Good Luck to Rob Orlando this weekend

[Dave Bernreuther]

Say what you will about the nerd cult that is Crossfit, it's a great way for the average Joe to get into great shape and look good. Sure, it's no good for Strongman, but it sure is useful for them.

Rob Orlando, who we all know as the beast with the 365 axle press, took it up while still competing in strongman, where he's now a scary <200. He qualified for their games this weekend, taking fifth in some huge field of people at a regional event.

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_CandidChatRobOrlando.mov

The Crossfit Games claims to select "the fittest man on earth," which I have always laughed at. But it looks like they're trying to mean it this year. Saturday morning they have a 7.1km nasty terrain run followed almost immediately by a 20-rep deadlift ladder, followed by three more events and 3 more on sunday. It's a pretty grueling event.

Here's hoping Rob can kick some Crossfitter ass and win or place this weekend.

[Tom Mutaffis]

Crossfit stuff is definitely tough; I am glad that Rob is finding success with the sport and am looking forward to see how he does against a national field.

Good luck Rob!

[Scott Porter]

Crossfit can be tough. Anything can be tough. Crossfit will make you skinny though.

Rob Orlando is a beast though. Wish he stuck with strongman!

[Kevin Cronin]

good luck to a good guy

Rob Orlando is a beast though. Wish he stuck with strongman!
Rob competed at Linden Yards Clash of Titans in Feb and I believe won the <200s. Not sure whether he's doing nats, but he is qualified, so it's not like he's totally out fo strongman

[Dave Bernreuther]

Crossfit stuff is definitely tough; I am glad that Rob is finding success with the sport and am looking forward to see how he does against a national field.

Good luck Rob!

Ha, you called it a sport.

Crossfit will make you skinny though.

For some people, this is a good thing. Not guys like you, of course.

Personally, I like what Tom does in a lot of his workouts - fast cardio circuits of lighter weight movements as accessory work. I think that gives you a lot of the crossfit-like benefits for overall conditioning without tearing you down too much or resorting to 21 kipping pullups or other useless crap. Their Freddy's Revenge or Deadlift Burpee workout also makes a great workout finisher, even though burpees are gay. Generally though I'd rather be fit from doing keg carry/load medleys or tire flips than from running 5ks or doing 21-15-9 reps of anything. You can get pretty damn well conditioned without ever having to beat on your joints that much. That's how Gill won NE Beast last year. Lots of conditioning, but done the smart way. Well, that and he was also really strong, of course.

[GregMonfredo]

Good luck Rob

[Scott Porter]

For some people, this is a good thing. Not guys like you, of course.

Personally, I like what Tom does in a lot of his workouts - fast cardio circuits of lighter weight movements as accessory work. I think that gives you a lot of the crossfit-like benefits for overall conditioning without tearing you down too much or resorting to 21 kipping pullups or other useless crap. Their Freddy's Revenge or Deadlift Burpee workout also makes a great workout finisher, even though burpees are gay. Generally though I'd rather be fit from doing keg carry/load medleys or tire flips than from running 5ks or doing 21-15-9 reps of anything. You can get pretty damn well conditioned without ever having to beat on your joints that much. That's how Gill won NE Beast last year. Lots of conditioning, but done the smart way. Well, that and he was also really strong, of course.

I agree with that. I've just seen so many guys, especially on the fire dept. here, get so skinny they look sick. Guys that are 190 and somewhat lean get to 170 and lean but now no muscle. They can go all day but zero strength.

Some things about crossfit I'm fine with, but most of it I think is gay.

And like you, I'd rather get conditioning with prowler push, tire flip, carry/drag, medleys, etc. I'm out on running. I'm not going to do 15 reps of a compound movement. And yes, burpess are gay! Haha!

[Dave Bernreuther]

I agree with that. I've just seen so many guys, especially on the fire dept. here, get so skinny they look sick. Guys that are 190 and somewhat lean get to 170 and lean but now no muscle. They can go all day but zero strength.

I think if the programming is right, there's a way to get the best of both worlds. There are definitely some Crossfit guys who are 200 and lean and still strong. The games has a few 600 deadlifters that qualified. What bothers me most, I think, besides the fact that any schmuck can pay a grand and call himself a "trainer" (this to me is the biggest problem with it all), is all the stupid kipping pullups. Once you learn the timing of it, there's no value in it whatsoever. And to be good at the "sport" of crossfit and win the timed workouts, you have to be good at kipping pullups. Which usually means being light. So basically if you can do a lot of "pullups" really fast and do burpees fast, you can post really good times. Whoopdeedoo.

Of course, there are exceptions. The 5'5" 135lb guy that can do pullups forever also dominated a regional that included some legit deadlift weights and a 5-4-3-2-1 snatch/sandbag run workout. He's not strong compared to us, but he's half the damn weight and would be tiny, Crossfit or not. I respect anyone who can snatch his own bodyweight for reps.

I think that Rob qualifying proves that you can be in great shape and still maintain your strength. He can still put 300 pounds over his head at 194 and win a strongman contest, and he also can do well at this stuff. And assuming he doesn't die on the 7.1k run, he'll be in great shape to win the deadlift event, as only a few guys could do 20 reps up to 500lbs even fresh.

I'm not sure I can see how anyone could follow those two events up and still perform well on 6 more though. I think the winner will either be extremely extremely impressive and worthy, or the organizers will be embarrassed because the final events will be barely completed at all by a bunch of zombies.

[MarkSikora]

Valid points, all.

Dave, like Scott, i work with guys who do crossfit or crossfit type workouts. One thing I do like, is that Crossfit has adapted/changed over the years. They used to do a lot more gymnastic/tumbling type stuff, where now they do more oly lift variants and powerlifting movements.

I think the superstrong guys at Crossfit fall into one of two categories: a) they are freaks, just like the best guys at anything and/or b) they were strong before, then went to crossfit ala Rob. Not too many guys get to be 600 pullers from crossfit, I would bet.

I see many crossfiters at work who are afraid to put weight on the bar. A couple months back I went down to the basement and a guy was snatching. I went to the bar and one arm sntached it....and I ain't that strong. This did, however, motivate him to start trying to move more weight.

For guys who want crossfit with some more pounds, check out www.crossfitfootball.com

it's a riff on crossfit for football players with 2 workouts. Not bad.

Shoot, they're trying to sell crossfit to the fire dept here right now as "the" workout method. It will be interesting to see who makes the money off of it when they do it.

Go Rob, good luck, those games are nasty. The vids are great.

Mark

[Kalle Beck]

I think I'm going to go check this out since its in Aromas. LOL Why is it held in this small town?

[Dave Bernreuther]

They used to do a lot more gymnastic/tumbling type stuff, where now they do more oly lift variants and powerlifting movements.

I think the superstrong guys at Crossfit fall into one of two categories: a) they are freaks, just like the best guys at anything and/or b) they were strong before, then went to crossfit ala Rob. Not too many guys get to be 600 pullers from crossfit, I would bet.

I see many crossfiters at work who are afraid to put weight on the bar. A couple months back I went down to the basement and a guy was snatching. I went to the bar and one arm sntached it....and I ain't that strong. This did, however, motivate him to start trying to move more weight.


I love that they do place emphasis on functional full body stuff and olympic lifts. What I don't love is that a lot of them are not qualified to coach any of that, aren't able to assess people beforehand, and often don't think all that far ahead in their programming. Also, asking people who aren't 100% healthy to do things in the rep ranges they use, things like 50 box jumps or 30 c+j or 45 thrusters, etc is just asking for some fun chronic knee or shoulder injuries. Sure, a fully mobile person can handle it, but how many people are really that mobile? All it took was a year of sitting at a desk for my girlfriend to lose glute and low trap activation and mess up her posture. What happens to the 30 year old out of shape guy who gets tossed into that stuff? Or me, reasonably in shape but with a few mobility issues? (answer: severe tendinitis and shin splints after an 8 week summer boot camp) Asking someone who can't properly overhead squat to do 30 snatches is a recipe for disaster.

People like Rob with a ton of experience coming in know that stuff, certified or not. But anyone can go get certified and open a gym by paying a grand to Glassman and showing up. Then they learn on the job. I don't think it's fair to the clients to be learning on the job when they charge as much as they do. (Well, even the best is always learning. I mean learning the basics.)

That's not to say all of them are like that though. Kelly Starrett is as competent as they come, for instance. And they've got a real gem in Coach Burgener traveling the country giving O lifting seminars. And everyone loves Mark Rippetoe.

I agree- I don't think it's possible to be a 600 deadlifter without a real focus on the lift, whether it was as a strength athlete beforehand or by modifying the programming. But I have seen the trainer at my girlfriend's gym pull an easy 500 even with forward bar drift, and he wasn't very strong coming in (he was a D1 baseball player though, so obviously athletic and mobile and fast). Maybe a 375ish puller. So maybe some day he'll pull it off.

Funny you mention one arm snatches. I made them mad one day when I came by to pick the girlfriend up and one arm snatched someone's bar. 85lbs I think it was. I wasn't trying to show anyone up, just wanted to see if I could do it with a barbell.

They have some pretty strong people they kind of turn into Mini-celebrities, with Rob becoming one of them recently, so I think that helps motivate people to load up the bars. Fear of weight is more of an individual thing than a Crossfit-wide thing, I think.

Kalle - if you do go check it out, bring money. It costs money to park and to get in. Which is kind of funny, if you ask me. But I guess there's pretty high demand from other crossfitters coming as fans.

[barabas47]

Overall cross fit can be beneficial but you really need 2 good knees to do crossfit which most of us do not have.
I've also liked the P90X workouts and the workouts on the WII.
When you need to mix it up they all can work and be fun. We're strongmen, we're creative

[Billy Wolt]

damn...rob looks totally different, and he's jacked now.

good luck Rob

[Kalle Beck]

Kalle - if you do go check it out, bring money. It costs money to park and to get in. Which is kind of funny, if you ask me. But I guess there's pretty high demand from other crossfitters coming as fans.

I saw that....... After I posted I looked for info and a 1 day pass was 20 and 10 for parking. I figured I'd go check it out since its literally down the street but I don't really feel like paying 30 bucks to watch kipping pullups.