CrossFit has never been one to simply be satisfied with the way things are. As a fitness program that purposely changes their workouts daily to prepare athletes and followers of the program for the “unknown and unknowable,” they’re known for their innovation and as a result have seen tremendous growth as a company.
Want to be part of CrossFit? You can visit their website for a daily Workout of the Day (or WOD) that you can perform at home, you can visit your local “box” for a workout with a CrossFit certified coach, you can even sign up to compete in the CrossFit Open to test your abilities against athletes across the world in the annual worldwide competition that is the first step towards qualifying for the televised CrossFit Games.
While CrossFit as a fitness program, or as some would argue a sport, has evolved over the years, it has brought interest and a spotlight onto many of its components, notably gymnastics and weightlifting movements.
Now a days, even your newbie CrossFitter can identify what a snatch and a clean and jerk look like, and all of us can perform them with some degree of competency.
CrossFit wants to take that a step further, and adopt the same model they use for the worldwide CrossFit Open into the annual CrossFit Liftoff competition.
It kicks off this week on Nov. 6th, and there’s still time to sign up. It’s just $10 to register, and compete for several categories, including heaviest snatch, heaviest clean and jerk, largest weightlifting total and largest overall total. Prizes include up to $3,000 in cash in each category and some pretty sweet gear from Rogue Fitness.
Just like in the CrossFit Open, the workouts are announced on Thursday evenings at 5 p.m. PT and athletes have until Monday at 5 p.m. PT to submit their scores for the three events. Athletes can either head to a local box to be judged and submit their scores there, or they can video themselves completing their lifts and upload the video to Youtube for judging.
Unlike any other competition CrossFit HQ has hosted to date, the CrossFit Liftoff Powered by Rogue has one notable difference — athletes will be divided into weight classes. Similar to what you would see in a USA Weightlifting sanctioned event, men and women will be divided as follows:
Men – 135/150/165/180/195/210/225/226+
Women – 110/120/130/140/150/160/170/171+
Women – 110/120/130/140/150/160/170/171+
The weights listed are in pounds and are the upper limits for each weight class. So as an example, if you are a 135 pound female, you would be lifting in the 140 pound class. And while these weight classes will not be taken into effect for the overall winners of the cash and prizes we talk about above, there will be individual weight class winners, and they will receive a custom weight belt courtesy of the event sponsor, Rogue.
All athletes ages 14 years and older can compete, and the contest includes a Teen division for athletes 14-17, the Open division, and the Masters Division for athletes 40+.
Whether you’re looking for a new PR, or just want to see how you stack up with other athletes around this world, this is a fun way to try out your weightlifting moves with CrossFit!
