Matt competing at Crossfit Sectionals

The first workout on Saturday was a sand bag shuttle run followed by squats with the sandbag. 400 meter run (turnaround at 25M) 20 squats, 300 meter run, 30 squats, 200 meter run, 40 squats. Matt was proud of his plan to take a steady pace and even though it looked like he was going slow at first (he started out in last place in his heat of 12) he passed everyone except for the number 2 competitor to finish 2nd in his heat and 5th overall with a time of 7min 17sec.



After the first workout at about 2:30 PM Saturday they had a chance to rest for about 3 hours until the second event. Since Matt was ranked 5th after the first workout, he got to have the most rest and go in the final heat of the night for the second event which was right up his alley. The competitors had perform 6 reps of a deadlift at 275 pounds (that is picking up a barbell off the floor and standing up with it), then 12 jumps over a 20 inch box (you could go forward or sideways) and then climb to the top of a 20 foot rope. This triplet had to be performed 5 times as fast as you can and Matt finished in 6min 7sec, which was the 2nd overall for the event, and placing him in a tie for 2nd place overall. Over 50% of the competitors could not complete the event in the 15 minute time limit and were disqualified.

Sunday morning started with a one rep max effort lift at the clean and jerk, which is basically how heavy of a barbell can you pick up off the ground and push to all the way over your head. Aud wasn't there to take pictures and Matt is happy about that because he says the form was not so pretty. He got 220 pounds overhead, but with a very strong field of competitors this was only good enough to tie him for 50th place in that event, dropping him to 6th place overall in the standings. The winner got an amazing 305 pound lift.


The final workout of sectionals was a "chipper" because you just keep chipping away at the different exercises. As usual, its a race to see who can get all the different sets done as fast as possible. We started with 60 double-unders (two revolutions of the jumprope with one jump), then:30 barbell thrusters with 95 pounds (this is a squat with an overhead press, all in one motion), then:30 Burpees (drop to your chest, pushup, and back up to your feet, clap over your head), then:500 Meters on the concept 2 rower (takes about 2:00 at a decent pace), then:30 "Slam balls" - 30 pound medicine ball, bring it overhead, then slam to the ground and catch before it bounces, then:30 situps on a machine called the "Glute-ham developer" which takes you from touching the ground, to touching your toes, then - back to the rower for another 500 Meters, then:30 "kettle-bell snatches" The kettlebell weighs 24KG or about 53 pounds, and with one hand you take it from a hanging position, to locked out over your head. You are allowed to switch hands whenever you want to but you can't use both at the same time. Then:
With the slam ball from before, 30 steps of a walking lunge holding the ball overhead. After that you are ALMOST done. All you have to do is finish up with 60 more double unders, which by now are very tough to string together. Matt ended up 5th overall in this event with a time of 15min 30sec. This time 11 of the 84 competitors did not finish within the 25 minute time limit.

Matt held on to the 6th place spot overall, with other athletes from Crossfit Charlotte also getting spots at 7th and 10th, qualifying the three of them for the regional competition in Jacksonville FL in May. the training continues....


Here was the warehouse where the event was held:


Roman taking all the sights, loud music, and people screaming and cheering:I don't know why his hat got all crooked, probably trying to keep him from getting sun burnt.