This Mass. CrossFit guru explains why you should watch the CrossFit Games this weekend
You may have never heard the name Ben Bergeron, but the Massachusetts native has worked with some of the fittest athletes in the world.
Bergeron is one of the leading coaches in CrossFit, a sport you probably have heard of thanks to that one person in your office who won’t stop talking about it.
But CrossFit isn’t just a fitness routine. It has grown into a highly competitive sport for athletes all over the world—and those athletes will face off this weekend for the title of Fittest on Earth in what is the Olympics of CrossFit: The CrossFit Games.
The Games is an arena that Bergeron, head coach and owner of Natick’s CrossFit New England, is very familiar with. He’s coached over 11 Games athletes, helping give them the tools they need to succeed in events that range from carrying a sandbag up a massive hill to lifting the heaviest barbell possible overhead.
We asked this local CrossFit guru to explain exactly what the CrossFit Games are, who locally you should be cheering for, and why you should be watching—even if you don’t do CrossFit.
What are the CrossFit Games?
Bergeron
: This is definitely the Super Bowl; this is the Olympics. This is definitely the pinnacle of the sport. There’s nothing bigger.
So the CrossFit Games is actually a series. The first level is what they call the Open. The Open is an online competition, and as long as you have Internet access and $20 you can compete. It’s one of the biggest participatory events in the history of the world, with 300,000 people participating in this. From there, they take the top competitors in every region to go to these regional competitions. And from there, they take the top five men and women and teams from those [eight] regions, and they all go to the CrossFit Games. So there are 40 men, 40 women, and 40 teams at the Games competing for the title of world’s fittest.
The Games are made up of multi-day events and we don’t know what [they] are going to be or when they will be announced. In years past, it’s been three to four days of competition, with somewhere between 10 and 14 events testing everything from your strength, to your power, to your speed, to your conditioning, your endurance, and all levels of athletics.
But after that, we don’t know if it is going to be swimming, if it’s going to be weight lifting, if it’s going to be a triathlon, if it’s going to be 100 pull-ups, or if it’s going to be moving telephone poles. So you have to prepare for everything.
(The first 2016 CrossFit Games event was announced July 4. It’s a workout called “Murph”: a one-mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, and then another mile run, all while wearing a 20-pound vest. The score is based on time.)
Where is it?
Bergeron:
The Games are now at the StubHub centre’s Soccer Stadium in Carson, California.
A little event started popping up in 2007 and that is thought of as the first CrossFit Games, but before they called it the Games, they thought about calling it the Woodstocker because it was more like a BBQ with a fitness thing on the side. It was a bunch of friends getting together, having some burgers and beer, and throwing down at a few events to see who was the fittest.
That very quickly ramped up over the next three years. In 2009, it moved to Carson.
Why should I be watching?
Bergeron
: The reason to watch is for the love of sport. It’s kind of like watching the last hundred feet of an Ironman [Triathlon] where people are in anguish trying to get to that finish line.
The people who want to watch other off-stream sports are the ones that also participate in them. Everyone can work out. This is just working out. So what they’re doing is taking what you do in the gym and putting a score to it. And because of that everyone can relate to what these guys are doing. They’re just doing it at a world class level, but that’s what the most appealing part is. The fact that it is the best of the best doing what you do every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the gym is super appealing and super inspiring.
Who should I root for?
Bergeron
: So locally from the Boston area, there’s Spencer Hendel from Medfield, Massachusetts.
There’s Matt Fraser who came in second last year. He’s from Burlington, Vermont, and he also has ties to this gym. I’m his coach.
Katrin Davidsdottir, who’s from Iceland but lives and trains in Boston, was last year’s winner. I’m also her coach.
And then there’s Tasia Percevecz from New Hampshire, and for the team it would be Back Bay, which is from Boston.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BID3GhcghRE/
When are the Games?
July 19-24.
Where can I watch?
The men’s and women’s competition will be broadcast live on ESPN on Friday, July 22, from 9-10 p.m., and Saturday, July 23, from 8-9 p.m. The final event will run on ESPN2 on Sunday, July 24, from 8-9 p.m.
You can also go to WatchESPN.com to log in, if your cable package includes ESPN and its related outlets.
If you don’t have ESPN, you can watch all the events live on Games.CrossFit.com.
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