麻豆社区

A team of a four athletes from CrossFit 86Seven returned last week from a competition with much better results than even they expected.

Cliff Schultz of Peak Fitness and a CrossFit instructor said today the team trained hard for the past four months in preparation for the Battle on the Border in Lloydminister, Alberta.

When it comes to CrossFit competitions, organizers don鈥檛 reveal which events will be featured, so that athletes have to train for whatever might come their way, Schultz said.

鈥淚t was exhausting,鈥� he said of the event. 鈥淲e did a lot better than we thought we were going to.鈥�

Schultz and teammate Mike Hartwig finished the competition ranked eighth out of 34 teams attending from across Western Canada, but actually placed third in the finals.

Whitehorse teammates Holly Hartwig and Danielle Swift finished 67th out of 72 women鈥檚 teams but established personal records.

CrossFit involves a variety of events testing strength and endurance, with not a lot of rest in between the events.

In one event, for instance, partner 1 does 20 squats with 185 pounds on a barbell and then runs 700 metres with a 60 pound sandbag while partner 2 holds up the 185 pounds while his or her partner runs. When partner 1 finishes the run, partner two does the 20 squats and then runs the 700 metres. They do that three times.

Another event involves how much weight an athlete can hang off their body and complete a pull up, or chin up.

And yet another event involves going flat out on an assault bike for nine minutes, then hanging off a bar, bringing your toes up to the touch the bar eight times, and then completing six dumbbell thruster squats with 75 pounds of weights.

There were seven events in all.

鈥淥h yea, it was exhausting,鈥� Schultz said.

The instructor said his CrossFit athletes normally train an hour a day five or six days a week, but the team decided to double their training schedule four months ago in preparation for the Battle on the Border.

It鈥檚 tough but it鈥檚 rewarding, said Schultz.

鈥淚 just love doing it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 love the sport, I love how good a shape it gets you in and I love how it changes people.

鈥淚 have seen people start where they can hardly do anything and then they can do so much more than they ever thought they could do.鈥�