CrossFit Games Open Workout 14.3 - This Is CrossFit!

This is the season for the CrossFit Games Open competition.  This year, in the neighborhood of 200,000 competitors world over are signed up.  Workouts are announced on Thursday nights for five weeks.  Each workout is posted to an online leaderboard.  At the end, we’ll know who will attend regional competition, and who in the masters age groups will get to go to Carson to compete at the Games.  That masters cut, by the way, is becoming an insanely high bar.  For example, I have around 2000 athletes in my division of males aged 50-54.  20 will be offered the ticket to Carson. 

This year’s third workout was as follows (men’s weights, age 54 and below):

Complete as many reps as possible in 8 minutes of:


135-lb. deadlifts, 10 reps


15 box jumps, 24-inch


185-lb. deadlifts, 15 reps


15 box jumps, 24-inch


225-lb. deadlifts, 20 reps


15 box jumps, 24-inch


275-lb. deadlifts, 25 reps


15 box jumps, 24-inch


315-lb. deadlifts, 30 reps


15 box jumps, 24-inch


365-lb. deadlifts, 35 reps


15 box jumps, 24-inch

 More details here: Download a PDF of the workout description and scorecard

So, for whatever your skill level, at some point you would face being quite gassed and looking at multiple reps with a heavy deadlift.  This was a point that had many speculators with their panties in a bunch.  "Folks are going to blow their backs out!  This is dangerous!"

But all those chirping blue jays were missing the point.  This kind of workout is just what CrossFit is about.  Can you express strength when deeply fatigued?  If not, I hope you don't plan to compete in sport, or to be in a position where you have lift something heavy off of a family member after you ran your tail off to get there quickly.  In other words - what's the point of having strength if you can only apply it when rested?  

For who think at this point that a power lifter who can lift 700 or 800 pounds in a deadlift would be better off in this workout than a CrossFitter - you are mistaken.  There are not many powerlifters, perhaps none, who could manage this kind of workload.  They are specialists in lifting insanely heavy weights, once.  

As a masters athlete of average strength I was proud to lift 23 deadlifts in the round of 275 pounds within the 8 minute time cap, and I was huffing like a steam engine the whole time.  I was fairly sore in my back and hip muscles the next day or two, but did a light workout the next day.  This is CrossFit!