23.3 Friday Night Lights Recap - A little more Sopranos than Greys Anatomy.

Well they say all good things must come to end eventually, and much like the ending of the Sopranos we were all left feeling like we wanted just a little bit more, not more like Grey's Anatomy more (what season are we in now, 33???), but maybe just a little bit more.  On Friday the 3rd March, over eighty athletes attacked the 23.3 with intent and purpose.  Wall walks, snatches, double unders and strict handstand push ups it was a real test of where our athletes currently were with their fitness.  

In a workout that was very shoulder intensive, it is safe to presume that most athletes understood the pump that the Austrian Oak, Arnold Schwarzenegger was talking about in Pumping Iron.  Hard to fault CFHQ programming once again, maybe a little longer workout but overall a solid test of gymnastics, cardio and weightlifting.  Every athlete had a game plan and aspirations heading into the start of three, two one go, and soon realized that this workout would sneak up on you quickly.   The snatches felt just that little bit heavier, the second set of wall walks hurt just a little bit more and the strict handstand push ups became a battle of survival for most!  

Once again most athletes required two, and in some amazing cases three different barbell weights, and once again it was an outstanding community effort to make sure all barbells were loaded and ready to go! With eight heats of ten people, it was a massive turn out by the community.  Nothing better than seeing everyone in the community jump in and help move barbells and change weights at the end of the first set of snatches, even if it meant putting down the beer they had just bought - big thanks to Two Chefs for catering and looking after us all night too!  https://twochefsbrewing.com/ 

Once again the coaches couldn’t fault the effort of any of the athletes, but there were a few performances that caught our eye during  

Iris Oversier drinking beers on Friday night and then turning up on Sunday and getting through 286 reps, even with a ripped hand! 

Jennifer Jongen (March Member of the Month) closing out her three weeks with another amazing effort and another valiant attempt to get through some gymnastics work - it is going to happen!!

Ruben Hoogenhout and Fay Tucker getting through the nine snatches at 83 and 56 kgs respectively.  A true reflection of the hard work they have been putting in.

Marco “Mr Under Armour” Padberg finished the first set of twenty strict handstand push ups.

Ramon Guilkers finished the entire workout, one of the fittest 45-49 year olds in the Netherlands!

Coach Nick did the workout three times - After watching his video from the first attempt he wasn’t happy with his strict handstand push ups standard, so proceeded to do it again, even if it meant not as many reps.  Super proud of the integrity.  

There were so many individual highlights from not only the Friday night lights but also the next few days that it doesn’t seem fair to single anyone out.  People judging, changing weights and helping clean up the gym ensured the events were a complete success. That being said, we had a pair of new Reebok Nano X3 to give to an athlete that was considered the most deserving according to the community..  This person has really come on in leaps and bounds in the last few months and has become much much fitter along the way..  The community gave their vote to Rene Brakel - who was mysteriously missing while we handed out the award. Bi thanks to https://www.reebok.nl/ for the shoes and support! 

Finally, what everyone is eagerly anticipating, the results of the team competition.  While this was merely a victory lap for the most dominant team in crossfit history, the Cream Team, it was a good opportunity for the other  factions to put their first win on the board.  While Teams, Red, Green and Black and had some very dominant individual performances, what stood out was the overall team performance from the Cream Monsters.  While it wasn’t quite enough to take out a clean sweep, Cream had the least amount of zero scores, were constantly the best dressed and overall were willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good!  Unfortunately, the best team didn’t get the gold in 23.3 - 

1. Team Black - 2432
2. Team Cream - 2355
3. Team Red - 2225
4. Team Green 1955 - At least 8 zero scores : ( 

While it was a dominant performance over the three weeks from the Cream Team, we are expecting some tougher competition next year.  Lookout for a new scoring system - there will be revamped points.  

It is a worldwide competition, it’s fun to compare your scores against your training buddies, but ultimately the open is all about proving something to yourself.  It might be as simple as completing your first toes to the bar or you might be striving for something much greater, but ultimately every single person who steps on to the floor to have a crack is improving themselves.  There will be several athletes moving on to the quarter finals and the age group qualifiers in the next few weeks - 

For all Crossfit Amsterdam results see the below link. 

https://games.crossfit.com/affiliate/292 

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who made the past three weeks possible - the people who helped judge, who helped clean up, the coaches and of course the companies who supported us - FitAid, Hyperice, Two Chefs Brewing, Reebok Europe and most importantly our amazing community.