This year’s CrossFit Games in Madison once again featured a number of grueling workouts as the fittest humans on earth were pitted against each other. Each brutal session can be adapted and tried out at home by amateur athletes, giving a taste of what the elites put themselves through and making for a fun alternative in the gym.
Here are our favourites.
Ruck Run
Simple and painful. Run four 1.5 km laps, making 6km in total. Carry a weighted pack, increasing the load on each lap.
Both men and women carried 20lbs (9kg), 30lbs (14kg), 40lbs (18kg) and 50lbs (23kg) at the Games.
Sprint Couplet
Push a sled 172ft (52m), complete a set number of muscle-ups, then push the sled back another 172ft again.
Men did 18 while women did 15.
The Mary
A vicious, full-body workout.
Do five handstand push-ups, 10 pistol squats and 15 pull-ups for time.
The competition was cut to just 20 athletes after this exercise.
Ringer 2
Ringer 1 and 2 were completed back to back in the second event on Sunday, but we are just focussing on the latter Ringer.
Complete 15 burpees and 15 overhead squats, followed by 10 burpees and 10 overhead squats, then five burpees and five overhead squats.
The overhead squats were performed at 135lbs (61kg) for men and 95 lbs (43kg) for women, with a five-minute time cap being imposed.
The Standard
Used as the final event of the weekend, The Standard was only completed by the best of the best who made it through to the end of Sunday.
It comprised 30 clean and jerks with 135lbs (61kg), 30 muscle-ups, then 30 barbell snatches with 135lbs (61kg).
