[JDB]

Hi guys,

I'm wanting to get your valued opinion on an idea I have for drawing attention to my CrossFit affiliation i've just set up in Plymouth.

To raise some awareness of our location and training principles etc I'm considering running an event called 'Plymouths Fittest' Which will be open to men and women over 18 with a Plymouth post code.

The question is, to a non-CrossFit educated participant base, what events do I add??

I'm thinking along the lines of a 1000m row, 50 Burpees, 50 Press Ups and 50 box jumps for time! Perhaps avoiding powerlifting movements because of the risk of poor technique.

I realise that the above does not include much of a strength element - any ideas on what I could safely add? Maybe half body weight push presses? I need something that will be easy to adjudicate.

Anyone done anything similar? Would appreciate some feedback if you have any thoughts.

Many Thanks

[sam]

pullups and muscleups!

[Franz29]

Muscle-ups would be too intimidating for a non CF'er (Hell, they intimidate me!).

You know what you could do it look at the 10 factors of fitness from the October 2002 CFJ (free on the site if you aren't a subscriber) and create events that incorporate those to give an overall sense of the fittest all-round athlete. I added some suggestions below (trying to keep equipment to a minimum to eliminate result errors due to user unfamiliarity);

1. Cardio/Respiratory endurance - Rowing 500m/stationary cycle 1000m/run 400m, rest 30 seconds repeat
2. Stamina - max Push-ups in 1 (or 2) minutes
3. Strength - Max dead hang pull-ups (no time limit)
4. Flexibility - Sit and reach test
5. Power - Vertical or Horizontal leap
6. Speed - Shuttle run, 10, 20, 30 m
7. Coordination - Cone route or agility ladder with 2 steps in, two steps out cadence
8. Agility - Cone route with multiple change of direction
9. Balance - beam run or have them stand on one leg with their eyes closed (V. difficult if your balance is out)
10. Accuracy - rings on sticks or beanbags in a basket from 2-3 metres

I guess you would assign points to each station then add up the total for the winner. Alternatively you can assign values out of 100 and grade on percentile like the military does; that way you can handicap for age/gender etc.

You could run this as a simple obstacle course/circuit that has all of these elements in them or keep them as individual events that test each. I would go the course route because it's an easy concept to use and people tend to find these more fun than multiple events. It also takes less time and enables more people to take part. The other advantage of the circuit is that the course can be run under timed conditions, giving you yet one more measure of cardio-respiratory fitness (and also increases the validity of the accuracy test because it is more difficult when fatigued).

Hmm, I think I may do something like this for my football team to see how bad they are after the summer break