You know when the fittest woman on earth refers to a workout as a “fun little complex,” it’ll probably have you on the floor panting regardless. That’s probably the case here. Tia-Clair Toomey recently tackled this workout:
Every 2 mins, for 4 rounds:
7 Thrusters
6 Push Press
5 Hang Squat Cleans
You can choose your own weight, but she did 55% of her lightest movement.
She encourages you to try to go unbroken, as she did. She completed the round shown in the video in about 42 seconds, which leaves roughly 1:18 of rest — and this is Tia-Clair Toomey. A god. A hero. A fitness champion. For the rest of us? Expect less rest.
With thrusters and push presses, remember to rest at the top of the movement, if possible. When you rest with the bar on your shoulders — or worse, on the ground — you create more work for yourself. Don’t forget your weightlifting tape. It might be a quick workout, but your grip will still feel it.
We all want abs of steel, and Tia-Clair Toomey has ’em. Her body is the result of fierce dedication to her sport and hours spent in the gym. She gave us a glimpse of a core workout that’s quick but spicy.
Every 90 seconds for four rounds:
10 V-ups/tuck crunches
10-sec hollow hold
10 hollow rocks
10-sec hollow hold
Six minutes later, your core will be on fire. Give it a shot!
(BTW, the right music makes all the difference in the world. Check out TWL’s Spotify playlists for the ultimate WOD tunes to sweat to.)
Tia-Clair Toomey has — after back-to-back first-place finishes at the Games and a long list of accomplishments in the sport of Olympic weightlifting — rightly earned the title of legend. We know her mindset is a big part of it. So, too, are the hours upon hours she spends in the gym. She stays true to the sport and keeps her programming constantly varied, but it was this power clean EMOM that caught our eye. We bet it got really spicy, really fast. Will you try this at the gym?
EMOM for 10 minutes:
5 power cleans starting at 65% of your max power clean
This is it. This is what we’ve all been waiting for. The Open is going out with a bang, bringing the sport’s very best – Tia-Clair Toomey and Mat Fraser – together for 19.5. So. Much. Fitness.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvFGAlNBT38/
Yes, we know, men and women compete separately at the Games, but let’s be honest: we’re dying to see who wins this little battle.
There’s nothing like a little friendly competition, especially when it’s between spouses. Shane Orr seemed to think he had faster double-unders than Tia-Clair Toomey, so they put each other to the test to find the champion.
These two have always been major #relationshipgoals, and Orr has had Toomey’s back as she’s climbed the ladder of fitness success. Keep it up, you two!
As we previously reported, after all the rumors, Tia-Clair Toomey confirmed she and husband Shane Orr were packing up and heading for Cookeville, Tennessee. Aside from this one interview, the duo has stayed relatively quiet on the whole situation. However, it looks like the move may be complete, based on a recent post on Toomey’s Instagram page.
If anyone knows about creating a mindset for success, it’s Tia-Clair Toomey. The two-time fittest woman on earth climbed the ladder to the top of the Games podium two years back to back, and nothing can stop her. Her hours in the gym are of course partly responsible for her achievements, but so is her mentality. Her mental fitness is as strong as her physical fitness.
She recently took to Instagram to talk about how she stays positive. In the post, she writes: “A personal mantra of mine is to focus on progress and not perfection. That’s what will make me better than yesterday. – For instance I focus on my performance/improvements and applaud that rather than focus on what others have done and compare that to my performance.”
Functional fitness is designed to push boundaries, break all the rules, and test you physically and mentally. It encourages you to do things you’ve never done, and dare to dream big. Perhaps one of the best parts of all? It’s put female athletes in the spotlight possibly more than any other sport, and they haven’t hesitated to prove they can do anything they set their minds to. These women play a significant role in fitness, as they break down all barriers and stereotypes society has created for women throughout the years. Their discipline and dedication to their sport are beyond moving, and we find them as sources of inspiration on the daily. Here are just a few of our favorites.
Amanda Allen
Amanda Allen had just nine months of training when she first entered the arena to compete at the Games. She’s a two-time champion in the 40-44 age division as well as a motivational speaker and coach. Last year, she underwent surgery to remove fibroids, but nothing could destroy her positive attitude. Allen showed all of us you can do anything you set your mind to, and her upbeat attitude is contagious!
Named 2017’s second fittest woman on earth and a six-time Crossfit Games competitor, Saunders is not only a professional athlete but also the owner of Crossfit Kova. She won the Spirit of the Games award and came first in Regionals — four times! One of the reasons we love Kara so much is because she sets a positive example for women about what it means to love your body.
Boon is a three-time Games competitor and former elite gymnast. After rupturing her Achilles tendon during a set of box jumps during the 2016 Games, she recovered and came back more determined than ever. More recently, she finished fifth in the 58kg weight class for Olympic weightlifting at the Commonwealth Games. It’s impossible not to look up to her.
16-year-old Marya Drabicki is a Games athlete and also a USAW national champion. Drabicki has been open and honest with her followers about her journey getting healthy through training and smart eating, and her work ethic has clearly paid off. Way to be!
Toomey was born in Queensland and started her fitness journey in track and field. After only two years in the sport, she came in second at the 2015 Crossfit Games. In 2016, she got second place again, and also participated in the summer Olympics, representing Australia in Olympic weightlifting. In 2017 and 2018, she stood atop the podium at the Games, and in 2018, she became a Commonwealth Games gold medalist, taking first in her weight class for Olympic weightlifting. Nothing can stop this woman.
Annie owns Crossfit Reykjavik in Iceland, her hometown. Her past includes ballet, gymnastics, and pole vaulting. She’s a two-time Games champion (a rarity!) and was 2017’s third fittest woman on earth. Thorisdottir once suffered a back injury she feared would prevent her from ever training — even walking — again, but she refused to quit. Her determination is unparalleled.
Ence used to be a high-level dancer but eventually decided to pursue functional fitness and as a rookie, qualified for the Games in 2015. Ever since she first came on the scene, she’s been a crowd favorite. In 2017, she suffered a herniated disc and had to pull back significantly from training. These hurdles have not stopped her, though. She’s back in the gym working harder than ever and also spent time on the big screen, acting in Wonder Woman and Justice League.
Cantu is major goals. This adaptive athlete laughs in the face of a challenge and has overcome obstacles with grace and strength. It’s not just her fitness we love — it’s her uplifting attitude. Check out that monster deadlift.
Davidsdottir took the title of Fittest Woman on Earth twice, in 2015 and 2016. Her passion for the sport is palpable, and women all across the globe follow her not only for her fitness and nutrition guidance but because of the feeling of hope and ambition she carries with her wherever she goes.
It’s official: Tia-Clair Toomey and her husband and coach Shane Orr are moving to Cookeville, Tennessee. The pair confirmed the newsin a recent interview.
Rumors of the move have been swirling ever since it became known that Toomey and Orr had put their gym up for sale. It also came up in a CrossFit Games update video. At the time, though, nothing was confirmed.
In the interview, they explained that moving to Cookeville has been on their radar for quite some time, and they enjoy the area. The most recent changes to the 2019 competitive season only fueled their decision even more.
This week, Toomey hinted at the big change in a sweet Instagram post.
Cookeville has become the place to train if you’re one of the sport’s elites. Mat Fraser moved there, and Sara Sigmundsdottir, Dan Bailey, and James Hobart have all trained there.
According to WH, they are “committed to driving awareness of female athletes” and wish to “celebrate their achievements and inspire the next generation of women.” In addition to voting, you might even win tickets to the award show in October.
Voting is open to Australian residents only and closes on 9 September. Vote for Tia now!
Could one of Australia’s greatest athletes be making her way stateside? According to CrossFit, possibly. In a Games update, Sean Woodland, Tommy Marquez, and Rory McKernan revealed Tia-Clair Toomey might very well be following the lead of other top competitors and heading to Cookeville, Tennessee for the 2019 season. You can skip to the 6:40 mark to hear more about it.
The graphic that appears on their screen indicates Toomey is headed for Cookeville, although later on, McKernan discusses it as a possibility. At the time of this blog, nothing has been confirmed and Toomey hasn’t spoken on it — although she did just post an interestingly timed photo on Instagram.
While Australia would be sad to see Tia go, she certainly wouldn’t be the first athlete to make her way to Cookeville. Rich Froning lives there, Mat Fraser moved there, and Sara Sigmundsdottir, Dan Bailey, and James Hobart all trained there.
It’s probably not Cookeville itself that’s drawing athletes there, but rather the athletes themselves. As the hosts explained, what competitive athlete wouldn’t want to train with the best in their sport?
The 2017 Fittest Man and Woman on Earth established early leads during the 2018 CrossFit Games. Mat Fraser held onto first place starting on Day 1, and while Tia-Clair Toomey was in second place after Day 1 behind rookie Laura Horvath, by the end of Day 3 (Day 2 was a rest day), she had moved up the leaderboard. This happened after what was arguably the hardest first day of the CrossFit Games ever. If it’s a sport that boasts bringing together multiple fitness disciplines (and it does), the first day of the CrossFit Games this year proved it.
We all know by now being the fittest is about being good at everything — not an easy task to accomplish. How did Toomey and Fraser get to the top of the podium this year? Let’s look back at the strategy that helped them with the gold.
Day 1
Crit:
Fraser, 4th
Toomey, 5th
The glory of the crit is that Fraser wasn’t taken out. As he came around the final turn, his bike skidded and he almost went to the ground before he managed to correct his bike at the last minute and finished 4th. Toomey took 5th, but the top five women all fell within two seconds of each other.
Fraser completed 29 before getting a no-rep. He took a moment to collect himself, then got back up and cranked out his 30th rep. Toomey held on for the longest on the women’s side with the first 20 muscle-ups, before coming in 2nd (by one second) to Kristi Eramo.
CrossFit Total:
Fraser, 8th
Toomey, 1st
Fraser’s total was 1,215, which was just enough to stay in the top 10, without wrecking his body for the following day. (Yes, maxing out means major muscle soreness the next day, which is why strategizing was key for Fraser during this event.) Toomey’s performance was nothing short of amazing, with a total of 875 — this in contrast to the 411-pound average total in 2011.
Marathon row:
Fraser, 10th
Toomey, 14th
Both athletes placed the worst they did all weekend during the row. Was pacing on the marathon row the key to success this year? Considering that on the women’s side, 1st and 2nd place finishers Margaux Alvarez and Whitney Gelin finished the weekend in 22nd and 28th respectively, it might have been.
Fikowski hinted at how hard it is to recover from the marathon row in his blog post, where he wrote: “I was surprised at how little some of the athletes drank during the row. I’d be curious to see how that affects their recovery over the next few days. And I say curious, but what I really mean is, I don’t think it’s going to help them very much. Lol.”
After a rest day on Thursday, Toomey and Fraser came into Friday and Saturday ready to work.
The Battleground:
Fraser, 2nd
Toomey, 6th
Both athletes did about the same on the Battleground as they did during 2017’s Strong Man’s Fear, which involved moving a yoke, farmers log, and sled 150 feet across the field — which, while different, is one of those odd-object workouts athletes know to expect at the Games.
Clean and jerk speed ladder:
Fraser, 7th
Toomey, 2nd
In 2014 when this event first made an appearance, Fraser took 3rd. But this year he missed a 310-pound clean and jerk not once but twice. This was the only time this weekend when we saw Fraser push his body without success, which is uncharacteristic of the Fraser we usually see on the field.
Not surprising that Olympic lifter Toomey finished this event in the top three. What was surprising was that rookie Amanda Barnhart took first and was able to power clean all the weights!
Fibonacci:
Fraser, 1st
Toomey, 4th
Both Fraser and Toomey placed better during the Fibonacci this year than they did in 2017. Fraser dropped a full one minute and seven seconds, while Toomey added only three seconds despite the fact that Dave Castro increased the deficit handstand push-up reps for females.
This ability to take a previous year’s event and improve on it exemplifies why Fraser and Toomey were able to win yet again. Castro said the 2018 Games would be about knowing your CrossFit history (which is why it was with such confusion that repeat athletes like Brooke Wells and Lauren Fisher struggled on the peg board — which we saw for the third time in 2018 after having seen it in 2015 and 2016).
Here are more of the repeats we saw on course this year:
The half marathon row in 2013 was repeated as a full marathon row in 2018.
The CrossFit Total in 2007 returned for 2018.
The Fibonacci Final in 2017 repeated (with increased HSPU reps for women) in 2018.
The clean and jerk ladder in 2013 and 2015 repeated (with heavier weights) this year.
An obstacle course also happened in 2012 and 2015, and now 2018. (However, the courses themselves were quite different.)
On top of this, 2018 brought lots of random object carry events, such as the Battleground and Two-Stroke Pull, which at this point are a Dave Castro staple.
On all of these repeat events/movements, Fraser and Toomey showed not only improvement but comfort, mastery, and ease. When asked what she does that sets her apart from the other female athletes on the leaderboard, Toomey answered, “Just hard work and commitment.”
But this year she showed that it’s more than just hard work. It’s smart, hard work.
The men’s attack on this event was pretty epic with Dean Linder-Leighton, Brent Fikowski, James Newbury, Mat Fraser, and Khan Porter being the top five finishers. On the women’s side, despite claims that she doesn’t paddleboard often, Toomey smoked the paddleboard to take home 1st on this event. We’ll assume it’s her killer core strength.
Chaos:
Fraser, 9th
Toomey, 3rd
Chaos was kept a secret until athletes took the field and that means one thing: it required mental toughness. Going rep by rep until a judge tells you to stop? That’s rough. Not to mention that the event involved the Slug, which is a new “apparatus” for the sport.
Bicouplet 2:
Fraser, 2nd
Toomey, 6th
Bicouplet 1:
Fraser, 4th
Toomey, 4th
Grip: you either got it, or you don’t. And after Bicouplets 1 and 2, these athletes made it clear they do.
Day 5
Both Fraser and Toomey went into the last day of this year’s Games 138 and 114 points ahead of second place, respectively. Going into the final day, with three events left before the close of the 2018 season, there were 300 points up for grabs. In typical Fraser fashion, he’d only have to average 12th in order to take home the “W” this year, while Tia needed to maintain an average of 9th.
During the first two events, the Two-Stroke Pull and handstand walk, Fraser and Toomey held onto their leads.
Fraser: 4th on Two-Stroke Pull, 3rd on handstand walk
Toomey: 7th on Two-Stroke Pull, 10th on handstand walk
What separated these athletes from their competitors during these two events was their mental focus. After her 2016 season, everyone knew managing her mental game was Toomey’s expertise. Her nonstop mental strength training showed especially during the handstand walk, when the obstacle course gave her trouble.
Similarly, she showed mental endurance on the Two-Stroke Pull — this in contrast to Katrin Davidsdottir who, in the last 20 seconds of the event, had a moment of “quit” when rookie Laura Horvath surpassed her on the sled pull, which caused Katrin to lose to Horvath by 20-ish seconds and take 3rd in the event, as opposed to a close second.
Going into the last event, Aeneas, unless something *incredibly* unexpected happened, we already knew who the first-place podium finishers were. As long as Fraser completed the minimum work requirement on Event 11, he would be crowned the Fittest Man On Earth for the third year in a row.
On the women’s side, in order for Tia-Clair Toomey to lose, Laura Horvath would have to win and Toomey would have to fall outside of the top 25. Considering Toomey hadn’t fallen outside the top 14 in any event since 2017, the odds were in Toomey’s favor.
Toomey fought head-to-head with Horvath during Aeneas and ended up coming in second to her after a yoke carry fumble two-ish feet away from the finish line. Again, Toomey didn’t let this fluster her. She took a breath, picked up the yoke, and proudly took 2nd for that event.
Fraser may have had first place on lock, but he went into Aeneas guns blazing. He completed all five pegboards unbroken, never allowing his feet to touch the mat before climbing back up for another rep. It’s the confidence that Fraser is known for. He moved through the thrusters and yolk carry seamlessly to take 1st in that event.
With a 120-point lead on 2nd Fittest Man on Earth Patrick Vellner, Mat Fraser left no doubt in anyone’s mind that he is still the fittest. Toomey closed out the day with a 64-point lead on Laura Horvath, which is especially noteworthy after 2017, when there was the smallest point differential separating Toomey and Kara Saunders. This year, Toomey repeated the title with convincing command.
What did it come down to for them? Hard work. Commitment. Knowledge of the sport. And mental strength.
With those defining traits, Mat Fraser and Tia-Clair Toomey took home $285,000 for winning the 2017 CrossFit Games. And this year, they did it again — to the tune of $300,000.
Many of the competitors were capable of taking home the title, but Toomey and Fraser embody everything this sport is. After repeat wins, they’ve more than proven they are the masters of their sport.
Congratulations to ALL the athletes! It was a great season.
