CrossFit Masters Competition
Should there be different standards for Masters competitors?
Today, while speaking with some other “over 35″ CrossFit trainers regarding the upcoming Fight Gone Bad workout on September 27, the subject came up regarding whether or not CrossFit should employ age groups for competition.
Personally, I’m on the fence.
On the positive side, creating age groups, similar to running races or olympic lifting competitions, would create a more level playing field for competition. In this scenerio, the forty-five year old crossfit trainer would not have to match the blistering pace of an elite, 22-year old, 3-minute Fran monkey; and instead, compete with other masters crosfitters more likely to offer more realistic competition .
But, as a thirty-eight year old myself, I’m not sure that I’m ready to give up the drive and determination to go after an athlete like Speal, OPT or a Mike G.
Do I currently have the ability to challenge an athlete like that today? – hell, no – but aspiring to get to that level is what keeps me training so hard and with so much intensity. I want to get better. Better than better. To push my kippings to a blistering pace …to learn the butterfly …to squeeze out a sub-three minute Fran …to take my fitness to levels that I never thought possible.
These may be far reaching goals; but to me they are very real and the possibilities are endless.
A Masters division in CrossFit would only allow older dudes to settle and scale – and in my opinion, that’s not in the spirit of CrossFit competition.
Settling? now way.
Anyone can do CrossFit for fitness training – all one needs to do is scale to ability level.
But if you want to compete in CrossFit, then you need to bring it – fight the same fight as everyone else and give it your absolute, uninhibited 100% effort.
Do that and you’ve already won. 9 years old or 90.
Thoughts?
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6 Responses to “CrossFit Masters Competition”
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A Masters Division? Dunno if that’s a good idea, but then CrossFitters are not like the rest of the folks in the world who do other events that have age group classes, so I doubt there’ll be folks who will not do things in a competition setting where the person will say, “Hey, no one in my age group, I know I can take home first place!”
As a 42 year old Crossfitter, I say to hell with age groups. Life has no age groups and no weight classes. While acknowledging the fact that performance will (eventually) decline with age, I’m not interested in being the best in my age category; I’d rather know where I stand in comparison to all humanity. Sub-dividing competitors into various categories to create more “winners” doesn’t make accomplishments of any more value.
I compete daily with all age groups, and do so well. Some days I win, and some days I don’t. Would I like to compete with the elite 20 year olds? Absolutely. However, I am realistic. At 50 by next years games, I know I do not have the recovery power, flexibility or just brute strength to actually compete with the youngsters. I am competitive to the bitter end. Having a masters division allows me to still train hard, do battle daily with the kids, and still compete against my peers. I am all for it.
its no secret that as we get older we just cant quite compete at the same level we used to. i know that fitness is for oneself but, lets face it. theres a little competitor in all of us or we would all just sit on the couch.i believe that a masters class would allow some of us to remain motivated. and not feel as though we just cant compete anymore.
At 55 yrs of age and very new to cross fit I think just to participate I have to be motivated. To find the edges of where I can’t go any further and then go there proves I am not ready to lie down just yet. To think I can compete with younger elite athletes in their prime would indicate some measure of decline in my mental acuity however.
On a daily basis we find divisions in life on the street according to age, weight, gender etc so creating a masters division, 50+ say, would be nothing unusal. I do not understand why the success of an over 50 competitor needs to be seen as compromising the success of the younger athlete in any way.
In fact the success of such a group of athletes, 50+ say, might go a whole long way to get people of similar ages off the couch, into a healthier lifestyle, into graduated competition – and what could possibly be wrong with that?
I believe a masters division (over 50….like every other masters class) would be great. It’s not so much the events but it’s the recovery that changes with time. I think guys my age would love to compete with others in this age catagory and not feel the least like they are lesser of an animal that those that compete at younger ages.