2007 saw the inaugural CrossFit Games take place in Aromas, California. The CrossFit Games are the definitive test of fitness. It’s a punishing competition in which athletes compete in an array of events. Each year the format and number of events changes with the details not released until just prior to the competition. Therefore, all year round athletes from around the globe are in training for the unknown! There’s no easy route to the Games either. In order to qualify for the Games athletes were required to successfully compete in a Sectional Qualifier in order to progress to one of 13 Regional qualifiers around the world. The top seven athletes from each Regional Qualifier earned a place amongst the 100 (50 male and 50 female) fittest athletes in the world, competing at the Games. There was one Regional Qualifier in Africa held at CrossFit Rebel South Africa. Neil Scholtz of Ballistix Fitness and Sam Ryder of the FightFit Militia were respectively crowned fittest man and woman in South Africa and are off to the USA to measure up against the strongest, fastest and fittest athletes in the world.
What is CrossFit though? CrossFit is a fundamental strength and conditioning program. The program format consists of constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity and it is designed to elicit improvements in work capacity across broad time and modal domains. Thousands of people around the world following CrossFit have distinguished themselves as superior individuals, be it at sport or at home. This has seen the amount of people following CrossFit multiply steadily, and so has the sport of CrossFit grown. This year the Games will be held at the Home Depot Centre in Carson, California, and it will be broadcast live via the web. So log on next weekend to get a taste of the sport of fitness!
Feel free to contact me via my details below for any further information regarding CrossFit in general or for any information regarding CrossFit in South Africa.
Imtiaz Desai, MSc (Hons)
Exercise Scientist
Tel: 083 293 6470
E-mail: imtiaz.desai@gmail.com
