Josh Bridges must be a glutton for punishment. That’s the only thing that could explain his grueling workouts. (Remember that one time he did Murph on the Great Wall of China?) Never one to go easy on himself, he recently tackled this WOD that will no doubt take you to that dark place.
Be sure to adjust your dumbbell weights accordingly!
15 min AMRAP (as many rounds/reps as possible)
5 devil press @ 55# DBs
10 DB racked squats @ 55# dB
15-cal row
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFzuBlzDwPt/
This is a spicy combination of strength and cardio. Approach with caution. You’ve been warned!
Bridges posted a video on Instagram of his workout of choice at that moment: 42-30-18 calories on the SkiErg combined with wall balls at 30 pounds. It would look like fun if it didn’t already look like something that might make us cry.
Are you going to try his workout? Let us know how it goes!
If you’re the average functional fitness athlete, you try to get through Murph scaled without collapsing. If you’re Josh Bridges, you do it RX’d and on the Great Wall of China, because why not? The Games competitor just couldn’t resist, and we bet it was the adventure of a lifetime. Side note: he probably also gave Dave Castro some new ideas…
Bridges is no stranger to gorgeous views, evidenced by the explorations he shares on Instagram. The athlete certainly doesn’t confine himself to the gym.
Josh Bridges recently posted a WOD to his Instagram page and hashtagged it with “do the things you don’t want to do,” which about sums it up. We’re warning you: there are burpees and rope climbs.
In a weighted vest.
Approach at your own risk! (Need a new vest? We like this one.)
The most obvious option to first scale this WOD is to remove the weighted vest and do it only with your own body weight.
If you don’t have push-ups quite yet, try doing them either from your knees or on an incline — for instance, by placing your hands on a box.
If rope climbs are out of the question, instead, practicing pulling yourself from a seated to a standing position using the rope, so you still get to work on building that upper body strength.
This was hard. Hard because in its relatively short lifespan, the CrossFit Games has had its fair share of memorable moments over the years. Moments of triumphant victory and earth-shattering defeat. Moments displaying the sheer will of the human spirit and some giving us a glimpse of the future. But that’s why we love sports, right? The unscripted drama, the unpredictability, the pressure in the biggest moments are just some of the reasons we keep coming back for more.
It was harder than expected to narrow this list down to just five moments (which is exactly why I cheated and threw in two honorable mentions). The nature of the sport is a highlight reel of the human condition and that determination is on display every time the athletes take the floor. So, after much deliberation, here are my top five moments in CrossFit Games history in no particular order.
Honorable Mentions
Julie Tears Her Achilles
Heading into the 2015 CrossFit Games season, Julie Foucher wasn’t just the favorite to walk away with the title in the newly formed Central Super Regional, but to contend for the title at the Games as well. After taking 3rd at the Games the year prior, and with a professional career as a doctor looming on the horizon, Julie decided this would be her final year as a serious CF competitor.
Unfortunately for Julie, during event three at Regionals, a workout that included 100 box jump-overs, she ruptured her Achilles, effectively ending her professional CF career. Rather than withdrawing from the competition, she decided to press on, do what she could and cement her legacy as one of the most badass women in the sport.
Nothing solidified this more than watching her finish the next event, a 250-foot handstand walk, unbroken, while her casted foot waved in the air to the deafening cheers of everyone in the stadium. Because this moment happened at Regionals and not the Games, I knew I couldn’t “officially” include it, but there’s no way you can talk about top CF moments in history and leave Julie off this list.
Josh Bridges and the Killer Kage
2011 was Josh Bridges’ formal introduction to this world. Known before only from posting insane times on the main CF site’s comment section, Bridges exploded onto the scene and took 2nd overall at the Games to some guy named Rich. The ending of the Killer Kage event was the moment the Josh Bridges we all know and love was born. It’s something we’re all too used to at this point: lifting weight way over what you think his frame could handle, a dramatic finish and that patented Bridges celebration — a celebration which spawned the classic CF commercial.
More than that, it was the moment I knew this fitness program as an actual sport had some legs. I watched this event live with my friend who at the time had no interest or idea what the sport even was. When Bridges made the final turn on the monkey bars and chased down Matt Chan like a real-life Spiderman, my friend stood up and cheered. It was in that moment I knew maybe CF had something here.
The List
1. Annie’s First Muscle-Up
Annie Thorisdottir — yes, that Annie Thorisdottir — got her first muscle-up during the 2009 CrossFit Games. Think about that for a minute: a woman, competing at the highest level in our sport, unable to do a muscle-up. By today’s standards, that’s unheard of. Yet, heading into the final event of the 2009 CF Games, Annie Thorisdottir (who was currently sitting in 2nd place at the time!) had never done one.
The final chipper had, you guessed it, muscle-ups right smack in the middle. Failed attempt after failed attempt ensued. Annie, refusing to give up, tried and tried again until finally — and after a bit of coaching from her judge — got over the hurdle and did her first muscle-up on the biggest stage. Two short years later she would be standing atop the podium for the first time.
2. Rich Plus Ropes
Monday 180212
5-4-3-2-1 reps for time of
15-ft. rope climbs
Clean and jerks
If there were a list of infamous fitness videos, Rich Froning falling off the rope during the 2010 CrossFit Games final would be right at the top. Rich was leading the field going into the final event before hitting a roadblock in the form of a 20-foot rope. His inability to climb the rope cost him the title of Fittest on Earth that year.
Flash-forward to a year later, the first night event at the Games gets announced, and to the commentators’ delight, the workout calls for 15 rope climbs coupled with varying weights of clean and jerk. The narrative was written; the questions and doubt began to rise. Everyone always remembers the video of Rich falling off the rope, but nobody remembers the night event a year later. Froning not only learned how to climb the rope, he learned how to do it better than everyone else. He dismantled the field in that workout and continued to do so for rest of that competition — a trend that basically continued for the next four years.
3. Spealler Does Whatever It Takes
Chris Spealler is a legend when it comes to the sport. Don’t let his 5’5”, 140-pound frame fool you. When Spealler stepped out on the floor, he was as fierce a competitor as they come, routinely lifting weights and doing things on the floor that left the crowd scratching their head in awe of what they were witnessing.
No better moment so clearly defined this than watching Spealler push a sled stacked to the brim with plates during the 2011 CrossFit Games. Everything was in play. His arm, legs, even the side of his head were all used to get the sled moving. How’s that saying go? “An immovable object meets an unstoppable force?” Spealler vs. the sled provides the answer.
4. Jen Smith Finishes
Jen Smith entered the 2016 CrossFit Games following heartbreak the previous two years at the Regional level. In 2014, she missed qualification by two spots. In 2015, she missed it by only one! After qualifying, 2016 was set to be her triumphant return.
Then, in a devilish twist of fate, she tore her plantar fascia halfway through the first event. After consulting with the medical staff and considering all the endless work and sacrifice it took to finally get there, Jen Smith, and her unyielding will, decided to continue the competition. There was no better moment at the 2016 CrossFit Games than watching her take on Murph. After hobbling off the start line (and for the rest of the opening mile), she completed all 100 chest-to-bar pull-ups, 200 push-ups, and 300 squats (all with a 14-pound vest) before heading out on her second mile.
When she returned to the stadium, she was greeted by a roar from the crowd unlike anything before. The final buzzer went before she could officially cross the finish line, but that didn’t stop her. She marched across the field, arms raised in the air and finished the workout to an even louder cheer. She had come too far to stop now.
5. Toomey by Two
This was a finale years in the making. In the two years prior to this one, Katrin Davidsdottir wore the crown as fittest on earth, with Tia-Clair Toomey standing right beside her playing second fiddle. Both years the margin was razor thin, the final workout wrapped with both women sitting on the mat waiting to see how the points would shake out.
But this year was different. A fitter, more confident Tia showed up in Madison not to have the title given to her but to take it for herself. After jockeying back and forth all weekend atop the leaderboard, Tia found herself in first place with one event remaining. She was in the driver seat.
What unfolded in the final event was, in my mind, the single most exciting race in Games history. The workout finished with a 90-foot overhead lunge with 35-pound kettlebells. Everyone could see what was happening. Tia marched down the floor, weights overhead, Kara Saunders, the woman right behind her in the standings, trying to chase her down. Tia gets a no-rep and drops the weight on her final step. A dive across the finish line and we were back exactly where we were a year ago. Both women sat on the floor, waiting for the bean counters to tally the score. But like I said earlier, this year was different. This was Tia’s year and she prevailed by the thinnest of margins — a mere two points – to finally claim the prize she had been waiting three years to hold.
In typical fashion and like every year prior, CrossFit Games veteran Josh Bridges made the Open workouts look easy. His next move, however, might be raising a few eyebrows. In a recent Instagram post, the athlete shared a screenshot of his invite to compete in the Age Group Online Qualifier — and he promptly turned it down.
This is so something Bridges would do, and one of the reasons we love him. The masters group will have to wait another year, at least. For now, Bridges is staying put.
If you’re the average athlete, you load up a sled with maybe 100 pounds and push it around for a bit. If you’re Josh Bridges, you load up a sled with 1,000 pounds (about 454 kilos) and take it for a spin. We shouldn’t be surprised. After all, we’re talking about the same guy who once did Murph on the Great Wall of China. But… 1,000 pounds, people.
Is anyone else still trying to recover from 18.5? We are. And after watching this video of Mat Fraser and Josh Bridges doing it, we’ll need another week or so. The couplet made of thrusters and chest-to-bar pull-ups for increasing reps left our hands destroyed and our legs like jelly. Naturally, though, Fraser and Bridges somehow managed to make it look easy. When most of us were flat on the ground trying not to vomit, these guys were still knocking out their reps unbroken.
When all was said and done, Fraser fell to the floor and Bridges took a knee, finishing with 198 reps and 191 reps respectively. Fraser took first for this event and, as you likely know, won the whole Open.
Josh Bridges isn’t messing around. He always finds a way to get his fitness on. (Great Wall of China? Check.) And if you think being at a hotel is going to stop him from working on his gains, you’re mistaken. Recently, Bridges was ready to put some work in; so he grabbed a pair of dumbbells and… a towel.
So much goes into being a great CrossFitter. You need dedicated and regular training, adequate rest, solid nutrition, expert coaching and serious drive. But according to Josh Bridges, there’s one thing that matters above all else: enjoying what you do.
It may sound like a no-brainer, but finding the fun and pleasure in CrossFit is nonnegotiable if you want to do it long-term. For a lot of us, when we pick up a new activity, we lose interest as the novelty starts to wear off or when we find out how hard it really is — something Bridges speaks of regarding athletes who go to the Games once and never return.
If you want to have a long and fulfilling CrossFit experience, learning to enjoy it is an absolute must. Hear more from Bridges about it.
Most of us who are participating in the CrossFit Team Series did our best in the first week to space out the events across the full five days and give ourselves at least a little time to recover; but not partners Dan Bailey and Josh Bridges. The CrossFit Games veterans made their way to CrossFit HQ to do all of the Team Series workouts in one day. And don’t think they took their time, either: they did all four events in four hours — one every hour (and we’re guessing they slept very well that night).
This would destroy most of us, but these aren’t your average athletes. In fact, when the last event came around, Bailey and Bridges didn’t look even slightly tired.
After Week 1, Bailey and Bridges are in 86th place worldwide — pretty impressive considering the circumstances; and who knows what Week 2 will bring? Stay tuned for more.
With the first week of the CrossFit Team Series almost coming to an end (get those scores in by 5:00 p.m. PT on Monday, September 25th!), participating athletes have been sharing their experiences completing the events with their partners — once again proving anyone and everyone can participate in the sport that’s changed fitness. Even Dave Castro got in on the action with some scaled workouts, with the help of his partner, Abby.
Then there’s this mother-daughter team and their pre-event high-fives.
Not everyone is concerned with the competition aspect of the Team Series. For many of us, it’s a way to have fun, get moving and spend time with someone special and in a community we love so much. That’s the true CrossFit spirit. Most of us will never go to the Games, and that’s okay; but being included always feels good.
CrossFit has been keeping an especially close eye on partners Josh Bridges and Dan Bailey, who completed all four events today — which is about the equivalent of what the rest of us do in an entire week. But what else could we expect from these two CrossFit champs?
With the deadline to get scores in still a couple days away, remember that you can still sign up, if you’re reconsidering competing last-minute. Grab a friend and a judge and tackle those four events. Even if your score doesn’t matter, competing brings a whole new energy to your training, and it’s something everyone should experience at least once in their life!
