Scaling standards

Check it out folks, we've devised a way where everyone can compete together, regardless of skill/strength/fitness level. If you cannot lift a certain amount of weight, or perform a certain skill, you will be able to score the individual workout that includes that movement, but still be able to do other workouts as prescribed. This will allow for everyone to compete together and see how well you perform in a more diverse pool of fitness levels. The video does not state the amount of work required for each WOD in order to be classified as Rx'd, and thats because the workouts havent been released yet. Keep workin those Muscle ups, C2B pull ups, High rep sets of Double Unders, maybe some heavy deadlifts, lots of box jumps, hitting the 10ft/9ft target on wall balls, being powerful on the rower...etc. Check the vid.

Movement Pairings

WOD set-up

This is a non-definitive list of movements that will be paired together for the WOD's.

Running/Wall Balls/Box Jumps

Clean & O.H. / Burpees/ Knees to Elbows

Deadlifts / Muscle Ups (Men)
Deadlifts / C2B Pull Ups (Women)
Deadlifts / C2B Pull Ups (Men who scale this wod)
Deadlifts / Pull Ups (Women who scale this wod)

Rowing / Double Unders

Snatch / Swimming

*There will not be any super heavy loading on movements that have a set rep # assigned to them. However, should you decide you can not  perform a given amount of work (this will be a set amount, to be released soon) with X weight then you will have the option to scale the weight down. Same goes for the Muscle Up / C2B pull up wod. Please stay tuned for more information on the standards for scaling.

Some Tips

Ladies, it would be a good idea to work on high rep sets of C2B pull ups.
Fellas, the same goes for you on Muscle ups.
-Don't worry if you don't have them though, it will not result in a DNF for the WOD.

 Also, if you don't use the hook grip, ask a coach at your gym to teach you. And tape your thumbs!

 It would be in your best interest to get as proficient as possible at any "skill" related movements that have been listed. So if you're one of those who "has said skill" so you don't train it very often, as yourself, can I still improve on this skill?

Wanna Judge?!

‎2 things folks:

 1) We Need Judges!! Requirement- You must have been doing CrossFit for at least 3 months, and just be an awesome person!

2) Stay tuned for a video coming this weekend detailing how the Rx'd and Scaled competitors will be able to compete in the same field via our new 1 of a kind scoring system!

Movements Released!

Hello competitors!
We're sure you are all eager to find out what movements you'll be doing for the Christmas Throwdown, so we're going to present you with the movements. Practicing CrossFit on a regular basis should get you prepared for any CrossFit competition (in my opinion), however people still like to know what it is they'll be doing. That is completely understandable, however, knowing the reps/rounds/time is not as relevant. If you know how to do a movement, you should be able to do it for low, medium, and high reps, or with light, medium, and semi-heavy weights. For now we will list the movements, and in the future we'll release what movements are paired up with each other.

Know this: There will be a testing of maximum strength, maximum power, short duration aerobic endurance, longer duration aerobic endurance, and some things for the ninja's, as well as the monsters. As stated before, the goal is to test fitness in as many area's as possible within 1 day's worth of workouts. The programming also has a focus of not having any workout's results determined solely by 1 movement in the workout. For example, throw a bunch of stuff in a workout for females, then add handstand pushups, and you've created a workout that will likely be determined by how well the individual can perform one movement, the HSPU. (Understand, this is not programming for the regionals or games, so it is not expected for all local female competitors to excel at HSPU.) Another example, throw whatever bodyweight movements you want into a workout and claim you are satisfying the "ninjas," and then add 185lb clean and jerks for reps to satisfy the "monsters," though what you've done is added 1 movement that will ultimately determine the result of each individual. The 185lb clean and jerks. The larger athlete may not be "as good" at the bodyweight stuff, but still has the ability to do them-there is never a "failure point." However, the smaller athlete will possibly reach an absolute failure point on the weightlifting movement, where he cannot perform 1 rep. This is how the workout will ultimately be determined by 1 movement, regardless of how many burpees and pull ups are included. "But isn't crossfit about being good at everything no matter what?" Yes, and you should be, but if you want to truly test who is the fittest (most well rounded) at the end of the day, you may be better off testing some of these components of fitness individually, i.e. strength tests, aerobic endurance tests, power tests, etc. This ensures that ones ability to excel in a given area of fitness is not hidden by a separate component.

And the movements are...
Box Jumps
Double Unders
Clean & Jerk
Rowing
Deadlifts
Wall Balls
Snatches
Burpees
Muscle Ups (for the guys)
Chest to Bar pull ups (for the ladies)
Running
Knees to Elbows
Swimming.

REGISTRATION IS FULL

FOLKS, we are at capacity. Let us play with some #'s for heats/times/equipment etc and see if there will be any room for more. There are already people on the waiting list. If you haven't gotten signed up and still want in, email shannon@crossfitrampage.com ASAP.

8 Spots left

Almost sold out folks!

11 spots left

Only room for 11 more folks, don't hesitate.

13 Spots Left.

The list seen on the right-hand side of this page contains the athletes who have signed up for the competition. This list is manually entered according to our payment list, as we find time to do so. If you have paid, and your name is not on the list, don't worry, we just havent entered it yet. As of 9:20am Sunday November 11th there are only 13 spots left folks. Get on it!! And if you havent read the post below titled "Testing fitness and what to prepare for," we suggest you do so.

Why is this relevant?

Because her name is Christmas, that as relevant as it gets!

Testing Fitness and what to prepare for.

If you wanted to test how fit you were, you likely wouldn't be able to do so with a single component of fitness, (i.e. endurance, strength, power, etc.). You would need to know what encompasses fitness, and how to test those things. Understanding the above statement will help you better prepare (even though the competition is only a few short weeks away) for the CrossFit Rampage Christmas Throwdown. Pulling random movements out of a hat and assigning reps and round to them may be a lot of fun, but may not formulate the best plan for testing overall fitness. It seems as if some competitions are doing more "CrossFit" testing rather than "Fitness Testing" which are starting to become two different things. Well, we don't want them to be so. Having said that, then what might we need to look at in order to test fitness, through CrossFit? Dodgeball? A max effort strength test is always a good idea right? Well, lets hypothetically take one of the strongest powerlifters in the world, and lets pretend he has never performed a snatch before. Now, take a top level CrossFitter who snatches 250+. Likely the CrossFit athlete will beat the 1,000lb squatter due to technical efficiency/speed/power/flexibility. So, do the Olympic lifts measure pure strength? No. Do they measure strength to some extent? Of course, but there is also a high level of power/skill/coordination/flexibility needed to perform well at the snatch and clean and jerk. So am I saying that those are bad tests of fitness? Absolutely not, they are phenomenal tests because they measure multiple components all within one lift. Am I saying it is a bad measure for a pure "strength" test? Yes. Don't believe me? Refer to the 1,000lb squatter getting beat in the snatch by a CrossFitter. When measuring absolute strength, who is really stronger?... Exactly. So to sum this up... in testing fitness, a true strength test, might be better served up as something from the world of power lifting. In opposition to the last statement, in testing power (speed-strength as some might call it) skill, coordination, flexbility, and lets throw balance and "athleticism" into this, what might we look at? The Olympic lifts. Wa-Laah! Now, we can correctly call our Olympic lift a test of these things, and not solely "strength." Are either of these saying that we are going to have a max power and/or olympic lift? Maybe, then again, maybe not. However, we are testing fitness, and these are components of that. Lets reach further into power. Due to the technicality of the Olympic lifts, one must practice them exclusively to become highly proficient at them. This should be understood by anyone who has tried these movements, i.e. they're not easy. So is it fair to say, you are only as powerful as you are good at the ever-so-technical snatch or clean and jerk? NO. Now we can start to understand that measuring "power" on its own, may not be best suited to one modality (Olympic lifting), but rather by numerous things. I've seen max height box/broad/triple jumps in competitions and loved them. What about the shot-put? Great test of power, though do CrossFit gyms practice it, no, so don't expect it. These are great tests of power, and they take out the specificity of training for the Olympic lifts to be good at them. Speed is a component of power, but is only half of that equation. Speed is determined by the rate an object covers distance; or, how fast you move. Are we testing speed by doing 3 rounds of box jumps burpees and wall balls? Not necessarily. Likely, noone is ever moving at 100% of their max speed potential during this workout. If I were to line you up side by side on a football field and say first person to the other end wins, are we doing a better job of testing for speed now? I'd say so. Disagree with me if you want...and be unprepared for testing speed. When we think "stamina" and "endurance" we need to take a closer look into the exercise physiology of the body. There are 3 energy systems of which I am not going to dive deeply into, but we'll briefly discuss them. The first one, the ATP-PC system is responsible for short duration, 5-8seconds, 100% max effort power movements. Think 40yd dash, max effort lift, max distance jump, etc. The second system, Anaerobic Glycolysis lasts about 30seconds-2 minutes (some say its shorter, some say longer), think 400m sprint, "Grace", "Fran" a long volley in volleyball. Lastly, the third energy system, the Aerobic System begins shortly after 2 minutes of continuous physical activity and lasts indefinitely. This system does not allow for a very high power output, but can last a long time. Think soccer game, swimming across a lake, any endurance events, Murph, (or most all hero workouts)..etc. So when trying to test fitness, it would be of our best interest to test work capacity in each of these energy systems. For the short duration, ATP-PC system, an Olympic lift could possibly work, but again, due to the technical demands of the lift, we may not find the individual with the greatest work capacity in under 10seconds because frankly, they might suck at Olympic lifting, but be amazing at the 40yd dash. Take home note: Be ready for something short & powerful, (under 10 seconds), something short & very high intensity (2 minutes) and then some things lasting longer than 2 minutes- classic CrossFit Workouts. Other things that are noteworthy when testing fitness include muscle endurance, gymnastic skills to an extent (kinesthetic/body awareness), pushing/pulling strength, grip strength, running ability, pacing, and lactic acid removal ability. No need in explaining all of these, but be ready to see things that test all of them, within a days worth of workouts!

About the 2nd Annual CFRMPG XMAS Throwdown

Get out your iphones, ipads, desk calendars, pen and paper or whatevs and clear your schedule for December 8th. You'll be glad you did. The only specific detail right now is the date. If you were there last year, or know someone who was, hopefully they can vouch for the legitimacy of last years competition. I'm tagging all the gym owners I can think of, so you can spread the word. Not sure on registration and/or a competitors cap yet. One thing I can say is this: We all started CrossFit because we were attracted to looking/feeling better, becoming more athletic, competing with others, or just becoming a better individual overall. What we did not start CrossFit for was 1 arm handstand holds, doing pistols on top of kettlebells, or other useless movements. What I'm saying is that we want to host another competition, that at the end of the day, the Fittest people in attendance are at the top of the podium; not the strongest because it was strength biased, or the fastest, or the best at endurance etc, but the best overall. We're going to bring to you classic CrossFit. Likely 4-5 wods, of different time domains, testing the different energy systems, along with the 10 general physical skills, through good ole' couplets, triplets and crossfit movements. We have no intent in testing anyone at something they havent been practicing already. Sure, we train for the "unknown and unknowable" but this isn't the CrossFit games, we want to see who's best at doing CrossFit, not adapting to a new movement or some weird standard on an old movement. So expect things like, burpees, cleans, pullups, squats, double unders, wall balls, muscle ups (yes), box jumps, swings. Don't expect to know the exact workouts to far ahead of time, rather, just the movements. Ninja's, you'll be able to get your judo on, and monsters, you'll get to be hulk for a wod....just be sure to be better at what you suck at before then! This is going to be legit CrossFit at its finest, like back when the games were at the ranch and wods were based on fitness over creativity. (Not saying creativity is bad). I want to be straightforward in saying that I am not knocking anyones competition. I've personally competed and judged in a few of the biggest comps here in middle TN this year, and they have been great. Great hosts, awesome programming, wonderful atmosphere, and a good thing for the community. Though on a more global scale, theres just a lot of (excuse my language) "dumb shit" going on in local competitions that seems as if the programmers didn't have a clue about testing fitness. (see link below) The 2nd annual CrossFit Rampage Christmas throwdown is going to as raw as it gets, no bells and whistles, just fitness. Hell, we might not even have port-a-potties! Now, please read this article: http://outlawcoach.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/120208/