What did people think of the Invitational?

[Victor J McQuaide]

I watched the Invitational. I thought that the crowd was outstanding, the production was also great as usual.

Throwing in the stones was a separator for sure. Too bad Dan B did not sort it out like Rich.. but then Rich is Rich.. Wish that Ben did not get hurt so someone else gets the spotlight.. Rich is something else isn't he. So clutch and beast.

I have not worked with the worm.. but that one is getting old to me.

Deadlift hold.. that is just boring and a mental thing. I am sure that they could find something else for the athletes to do like walk on their hands a certain distance while the others row. Yawn more boring things. Make a track and do a relay or something like that. I would like to see the numbers on the 1/2 marathon row.. more yawn..

The muscle up thing was cool.. but did not really test these types of athletes.

Tire flip not heavy enough to do anything to the teams.. I think that I saw Dave Castro flip the thing himself? Dude is strong. Saw him do a 25 second deadlift also.. so he has the conditioning.. was some funny stuff.

Why not ask the fans what we want. Heavy DT or double DT that was a good idea.

What about a bull in the ring. All teams go inside a circle and try to throw all of the other teams from the circle?

Overall was a good show but on the side of I have seen this before.

[Shawn M Wilson]

They don't want to get to crazy or risk injury to these folks.

Outside of the games I would expect most of this to be plain Jane vanilla stuff.

They save the wow stuff for the games I guess.

Perhaps they should have had a relay where you sprinted and carried your partner on your shoulder. Could be an 8x400. 400 meters, teams of 2 per lap. Someone on your shoulder the whole time. Must be guy / guy & girl / girl for 2 laps and however you want the last 2

[Cory House]

I was entertained but I can watch this kind of stuff all day. Does anyone know what happened to Europe during the snatches, they had to redo some for some reason?

[Christopher Morris]

I am totally digging the color-coded lanes that match team t-shirt colors. It makes the event very easy to watch. The colors and the scoring system have a flavor of "We can do this style of competition better than the Grid."

Originally Posted by Cory House

Does anyone know what happened to Europe during the snatches, they had to redo some for some reason?

The workout called for two reps by each athlete at each station. The stations were (M/W):
185/120
205/130
205/130
225/140
225/140

They added plates to the same bar that they rolled forward. One bar was used for all snatch stations. Then a different bar was used for all clean stations. Where the weight stayed the same for two consecutive stations, there were different lines on the floor. For the 225 snatches, each athlete did two snatches at a dotted line, then rolled the bar forward without adding weight, and did two snatches at a solid line on the floor.

Team Europe did their first 2-rep set at 225/140 and moved on to the cleans. Dave Castro was on the floor and called them back to do their second 2-rep set at 225/140.

This is a confusing rep scheme. The team that actually messed it up without correction was Team Pacific. The did their 2-rep cleans at 285/185 once. They started to move to the tire flips. Dave Castro told them to do the last set of cleans at 285/185. The women (Tia and Kara) did two more cleans each (looking irritated and confused, but following judges orders). The men (Rob Forte and Kevin Manuel) did not do two more cleans each. Then the team moved on to the tire flips. The men did not complete the workout as prescribed.

[Alex Burden]

It was ok but not that exciting.

Stones they can do without! this is more for the worlds strongest man competitions and not for CF.

I suppose it is hard to put somethig together for a 2 hour show, but they could have chose a few different things to spice it up a little.

But this is a learning game and i am sure next time round they will clean this up a little.

[Christopher Morris]

I thought the atlas stones made for a good event, especially when some athletes could get the final lift and some couldn't. Events should be designed where there is potential for failure, otherwise the race can be a little boring if it's a given that everyone will finish more or less in the same order. Can you really crown a definitive winner when every finish is close? I'd rather see some events where athletes had to struggle. After that event, we can definitely say that Rich has an edge over Dan when it comes to atlas stones.

[Cory House]

Christopher, thanks for the clarification, it seemed like they had a big lead and lost it there, very confusing rep scheme, but it is there job to know what to do when they are out there.

I thought the stones was one of the best parts because we know they can all clean a bunch of weight. In my mind CrossFit is about being prepared for anything.

[Victor J McQuaide]

Yes I did like the colors also. Made it easy to follow. Wish that they did all 4 teams together on the stones.. wonder why two heats?

Overall I really liked the show. Just getting a bit tiresome with the worm and the deadlift holds.

[Christopher Morris]

Originally Posted by Victor J McQuaide

Wish that they did all 4 teams together on the stones.. wonder why two heats?

Half as much weight to ship and set up?

Strategy? That is, you get to see a set of teams go before you, giving an advantage. Or you're a team that goes first, and you know you have to go balls to the wall to overcome any observation advantage.

Easier for spectators and cameras to follow?

Just a few ideas...

Originally Posted by Cory House

Christopher, thanks for the clarification

Just "Chris" is good. Thanks.

[Christopher Morris]

Originally Posted by Victor J McQuaide

Wish that they did all 4 teams together on the stones.. wonder why two heats?

One more idea - built in rest time. Doing five events in two hours is pretty brutal.