The Big Guns South of the Border Outlaw Open at USAW American Open

This December California saw a weekend of heavy lifting and Games level competition in what might have been a preview of the 2013 CrossFit Games season. Invited by Outlaw CrossFit’s Rudy Neilson, 60 of the best CrossFit athletes south of the border gathered in Palm Springs for the 2012 Strength and Human Performance Expo. The feature attraction was a double header with the USA Weightlifting American Open, the Outlaw CrossFit Open, and a $10,000 winner-take-all purse for the highest scoring CrossFitter.

The weekend got under way Friday night with a weightlifting total (1 rep max snatch and 1 rep max clean and jerk). Lifts were judged by official USAW judges, and scores counted towards both the weightlifting competition and the Outlaw Open, which continued throughout the weekend.

With 150 points up for grabs in weightlifting, programmer Rudy Nielson balanced this strength portion with three 1-mile runs, 15 minutes apart. To make things more interesting, he threw in some extra tests in between: a 5-rep max deadlift, a max effort unbroken pull-ups, and a 1-rep max bench press. The rest of the weekend included an agility test (lots of hopping over things), a max vertical leap, some load-filled wheel-barrowing, and a 380-rep chipper finale.

Lindsey Valenzuela, 9th place finisher at the 2012 CrossFit Games, opened strongly with an 88kg snatch (194lbs) and a 105kg clean and jerk (231lbs). Elisabeth Akinwale (7th at the Games) was second best in both lifts and had taken the lead by the final chipper. But in the end, Valenzuela, with her 92-year-old grandfather in the crowd, finished the day where she started and claimed first prize by only one point. Becca Voigt finished in 3rd and Kristan Clever finished 4th (even though she gave up 50 points by not completing the third 1-mile run due to injury).

The men’s title went to Matt Hathcock–the fellow who narrowly missed beating Chris Spealler for a ticket to the Games in the South West Regional. Challenging Hathcock throughout the weekend were Steve Pinkerton and Daniel Tyminski (17th at the Games), who won a combined 5 of the 15 scored events but fell short of the grand prize by 20 and 22 points, respectively, and finished 2nd and 3rd.

The weekend was filled with big numbers that Nielson claims he had to see to believe. The Coach’s self-described highlights included 3rd place Steve Pinkerton overcoming the tall man’s disadvantage (he’s 6’5”  and 245lbs) to not only make it to the podium, but also show superior skill at bar muscle-ups and  pull-ups (56 strung together, unbroken); Derek Robinson’s 5-rep max deadlift of 525lbs, with steel plates and a carpeted floor (no bouncing here!);  Danny Nichols hoisting 376lbs to win the 1-rep max snatch; a bench press battle between Courtney Wuistinger and Danny Nichols (Nichols won with a 385lb bench press); and finally, winner Matt Hathcock’s superior combination of strength and speed: he not only managed a 274kg weightlifting total (260lb Snatch, 340lb clean and jerk), but also ran three back-to-back (almost) sub-6 minute miles.

Nielson had some favourite moments on the ladies’ side as well: Kristan Clever finishing the wheelbarrow handstand push-up workout a full minute faster than any of the men (likely due to her first set of 40 unbroken handstand push-ups); Elisabeth Akinwale coming second in an agility test right behind Olympic hopeful, Ingrid Kantola; and Natalie McLain completing each of the 1-mile runs in under 6:04, pounding out 53 unbroken pull-ups in between (she won the pull-up contest), and coming in 9th in the 3-min row at only 5 feet tall.

Jam packed with big names and Games-style programming, the Outlaw Open was a prime test of everyone’s mid-season progress; keep an eye on these names for 2013.