Something seems different. re: The Games

[Júlíus Magnússon]

Originally Posted by Andrew Bell

I disagree because often on the .com 1RM comes up.

Improving one's fitness is not always the same as testing one's fitness.

[Tim Barker]

Originally Posted by Steven Low

In fact, if you consider that DJ did not finish his last set of pullups and some KB swings, and all of hte pulling muscles are used as stabilizers on overhead... you can say he had a significant advantage with less overall work, and fresher stabilizers going into max overhead

Rob on the other hand finished 12th (of 45) in the helen workout coming in extremely fatigued for the max overhead having gone all out on the first part. We didnt see all his lifts... maybe he missed at 300. Again, fatigue factor...

I think you're underestimating the amount of fatigue and the certain circumstances that the athletes are under.

I don't know about anyone else, but I thought this was bull****. The first one to finish should have been allowed to rest until either the last man finished or time ran out, then do his max overhead.

There should be an advantage to putting forth the most effort in a series of events.

[Aushion Chatman]

Originally Posted by Tim Barker

I don't know about anyone else, but I thought this was bull****. The first one to finish should have been allowed to rest until either the last man finished or time ran out, then do his max overhead.

There should be an advantage to putting forth the most effort in a series of events.

Tim,

You'd think that and initially I'd agree with you, but if that had been the case there would be EVEN MORE bigger guys complaining about how this year's games favored little guys too much.

Much how little guys looked at the '08 podium and complained that things were too heavy...funny how that works...

[Charles Applin]

In hindsight, the rules for these "back to back" wods should allow more rest time for those that finished faster on the initial WOD. For example, the long helen had a time limit, so when you finish you rest till the time limit is done then do the 90 second max attempt. In other words all persons in that heat would have started their max attempts at the same time.

So, guys and gals that hit Helen hard and finished a good place can still get 5 minute recovery or so, making them competative against guys and gals that DNF on purpose to stay fresh.

This better replicates what CFHQ wanted to happen with the 09 long run/deadlift back to back WOD. The DL was supposed to start exactly 70 minutes after the start of the run. Had that actually happened, then the results would look similar to what happened in the Long Helen/Overhead back to back wods.

Again, it's hindsight, but something to keep in mind for future game events.

[Aushion Chatman]

Originally Posted by Charles Applin

In hindsight, the rules for these "back to back" wods should allow more rest time for those that finished faster on the initial WOD. For example, the long helen had a time limit, so when you finish you rest till the time limit is done then do the 90 second max attempt. In other words all persons in that heat would have started their max attempts at the same time.

So, guys and gals that hit Helen hard and finished a good place can still get 5 minute recovery or so, making them competative against guys and gals that DNF on purpose to stay fresh.

This better replicates what CFHQ wanted to happen with the 09 long run/deadlift back to back WOD. The DL was supposed to start exactly 70 minutes after the start of the run. Had that actually happened, then the results would look similar to what happened in the Long Helen/Overhead back to back wods.

Again, it's hindsight, but something to keep in mind for future game events.

Although it's entirely possible that they WANTED EACH competitor to have no rest between their Hell-en and the lift...

There was still an advantage to placing higher (lower) on the Hell-en...

[Richard Vanmeerbeek]

Originally Posted by Gaines DuVall

Good point.

Is there drug testing this year?

There wasn't any testing at Home Depot.

[Lewis Dunn]

Originally Posted by Tim Barker

There should be an advantage to putting forth the most effort in a series of events.

Originally Posted by Charles Applin

So, guys and gals that hit Helen hard and finished a good place can still get 5 minute recovery or so, making them competative against guys and gals that DNF on purpose to stay fresh.

But weren't Helen and Max Overhead scored and placed separately? So there certainly was an advantage to putting forth maximum effort on Helen (a better score), and anyone dogging it on Helen in order to be fresher for the max lift was digging a big hole for themselves in terms of their Helen placement and score. I would agree that there could be some strategy involved in balancing the two efforts (Helen and the lift) since you know them both at the start, but that strategy may have been seen by HQ as part of the challenge of that pair of WODs (as opposed to the last day, for example, when the athletes knew there would be more work but didn't know what it would be). So yeah, if someone felt that finishing down 3 places in Helen could let them finish up 6 places in the lift, then not going all-out in Helen would be an advantage. But it would take quite a bit of self-knowledge, as well as some idea of what your competitors are capable of, to know how to balance those efforts. In any case, the more you compromise your Helen score in hopes of a better lift score, the bigger the gamble you are taking.

It did occur to me that, had there been only one massive heat, or if you were in the last heat and knew earlier Helen scores, you could go all out in Helen but then stop before crossing the finish line and grab as much rest as possible before actually moving on to the lift. Since there is zero advantage under the scoring system to beating the next athlete by 60 seconds versus 5 seconds, you should beat him by as little as possible if it means you can gain some rest. I’m not sure if any of the Games events actually offered that option. It would require that Heat 3 athletes knew the results of earlier heats and were able to track their own clock time.

[Justin McCallon]

Originally Posted by Lewis Dunn

It did occur to me that, had there been only one massive heat, or if you were in the last heat and knew earlier Helen scores, you could go all out in Helen but then stop before crossing the finish line and grab as much rest as possible before actually moving on to the lift. Since there is zero advantage under the scoring system to beating the next athlete by 60 seconds versus 5 seconds, you should beat him by as little as possible if it means you can gain some rest. I’m not sure if any of the Games events actually offered that option. It would require that Heat 3 athletes knew the results of earlier heats and were able to track their own clock time.

There were a couple instances where this could have come into play, but it never did. It was definitely worth doing for a couple lifters.

The events being back-to-back were fine. It allowed for strategy, and every lifter was lifting in a fatigued state.