The Sport of Fitness Podcast

Chase Ingraham and Adrian Conway look back on the biggest stories from Week 3 of Semifinals.

The fittest in Asia competed at the Far East Throwdown and a third set of North American athletes competed at the Granite Games for tickets to the CrossFit Games.

Ingraham and Conway break down the leaderboards, highlighting the athletes who will be heading to Madison and those who will get a second chance in the online Last-Chance Qualifier.

The pair also discuss whether the order of Semifinals events affects an athlete’s performance over a weekend and if the heights of pull-up bars and rings should be adjusted relative to an athlete’s height.

Conway weighs in on the lure of competing on an affiliate team and offers his insight about the mental fatigue of competition.

The duo closes out the podcast with a wrap-up of the 50-65+ division Semifinal leaderboard and programming, touching on the challenges of programming as athletes age up in competition.

“From a sport perspective, this is where you put every judge’s eyes and be like, ‘You have to have that kind of certainty and conviction with your calls that, in the last step, in the last workout, you’re willing — no matter the circumstance — to ‘no rep’ it when it’s a ‘no rep.’’” — Adrian Conway

Chase Ingraham is joined by former Games athlete and coach Adrian Conway to break down all the action from the Fittest in Cape Town (FiCT), the Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge (MACC), and the virtual Age-Group Semifinal (14-49 divisions) in Week 2.

Ingraham and Conway highlight top stories from the competitions, including Brooke Wells’ triumphant return to competition after sustaining an elbow injury and Spencer Panchik’s first Games ticket. They also highlight winners from the FiCT and analyze the tight points spread between the competitors.

After reviewing Age-Group Semifinal leaderboards, they discuss the evolution of age-group workouts in competition and the change in complexity and difficulty as athletes become stronger and faster.

The pair also address judging, movement standards, and what workouts they’d like to see in the Last-Chance Qualifier. Then, they close out the show by answering questions from fans and sharing their favorite takeaways from the weekend.

“It’s never our preference to tell an individual or a team, ‘You are not able to compete.’ That is not something that we are interested in doing unless it is deemed necessary due to a violation of the rules or the inability to prove that they have met the eligibility requirements. … It is our responsibility to do that to preserve the fairness across the competitive field.” — Adrian Bozman

CrossFit Competition Director Adrian Bozman and Athlete Relationship Manager Kurtis Bowler join Chase Ingraham on the podcast to address team eligibility requirements for the 2022 CrossFit Games season.

Bozman and Bowler explain the elaborate process of investigating team eligibility accusations, from when an anonymous claim is made to the final decision after a thorough investigation.

The trio reviews the requirements athletes need to meet, as outlined in the rulebook, to be eligible to compete on an affiliate team. They also list various forms of acceptable evidence to prove eligibility during an investigation.

Bozman and Bowler clarify the decision to disqualify CrossFit Nordic member Viktor Langsved from competition and explain how athletes and teams can best avoid a potential future disqualification from the Games season.

Chapters
0:00-1:40 - Intro
1:40-3:35 - What prompts an investigation?
3:35-4:19 - How athletes are contacted.
4:19-9:14 - Review of Section 1.14 of the Rulebook – Affiliate Cup Team Eligibility Requirements
9:14-16:45 - The investigation process & the “big picture”
16:45-26:46 - CrossFit Nordic’s case & how to meet the criteria
26:46-27:49 - Clarification of the Rulebook
27:49-30:31 - What documentation should teams be prepared to show?
30:31-31:35 - Final thoughts from Adrian Bozman
31:35-32:09 - Outro

“We investigate allegations when we receive them. … We have a responsibility to make sure the competition is fair across the board to the field. So, we take those allegations seriously. … We do investigate them to the best of our abilities.” — Adrian Bozman

“We also consider the team circumstance. Sometimes teams have other requirements or commitments via sponsorship, they have to travel away from the team, sometimes team members get sick. There are things that go on within the lifespan of every member of that team that we do try to take into consideration as well so it’s not just a static number, and again, all this is done in an effort to give the benefit of the doubt to the team and that establishes a very low threshold in many cases for teams to meet.” — Adrian Bozman

Adrian Conway is back on the podcast with Chase Ingraham for a full, in-depth breakdown of all the action in Week 1 of CrossFit Semifinals.

Conway and Ingraham recap their favorite moments and the best performances from the Syndicate Crown, CrossFit Lowlands Throwdown, and the Torian Pro — the first three Semifinals to qualify athletes for the 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games.

The pair weigh in on Scott Panchik’s injury, Tia-Clair Toomey’s dominating performance and career, and the upcoming battle between CrossFit Reykjavik and CrossFit Mayhem for the Affiliate Cup.

Learn more about the best comebacks and close races of the weekend, and get the duo’s perspective about the programming across the Semifinal competitions.

“There are lots of great voices out there in the community that have great things to say, and it’s making sure we get some of the most constructive and most challenging voices at the table so that we’re making good decisions that’ll stick.” — Justin Bergh on the new Divisional Athlete Committee (minute 20:56).

CrossFit Competition Director Adrian Bozman and General Manager of Sport Justin Bergh join Chase Ingraham on the podcast to recap Week 1 of Semifinals.

Three live Semifinal competitions kicked off this past weekend — the Torian Pro, Syndicate Crown, and the CrossFit Lowlands Throwdown.

Bozman and Bergh share their favorite moments from the competitions, address Scott Panchik’s injury, and clarify the top five team announcement mix-up at the CrossFit Lowlands Throwdown.

The duo also explain the role of the Competition Liaison at Semifinals and unveil the Divisional Athlete Committees (DAC) — a new council of athletes from all divisions dedicated to providing feedback to continue improving the athlete experience.

“No different than the affiliate model where all you have to do is get them to walk through the doors and experience one class, the same. Get them to come in, experience Fittest in Cape Town … experience the MACC. … I think the Semifinals should really be an on-site platform no different than the affiliate model, and that can really drive more people into (Semifinal) events, and I think that’s where the ecosystem really starts to flourish.” —Wilson Pak, competition director of the Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge and Syndicate Crown Semifinal competitions (Minute 28:47)

Fittest in Cape Town (FiCT) Competition Director Tiaan Visser and Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge (MACC) Competition Director Wilson Pak join host Chase Ingraham on the podcast for Week 2 of Semifinal Roundtables.

Visser and Pak open up about planning a Semifinal event, including unexpected challenges, unforgettable memories, and working closely with volunteers who help put on the show.
The pair also detail the origins of their respective competitions and share lessons learned and wisdom gained from their experiences hosting a large event.

Watch top athletes throw down at the FiCT and MACC Semifinals starting May 27. Head to games.crossfit.com to buy tickets.

Presented by @airrosti.

Join host Chase Ingraham and Games athlete Adrian Conway for a deep dive into the programming design for the 2022 CrossFit Semifinals.

“I think having different programming at each event can add a lot of color to the season. … I think by allowing the events to have some events that they program that are specific to their region or location or the community can … make it interesting to watch and be a part of. And in saying that, I think it’s really cool to have some standardized events. (They) will allow analysts … and the athletes and coaches themselves to be able to kinda get a sense of where everybody’s at and compare apples to apples.” — Mike Towner, co-competition director of the Torian Pro

Semifinal competition directors Mike Towner and Johno Snape of the Torian Pro, Robbin Stalma of the CrossFit Lowlands Throwdown, and Wilson Pak of the Syndicate Crown join Chase Ingraham on the podcast to discuss the CrossFit Semifinals stage.

The group talks about the excitement of live competition, having top athletes take the floor surrounded by the CrossFit community, and what spectators can look forward to at each Semifinal.

They also open up about challenges with planning and programming for their competitions, and offer their opinions on the two events programmed by CrossFit this year.

Tune in to learn more about what it takes to put on a CrossFit Semifinal.

Purchase your tickets for the CrossFit Lowlands Throwdown, the Syndicate Crown, and/or the Torian Pro here: https://games.crossfit.com/semifinals/overview."

"It is a feat to run a big event. Anybody who's even been involved in that understands the complexity of it and understands that there are way more things happening behind the scenes than most people give credit for. ... Hats off to those organizers for signing up for that." — Adrian Bozman, CrossFit Competition Director

CrossFit Semifinals are just around the corner, and with limited Games spots available, athletes will have to leave it all on the competition floor to secure theirs.

CrossFit Competition Director Adrian Bozman is back on the podcast with Chase Ingraham to preview the Semifinals stage.

Bozman explains the selection process for becoming a CrossFit Semifinals event and how athletes were seeded for their respective competitions through the Quarterfinal.

And this year, for the first time, CrossFit is programming two individual workouts and two team workouts that will be standardized across all Semifinal competitions. Bozman dives into an in-depth discussion of the four workouts and describes CrossFit’s involvement in working with the Semifinal competition directors.

The 10 individual and team Semifinals will take place live across four weekends in May and June! To purchase tickets, head to games.crossfit.com/semifinals/overview and tune in to the live stream on the Games YouTube channel and website.

CrossFit Competition Director Adrian Bozman joins host Chase Ingraham on the podcast to recap Quarterfinals and preview the upcoming Semifinals stage.
The duo shares highlights from the Open and Quarterfinals. They also dive into lessons learned from the two stages and improvements for the years ahead.
Bozman addresses the difference between score penalties and invalidations, upholding standards across competition stages, and the importance of being candid and communicative with the community.