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Coach Landon & The CrossFit Games

CrossFit is a big part of what we do at Lincoln Nutrition and Fitness: Home of CrossFit Lincoln. CrossFit’s methodology and scalability allows anyone to participate in fitness in our community and around the world. Coach Landon had the opportunity to experience the CrossFit Games as a spectator this year. He has a passion for the sport and enjoys diving into conversations about the CrossFit Games. I asked him to write about his experience and he got very excited! Check out what he had to say below:

“With the completion of the 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games, our 2022 CrossFit season has come to a close. The season is long, starting with the CrossFit open in February, and ending in beautiful Madison, WI August 3rd-7th. Having had the chance to go to the games I wanted to break down what it’s like to be on site and in the mix as a fan at the games. 

So, what are the CrossFit Games? Simply, the Games are the ultimate test to find the fittest: male, female, team, age group, and adaptive athletes on earth. A five day spectacle encompassing CrossFit’s core methodology that we average Joe’s use every day in our affiliates across the world. Those that compete at the Crossfit Games are the one-percenters of their respective divisions performing at the highest level.

This was the first year that Adrian Bozman led the programming for the Crossfit Games. He pushed the athletes in ways we hadn’t seen in years prior. Some notable movements included legless pegboard ascents/descents, L-Sit then press to free handstands, wall facing handstand pushups, and sandbag cleans (which ended at 250 lbs for the women & 350 lbs for the men). He also incorporated offsite venues such as the University of Wisconsin Aquatic Center and the Wisconsin State Capitol building. Below is a summary of the rankings for Individual Male & Female, as well as Teams podium finishers.

Individual Men

  1. Justin Meideros (USA) – The mullet man won his second consecutive Crossfit Games Championship 
  2. Roman Khrennikov (Russia) – After being denied entry to the USA in previous years, Roman finally had a chance to compete live at the Crossfit games. He has gained a 5 year visa to live in the United States after this year.
  3. Ricky Gerard (Australia) – 1st year back to Madison after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs during his rookie year in 2017 and serving a 4 season suspension.

 

Individual Women

  1. Tia-Clair Toomey (Australia) – This is Tia’s 6th consecutive Crossfit Games Championship.
  2. Mallory (Mal) O’Brien (USA): At just 18 and the padawan of 5 time fittest man on earth, Mat Fraser, Mal is poised to reach the top very soon.
  3. Laura Hovath (Hungary): Laura has finished on the podium 3 times in her career and has made it clear during interviews that first place is the only thing on her mind.

 

Teams

  1. Crossfit Mayhem Freedom (USA): Rich Froning Jr., Andrea Nisler, Taylor Williamson, Samuel Cournoyer
  2. Crossfit Oslo Navy Blue (Norway): Lena Richter, Ingrid Hodneymyr, Nicolay Billaudel, Eivind Dahl Ringard
  3. Crossfit Invictus (USA): Brittany Weiss, Jorge Fernandez, Devyn Kim, and Joshua Al-Chamaa

 

For more information on leaderboards across all divisions, check out the Crossfit Games 2022 Leaderboard. All events can be watched on the Crossfit Games YouTube channel. If you’re curious about the Crossfit Games experience, please do not hesitate to ask!

Now let’s look at the spectator experience. The common phrase used is that the fans at the games “are the fittest fans in the world”. Which might be dramatic but does hold some truth. More importantly is that as a fan you are surrounded by thousands of like minded individuals who are passionate about fitness, community, and usually caffeine, while you are at the Games. 

Since this was my third trip to the games, I had a very good idea of how to get the most out of my time.

Watching the events 

  • First and foremost for me is watching all of the individual and team events live if possible. I enjoy watching the storylines of athletes and teams play out all weekend long. With 13 individual events and 11 team events, I never had to worry about down time. This year my favorite event without a doubt was “The Capitol”. Athletes started the event with 20 pig flips (rectangular blocks weighing 350 lbs for the women & 510 lbs for the men), followed by a 3.5 mile run through the city of Madison, finished with a 200m Jerry Can (sandbag with handles) carry and 200m Husafell Bag (150lbs for women, 200lbs for men) up the steps of the Wisconsin State Capitol building. Coach Heather and I were able to get standing spots at the start of the last flight of stairs athletes would ascend. This meant we saw these athletes 99% done with a 35+ minute workout. We were close enough to touch them as they hit muscle failure trying to get the Husafell bag up the last steps. Though the event is long, I would highly recommend watching the coverage on YouTube (and look for this bald guy towards the end).

 

Vendor Village and Sponsor Row

  • Vendors at the Games are a Crossfitter’s dream. With hundreds of vendors on site ranging from NOBULL and Rogue to Mush Ready-To-Eat Oats and Wilde Chips, there’s something for everyone. I knew I needed new gymnastics grips so I stopped at Bear Complex and Victory Grips and was able to get real time help from employees finding my size and the material I like. Products like knee sleeves, grips, weight belts, and even training shoes can be difficult to find in stores which makes vendors at the Games great resources to have. I was also able to see well-known faces from the Crossfit community like Scott Panchik, Bethany Shadburne, and the Buttery Bros doing meet and greets with various brands on site.

 

Working out at the Games

  • Lastly, I want to talk about workout opportunities around the Games venue. 

 

NOBULL, TYR, and GOWOD all rented out gym spaces in Madison and hosted free workouts and classes for anyone attending the Games. Some of these classes were led by former athletes like Mat Fraser or by experts in training fields like Chris Hinshaw from Aerobic Capacity. Assault Fitness had an entire pavilion at the Games site that spectators could go to and sign up for free workouts led by the Crossfit Seminar Staff. After watching the best in the world compete all day, you feel like you could deadlift 700 lbs and walk a mile on your hands. These workout opportunities gave me and other fans a chance to channel that energy into a great workout experience and build new relationships with people from different states and countries.

For a full list of vendors at the Games click the following link: 2022 NOBULL Crossfit Games. All events can be viewed on the CrossFit Games YouTube channel. If you’re curious about the CrossFit Games experience, please do not hesitate to ask!”

– Coach Landon – 

 

Landon has been a member of our gym for three years. He came to our community with no prior CrossFit experience, but instead a passion to improve. Landon participated in The CrossFit Open in 2020, a world wide competition for everyone in CrossFit. It was here his passion for the sport and our community ignited as our gym watched him get his first muscle up in week 5 of the competition. For Landon to walk in not having a skill and having our community and his hard work push him to achieve his first muscle up is pretty awesome. Since then, Landon has been a consistent member in our community both in our evening class and the events our gym has. 

This past April, Landon took the opportunity to share his passion with his fellow athletes in class while wearing the coaching hat. Our community is lucky to have his energy, his encouragement, and his devotion to helping others improve in the sport of CrossFit and life. 

Landon coaches our evening classes on Tuesday and Thursday and is excited to coach you and talk about all things CrossFit! 

Coach Emily 

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