The CrossFit Games - Africa Regionals

So as most of you know I have just been away to Johannesburg to try my hand against some of the best athletes in the country and take part in the CrossFit Africa Regionals. I am still very wet behind the ears when it comes to the sport of CrossFit, so the team challenges were a great way to get a taste of what the competitions were like.

The workouts were released to the public 3 weeks ago, and since then every person going to regionals has been furiously preparing and training their butts off for what promised to be a bigger spectacle than last year.

It didn't disappoint... It was held at the Standard Bank indoor arena and it was the perfect venue. The magnitude of the whole operation really hit me when I stepped into the arena for the first time, feeling like I was a Roman gladiator about to go to battle. I could hear the clapping echoing as the crowd tried to get the competitors through that one last rep before the hooter went off! I now know that this is my destiny and I want to be involved in this. Whether from a pure coaching perspective, or as a competitor. I just know that want to be on this CrossFit wave that is about to engulf South Africa.

The same equipment is used across the globe and is packed into crates and sent off to the next venue as the event finishes to make sure it is the most even playing field possible.

Each team consisted of three women and three men.  The team workouts were challenging, and required a lot of strategizing and knowing each person's strengths and weaknesses. This year I was lucky enough to represent Team CrossFit Tokai.  The team showed a lot of heart and grit to end up 4th out of 20, a great effort considering the relative inexperience of the team.

If the team workouts were tough, the individual workouts were devastating, and it is a feat on its own just to last all 3 days and complete all 7 workouts. My utmost respect to all the individual competitors, male and female, who left it all out there in the arena. All the winners will now travel to America to compete in the CrossFit Games later this year. This is where the real superhuman feats start to come to the fore, and competitors compete to try and become The Fittest on Earth.

So what now??? Now my training will be fueled by the idea of packed stands screaming for me to do just one more rep as I get stronger, work on my weaknesses (handstand push ups I hate you), and try be more prepared for the next event in October, and Fittest in Cape Town in January.