May 27 - June 1
I enjoyed watching the America West Semi Finals this weekend. It has shocked me how far the sport has come. I remember competing in the regionals in 2012 for Canada East. We had workouts that seemed impossible back then, one being a snatch ladder. Every minute you had to go up 10 pounds, starting at 135 and the final bar was 225. By the time I had made it to the 185 bar, only 2 people had lifted it. When I had gotten to the 205 it was pristine clean with not a mark of chalk on it. Out of 60 athletes only 3 of us lifted past 205, and I think 225 was the max. This weekend the athletes did a snatch ladder finishing with 2 reps at 265. Colten Mertens did it as a touch an go. Mind-blowing.
Being a new sport our programming and training has evolved much over the years. This is clearly shown with how the athletes have progressed. I look back at my training when I was "competitive" and it was just do as much as possible. The good coaches have refined the training and coaching so much. I was glad to be influenced by some great mentors.
If you are interested you can check out the highlights at http://games.crossfit.com