Individual and Team divisions, all vying for a top three spot and a ticket to the NOBULL CrossFit Games.
Running concurrently to the Elites, was Australia’s largest community CrossFit competition, where emerging and everyday athletes from across Oceania had the opportunity to hit the competition floor in front of a massive crowd in the Adaptive, Teen, Masters and Team divisions.
Affiliate of the Month: Gifford Fitness Raises $21,000 for Women’s Shelter in June through 24 Hours of Heroes
On June 24-25, the Gifford Fitness community in New Brighton, MN embarked on a massive fitness challenge: 24 Hours of Hero Workouts.
From Griff to Nuts to Omar, to Jag 28, DG and Chad, close to 70 people from the Gifford community tackled as many Hero Workouts as they could in a 24-hour window.
The result: Their efforts raised $21,000 for Alexandria House—a charity that offers emergency shelters and services to women looking to escape domestic violence—enough to help provide services to 200 women.
The back story: Though this was the first year he turned the event into a formal one for his entire community, Nick Gifford, the affiliate’s owner, first tackled the challenge of completing 24 Hero Workouts in 24 hours during the pandemic when he was in need of “something motivational” to do, he explained.
In 2021, Gifford made it through 23 workouts as prescribed, but couldn’t quite finish the 1,000 box step-ups during the final workout, Chad.
“I stopped at 500 step-ups…I actually just kind of quit, my body hurt so bad,” said Gifford, an affiliate owner since 2016. “So for the entire next year, I had this burning in my head.”
Though he wasn’t happy to have fallen short, he still raised $4,000 for charity and re-committed himself to attempting the challenge again in 2022.
A year later, Gifford made the workouts even harder and managed to complete all 24 workouts as prescribed with a handful of others from his gym joining in on workouts here and there to keep him on track.
“It had such a powerful impact that I was like, ‘I gotta do this again,’” he said.
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Setting up a low bar to practice gymnastics can help you learn movements without having to support all of your body weight. But if it’s not set up properly, it gets sketchy real quick. Learn how to properly attach the barbell to the rig with a band.
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