At 5:30 a.m., while most students are still asleep, two athletes can be found wide awake, pushing through intense cardio intervals and weight repetitions. These two athletes, juniors Robert Schwartz and Sam Roiz, both participate in CrossFit training and competition.
For five weeks, Roiz and Schwartz competed in The Open, the first round of the CrossFit games, which is a Worldwide CrossFit competition. Roiz was a returning contestant hoping to improve upon his finish from last year, while Schwartz was new to the competition.
“I am really competing to see how I stand among other people my age,” Schwartz said.
On the other hand, Roiz hoped to see himself advance his rank. He placed in the top 10 in the region in the 16-17 year old division last year, but felt he had more of an advantage now, given that he is on the older end of the division.
The Open round consists of five workouts, one per week from Feb. 25 through March 28. The athlete’s rank is cumulative of their performance each week.
The top 20 globally ranked teen individuals in The Open go directly to the CrossFit Games in July. Typically, in the adult competition, the top 100 competitors advance to regionals. The Northern and Southern California Regionals are hosted at the Del Mar Arena in Southern California in May. However, because of the teen division’s recent addition, there is no regional round.
“The competition is very new for teenagers,” Roiz said. “This is the second year [Crossfit is] doing a teen competition.”
After the first three workouts, Roiz was ranked third in Northern California.
“I am really happy to be ranked in the top five in Northern California. The competition is not over yet, so I will have to see how I do in the next two workouts,” Roiz said, following the third week.
After week four, Roiz moved up to first place in Northern California. After the Week 5, Roiz finished The Open round third in Northern California and 87th Worldwide in the teen division.
Schwartz finished 21st in Northern California after the fifth workout.
“We don’t know what [the workout] will be until the officials announce it. They post the workout on Thursday at 5 p.m.,” Roiz said. “Then we have three or four days to do the workout.”
Each workout is different. For example, the week four workout challenged the athletes to compete as many rounds of 55 deadlifts, wall-ball shots, calorie rows and handstand pushups as possible within 13 minutes. The athletes are then ranked by how many repeats they complete or the time it takes to complete a workout, according to the CrossFit games website.
The CrossFit Games App allows the athlete to see other people’s results while they are doing the workout. Athletes then know how many repeats they have to complete to beat others in their division. The competitors are allowed to attempt the workout as many times as they please within the three-day time period.
The competitors can perform their workout in any location that has a certified judge to verify the results, if they are aiming to qualify for the subsequent regional or national round.
The two train at different gyms. Roiz trains at The Cave CrossFit Marin and Schwartz trains at TJ’s Gym in Corte Madera, but both follow similar extreme training regimens.
“I train in the morning from 5:30 to 7:00, and then will also double up some days, and go after school also,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz typically trains five days a week, while Roiz trains six.
Roiz began CrossFit training when he was eleven. Although it was originally a way to become more in shape for other sports, it grew into a passion.
“The first workout I was dead, but I loved it. I felt like it was really good for my body. As I kept going to the classes, I started losing weight and everything was changing,” Roiz said.
Roiz has taken CrossFit a step further recently, which he claimed likely accounted for his progress in the competition.
“In the past, I didn’t focus as much on CrossFit. I would focus more on baseball and school. This year I am falling more in love with CrossFit over baseball. Last year I would workout three times a week and now I do six,” Roiz said.
To be successful in CrossFit you need to excel in all categories of fitness: speed, endurance, strength and cardio, according to Roiz.
“The thing about CrossFit, is that to be good at [it], you can’t just be good at one thing. You need strength and cardio,” Roiz said.
Trainers plan the workouts for classes, making sure that the athletes balance their work.
“Let’s say today we do legs. Then tomorrow we would work something else that does not involve legs so that you do not overuse them,” Roiz said.
CrossFit appeals to Schwartz and Roiz because of the diversity of workouts.
“I love how every workout varies. It’s always something new,” Schwartz said.
Roiz and Schwartz have both formed close-knit communities at their gyms because of the group classes.
“I like CrossFit because it is more like a family. At the gym you see other people doing their own thing. With CrossFit, most of the time you do your workout with other people,” Roiz said.
