CrossFit is a widely popular sport in the world today. It is estimated that approximately 4 million people practice CrossFit worldwide with an even split between men and women. Founded as a sport in 2000, the first CrossFit games were held in 2007 where the founders claimed the trademark of the title “fittest on earth”. A very physically demanding sport, it focuses on functional movements where the emphasis is mostly on a combination of three disciplines - gymnastics, Olympic lifting, and cardio. A regular one hour daily workout, or workout of the day (WOD) changes each day.
Each year during February and March, the CrossFit community hosts its worldwide open competition. Over the course of three weeks contestants are presented with three different workouts, one per week. Everyone performs the workout in their own CrossFit box (gym) with a judge counting the reps and making sure the movements are completed correctly. After your workout is finished, your score is submitted online to the headquarters, and you become ranked according to how well you performed.
This year, for example, one of the workouts consisted of as many rounds and reps as possible in 20 minutes of:
- 300-meter row
- 10 deadlifts 185lb
- 50 double unders
"In this particular workout I finished 7 and a half rounds in 20 minutes. As you can probably see, this is a grueling workout, especially when everyone is competing against one other. You must push yourself to go as fast as humanly possible."
This year I competed in the men’s 50-54 age group category against approximately 10,000 other men from all over the world. After all the scores were in from these three workouts, I ended up #1 in my age group for Iceland and #207 in the world. According to the sport of CrossFit, that makes me the 207th fittest man in the world in my age group. Out of all of the men that competed in the open, I ranked #29,437 fittest in the world. Now, do I believe that I am number thirty thousand fittest man in the world out of 4 billion men? No that would be crazy to assume, but anyone that has tried CrossFit might agree that it is a pretty good indicator.
As I have shared, I’ve had my struggles with staying healthy. Shortly after I started, I was experiencing joint pain all over, and I was trying to recover from three shoulder surgeries. Pain and stiffness were almost forcing me to stop doing the one workout routine I loved to do. I’ve shared this story so many times, about my injuries, difficulty recovering, and how one positive thing put me mentally and physically on the right track. My marine collagen was that catalyst for me, and it took me from being unable to lift my hands above my head, or do what now seems to be a simple pull up, to being the #1 CrossFitter in Iceland in my age group and #207 in the world. Some might say that 207th isn’t that impressive, but given the state I was in 8 years ago, I’m amazed and grateful to be here.
What do you want to achieve, and what will be your catalyst? If you want to learn more about just björn marine collagen, or CrossFit and my journey please send me a note at bjorn@justbjorn.com. I would love to hear from you.
Björn
