S02E08 - David Syvertsen - CrossFit Age Group Online Qualifier (AGOQ) Equipment Breakdown

February 26, 2021 - This week's episode is with David Syvertsen, owner and coach at my box, CrossFit Bison, in Midland Park New Jersey. We review the recent release of the equipment list for the CrossFit Age Group Online Qualifier, or AGOQ. From May 6th to May 10th, the top 10% of each age division in the Teens and Masters from the CrossFit Open will compete in the AGOQ for a chance to go to the CrossFit Games. We discuss possible movements compared to previous years, how the AGOQ may be relevant to the new CrossFit quarterfinals, and more.

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 S02E08 - David Syvertsen - CrossFit Age Group Online Qualifier (AGOQ) Equipment Breakdown

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S02E08 AGOQ EQUIPMENT TRANSCRIPT
Sam Rhee: [00:00:00]   Welcome to another episode of Botox and burpees. I'm Dr. Sam Rhee plastic surgeon and CrossFit coach host of this podcast where we talk about plastic surgery, CrossFit, and everything in between. You can find more information at our website, botoxandburpees.com. And make sure to like, and subscribe wherever you listen to our podcast. 
This week's episode is with David Syvertsen owner and coach at my box, CrossFit, bison, in Midland Park, New Jersey. We review the recent release of the equipment list for the CrossFit age group online qualifier, or AGOQ  from May 6th to May 10th, the top 10% of each age division and the teens and masters from the CrossFit open will compete in the AGOQ for a chance to go to the CrossFit games. 
We discussed possible movements compared to previous years, how the AGOQ may be relevant to the new CrossFit quarter finals and more.  
 We're going to be talking about the age group online qualifier equipment list, and I'm not going to presume that I'm going to be in it. I'm just talking for everyone in the gym who happens to make this. 
David Syvertsen: [00:01:06] We will probably have people from this gym, make it right. 
Sam Rhee: [00:01:10] And this is also relevant because this equipment lists may also carry over for the quarter finals. It makes sense as they would do that. So just to make this specific, what is this? From May 6th, through May 10th, the top 10% of each age division from the CrossFit Open in the masters will pay $50 and then they can participate in the age group online qualifier and out of that, the top athletes.
And I don't think they've really determined how many, but my guess, 
David Syvertsen: [00:01:41] I actually think it's. 20 per this year. That's great. You're at 20 to 30 per this year, right? 
Sam Rhee: [00:01:46] I think it also depends on level of participation for each division. Cause obviously 35 to 39 there's going to be like a ton of people, but 65 plus maybe less.
So let's talk about what was needed for the open first, because this is still all required for the age group online qualifier. Correct. And so what was required for the open itself was a dumbbell, a single dumbbell, barbell and plates, a box. Jump rope and a pull-up Now the additional equipment and let's just go through each equipment and discuss the movements and what might be programmed? The first one is a 30 foot flat space suitable for movements covering. 
David Syvertsen: [00:02:22] Yes, I'm looking at the gym right now. There's 30 feet. That's in the past. 
Sam Rhee: [00:02:26] It's always been 25 feet or 50, actually. I think. Yeah. In 2018, they had a handstand walk, a 50 foot hands. 
David Syvertsen: [00:02:35] I'm pretty sure you had to have a turnaround at 25.
Like they didn't let you walk 50 feet straight. Got it. Made you turn around. So like you had to have, at the most 25 feet of straight away and now it's 30. So I'm looking at it right now. And like basically you have two options you're going to see, and you could see both walking lunges. With a dumbbell above your head, one on your shoulder, two on your shoulders in to that the 2016 open, they did barbell, overhead walking lunges.
I remember doing that at the old space, that I think it was 16.1. Yeah, that was awful. Yeah. That was a tough workout. Handstand walks every now and then I'm like one year they're going to put shuttle runs into the open where they're just going to say you gotta do, a thousand feet of shuttle runs like 30 feet down, 30 feet back.
Sam Rhee: [00:03:17] How many people are going to pull. 
David Syvertsen: [00:03:18] I would pull everything if you can even do that. That, that, that was like, every year I feel like they're going to put some sort of run into the open. You can't do that outside, or 400 meters, 200 meters. You can't do that. That's the only way I could see it as this shuttle runs like 10 feet, 20 feet, 30 feet, whatever.
But I think really what you're looking at there is some sort of lunge and or handstand walks. 
Sam Rhee: [00:03:38] The last handstand walk that they programmed for the AGOQ was complete in 2018 and it was complete as many rounds as possible. In 20 minutes of 50 wall balls, a hundred double unders 50 foot handstand walk, a hundred double unders 50 cal row, a hundred double unders 50 foot handstand walk, a hundred double unders.
It was basically wall balls, double unders handstand walk and a row in between. 
David Syvertsen: [00:03:59] Yeah, I do think that they've gone away from when they first introduced handstand walks. And when they do this in the open a lot, it's usually at the end of a workout. Like you have to do a lot of work before you get there, just so that you keep it inclusive because a lot of people can not walk on their hands.
So I think in an age online qualifier, or quarter-final round teen qualifier round, they're assuming that if you made it to that level and you signed up, you gave your 50 bucks and you're trying to make it to the games because that you're going to determine who gets to the games from these qualifiers.
For the masters anyway you gotta be able to walk in your hands. And it could be something that starts off with a handstand walk or a constantly moving AMRAP where you're going back and forth. And so I do think they do like to throw the handstand walks. I think they've been in the open every year since they were first introduced in 2018, 2018, 
Sam Rhee: [00:04:47] I think in the open, like you said, they would program it at the end. But I think for quarterfinals and AGOQ , they're just going to throw it in there as a movement in the middle and at the start, you're going to just expect you to know how to do that. Yeah, exactly. 
David Syvertsen: [00:04:59] Yeah. 
Sam Rhee: [00:04:59] All right. The next is a 15 foot climbing rope.
David Syvertsen: [00:05:02] Yup. That's been in the age online qualifier a few times it's ever been in the open. I don't think it'll ever be in the open. That's a logistical issue for some gyms. Some gyms don't have ceilings that are high enough, like CrossFit Hoboken. They don't have 15 foot ceilings. So if you're a masters athlete at a gym you're going to need to find that doesn't have that you're gonna need to find somewhere.
Or if you're someone that does it in the garage, You're going to have to find a gym that will allow you to come in and do it like right now, the ropes that we have, the one in the front does go up to 15 feet. These ones on the side are like 14 and a half. And when you really show measurements, they're going to have to show that it's 15 feet.
So if, and when we do have people that make it and they show up in the. In the online qualifier, we're probably going to have to rotate that one rope or have you go all the way to the ceiling here. You're going to have to touch the white top 
Sam Rhee: [00:05:44] from something above it, right? Yeah, for the last one they had in the cog in 2018 was also, it was basically just mixed and it was for thrusters.
One rope climb, eight thrusters, two rope climbs, 12 thrusters, three rope climbs. And it was 135 pounds. And it was at a time cap of 10 minutes. So it was basically 
David Syvertsen: [00:06:01] a sprint, like a Fran type spread throw climbs and heavy thruster. Yeah. 
Sam Rhee: [00:06:05] And that's a skill thing. Cause there's some people, if you're good at road climb, you could do it like, Oh 
David Syvertsen: [00:06:09] yeah, you get up in two poles for sure.
One thing I'd be curious to see, and I think they could throw this because again, you're going to the, the formats changing. Is a legless rope climb. It would be lower volume. Like it might just be one at a time, but I'm trying to think about, I'm trying to correlate some of this stuff to what they've thrown in at regionals where it's legless or they've done these rope ropes where they, they're not all the way to the ground.
They're about six or eight feet up in the air, and then you have to jump and start off with like list and then you can get like one, right? And then you can use your license, got like a half year or something like that. But I don't think they'll do that for you, but I do. I would. If I am assuming you're trying to train for the age online qualifier, I would start working on some legless rope climbs, whether it's the 15 feet or 10 feet, just to get the field because that is, that is a separator big time.
That was the first event at the cross of games in 2000. 19 when they had all the people from all over the world shown up. I remember that. That was like the separator workout. Yeah. It was heavy snatches running and legless rope climbs. Yeah. Yeah. The good 
Sam Rhee: [00:07:08] athletes could get up to a certain point.
And then there was a technique where you could swing a little 
David Syvertsen: [00:07:13] bit to get, I use that. Yeah. When I get tired, 
Sam Rhee: [00:07:16] but you can't really do that for the whole thing. You have to be able to go strict for a little 
David Syvertsen: [00:07:22] while. Yeah. They made it comes down to grip strength and upper body's like capacity. No matter what, whether you can swing or not like you, I had a bad experience with legless rope climbs at Wodapalooza in 2016.
And I was failing left and right. When you get to failure, you're so screwed on that. You're done. Is it a grip thing? Grip? Yeah. Grip and biceps, but it's mainly, you just can't hold on. You can't keep your fingers squeezing. Yeah, 
Sam Rhee: [00:07:45] it'll be interesting. I don't, I don't think I've ever seen any, it doesn't really matter like about the rope itself.
David Syvertsen: [00:07:51] But in terms of how thick it is or any at the games, one year they made it a purposely, a thick rope and they did. I remember the athletes saying it was significantly harder. But for this. I don't think they can't tell gyms to have a certain thickness of 
Sam Rhee: [00:08:03] rule. It's just going to be one of those qual, whatever they call standard of the games.
Things like if you're trying to, it looks like you're trying to cheat them 
David Syvertsen: [00:08:10] disqualify. 
Sam Rhee: [00:08:11] Med ball. 
David Syvertsen: [00:08:12] Yeah. So that's not in the open, which some people would probably be very happy about. But so they're saying those are wall balls, I don't think they're gonna do anything else with that. They'll definitely show up. I think that's a staple that'll definitely show up. 
Sam Rhee: [00:08:22] Now let me ask you this, because these items are in the equipment list, you can assume they are a hundred percent going to be used. They wouldn't include something that they might not use. 
David Syvertsen: [00:08:33] That's my assumption, at the end of the day, I'm an outsider, just like everyone else's.
But I do think that if they're telling you like that one year, they pulled us a month before, have dumbbells right before the 2017 open. And the first two week out, the first two workouts had dumbbells in them. The first week I had one per athlete the next week it had two per athlete, and I remember we were taping five sets of 10 to 45 to 40 pound dumbbells with duct tape.
And having the people work out with it was crazy. I don't think they're going to. Misguide you in that way. I do think they like being secretive. Like one of the CrossFit principles is be ready for anything. If you're fit, you should be ready to do anything, any at any given moment.
But I don't think they're going to say, Hey, make sure you have a GHD, a rope and a wall ball, and then that not program they're going to use them. I would assume if you think you're going to make that online qualifier, you should be training wall balls right now. 
Sam Rhee: [00:09:21] And then of course, as you just mentioned too, they also want two dumbbells, not just one for the open. So assume it's might be incorporated in the lunges, dumbbell, thrusters, double dumbbell, thrusters, 
David Syvertsen: [00:09:33] double one thing they have devil's press. I feel like that keeps like arriving in certain across it. Yeah, it's certain age on one qualifier, but in certain like big CrossFit competitions, that's become a pretty popular movement where.
You do a burpee with one a hand on each dumbbell, and then you come up and you do a double dumbbell snatch. That's really what a devil's press is. We've done one arm, double press here at Bison with programming. It's a whole nother ball game and you gotta move two dumbbells fricking heavy.
Yeah. Like one of the hardest workouts I've ever done with that was a, I did a. It was a, I think a very short workout, but it had doubled dumbbell step ups paired with devil's press. And again, grip comes into it because you're holding onto these dumbbells the entire time with one of the movements being an extension from grant overhead.
But the I think if you're trying to look for new movements to train that you're ready for them. If they were to ever show up with two dumbbells, I would throw in devil's press. I would throw in a double dumbbell snatch, basically both dumbbells hits the ground, both go above your head and a double dumbbell step overs.
Those have been like, if you look at the history of CrossFit, not cross a competitions for your local competition, not even sanctions. Look at what Dave Castro has programmed. There used to be like this kind of invitation all the rogue, not the Rogan rotational, the cross invitational. You had United States, different countries, Australia.
Yeah. I remember him throwing those into, I think, two different times where you had to do step overs with a dumbbell, any Chan, and that gets nasty. 
Sam Rhee: [00:10:57] I've only done that once. And that was actually when I dropped in on CrossFit Reykjavik, oh, really? Yeah. And they program those things. Yeah. Off they're awful.
David Syvertsen: [00:11:04] And you can mess up your back because you're hunched over as you're and you're only using one leg and you're off balance. They're tough. But it's a separator again, you have to find certain movements against, there are people going to the games from this online qualifier. So you do have to really push the limit and that's an easy way to do it.
Sam Rhee: [00:11:23] And then concept two rower. Yay. And they've, and there's been a row every year in the ACOG, 
David Syvertsen: [00:11:30] the wow. I dream one day. Like I really, we just got done talking about what, finding out what you're truly capable of. And I feel like I really would love him to throw like a two K like he threw that 1000 meter row into the games this year.
Yeah. That first stage where you're doing it at your gym and some of the times are sick. Some of these guys getting two 52, 54, but I think a two K row would be a really awesome, it would ruin your central nervous system for the rest of the future. 
Sam Rhee: [00:11:58] That's what they said. They said that is probably you, when you do it, you'll get your best time early because maybe the first or second time you've done it because it's so painful. You never really want to go there. 
David Syvertsen: [00:12:08] I know it's scary. You never want to go right now. And I do too Rose for time at the gym. I can't PR anymore because you have to.
You go closer to blackout mode, right? 
Sam Rhee: [00:12:17] I would Rhee much rather. I hope they use it just as a breath killer for you heart rate elevator, 
which they often do. 
David Syvertsen: [00:12:24] Usually it usually is. Yeah. Yeah. Like last 
Sam Rhee: [00:12:26] year it was a hundred alternating dumbbell, snatches, 50 cal row a hundred bar facing burpees. I remember that workout time cap 20 minutes. So it's just basically to just Jack up your heart rate 
David Syvertsen: [00:12:36] prior the one with Kathleen's first time. Yeah. And the age online qualifier. I'm pretty sure. I don't want to get it wrong. It was a long row with a lot of barf. I think it was like a three K row and 80 bar facing a row or facing burpees or something like that.
That's something else you could think about with rowing, like the rowers going to be in the age on qualifier. You should every now and then practice some rower facing burpees because it's an intro to higher than different than the barbell. It's just a different kind of feel. So yeah, I do think it's gonna, I don't think it's gonna be a single modality.
I think it will be mixed in with something like you said, just sums up elevate the heart rate. 
Sam Rhee: [00:13:09] Gymnastics rings. 
David Syvertsen: [00:13:11] Yup. Yeah. You're going to see muscle-ups. Yep. No doubt about it. 
Sam Rhee: [00:13:14] Yeah. They've been in the, a cog every year from 2014 to 2019. It was just 2018 and last year that they did not have.
David Syvertsen: [00:13:20] Yep. So yeah, the fact that they were not in last year at their coming this year. 
Sam Rhee: [00:13:24] With rings, of course. Yeah. I mean they mandate rings, so you have to know they're going to be. Yeah. Yeah. 
David Syvertsen: [00:13:28] And I don't think some people will say ring dips. I still just. I don't know, like ever since that year where Castro put them into the regionals and guys were just tearing their pecs left and right.
Hector, I don't think he'll ever admit that Oh, it was a mistake again, guys. Over-trained it made, they're trying to go too fast. Blah. It's also really hard to judge unless you're in person, to really see the lockout in a video is really tough. I remember one year, 2013 or 2014.
They had them at a regional event. It was a chipper when you went pretty much down the floor and he came back and at the reverse, where you, before you came back up the ladder, it was 50 ring dips. And they put this red piece of this red strap from the vertical straps of the rings. They tied a horizontal red strap to the vertical straps and your bat, your shoulders had to touch it at the top.
So I think it was based on your height. Like you would go and show them your lockout. They would put this red strap. And I feel like that's the only way you can really test ring dips on video is to make sure that their shoulders are passing a certain height. And I just don't see that logistically. And 
Sam Rhee: [00:14:33] they're not going to do anything crazy, obviously like ring handstand, pushups or something awful.
David Syvertsen: [00:14:38] Again, when you talk about online programming, you have to consider logistics and how hard it can be to judge certain things via video. Yeah. 
Sam Rhee: [00:14:46] Ring muscle ups have been there all the time, 2019. And they liked, it seems like they like pairing it with barbell every time. Some sort of barbell thruster or clean or showed overhead.
Yeah, the 2019 was five rounds of four ring, muscle ups, 13 shoulder to overheads at one 35 and then it was five rounds of four muscle ups, seven shoulder. Shoulder to overheads at one 80. 
David Syvertsen: [00:15:08] Yeah. Yeah. That's number watching Kathleen do that. That was when she got her muscle-ups and gym went nuts. Yeah.

Sam Rhee: [00:15:13] For her as 95 and then one 25. Yeah. That was, 
David Syvertsen: [00:15:15] I've always wanted to do that workout. I've never done that one. Yeah. I think that if you're looking at ring muscle ups, that's obviously a small guy, gymnast favored movement. So if you want to make a balanced CrossFit test, you put something heavy.
With the ring muscle ups so that you weed out the guys that can only do muscle-ups, but struggle out, swear you weed out the guys that can only lift, but can't string together. Muscle-ups and want to find the guy that can do both. 
Sam Rhee: [00:15:42] Yeah. All the time. G H D glute ham developer. Yeah this 
David Syvertsen: [00:15:47] that's right. Really interesting. So a couple things about this. There are a lot of different kinds of GSDs out there. We have the rogue ones, we just ordered one recently that hasn't gotten here yet. And I'm pretty sure it's 42 inches off the ground. So like your hamstrings when you're doing a GHD sit-up, which is, I'm assuming that's going to be the moving that they throw in your 42 inches off the ground.
So that distance is what your hands have to reach behind you. And that takes a tremendous amount of lower back flexibility, which some people don't have. There are GHD is from tightened fitness. Some old school GHD is like that are 32 inches off the ground. That's an advantage. So I'm wondering when they say you need to have a GHD, will they?
At some points, I, it needs to be X amount of distance off the ground. So if you do have one that's 32, you'll have to elevate it somehow, put it on risers, put it on plates, which, I've been on some GHGs where you feel like things just going to snap in half the second. You go back at it.
Yeah. But it's probably going to be at JCU, sit up and I'll say this, anyone that's listening that wants to try to train those on the side, you gotta be really careful with that thing. If you've never been on it before Like I'm talking get I think one of these things, if you're trying to train and program for the age online qualifier, and you're trying to guess you try, I think what you first have to try to take a stab at is what kind of volume are you going to see with that movement with rope climbs with GHD is like, what's the peak that you're going to see my guess is that you would never see more than a hundred and an age total, not in a row.
And if you've never been on that thing before, you should start off with doing like an email mom, 10, five reps, it only take you 10, 15 seconds. Do that. See how you feel the next day or two you'll blow up the day two. Yeah. And if you're just like, Oh, I'm going to go do a hundred. You can do, you can get through a hundred.
But it's one of those movements. You don't realize how much you're working until the next day or two. Yeah. I've messed myself up. I know you've mastered yourself up on that thing before. It's one of the more popular equipments that gives people rhabdo. I also think it's because people just so badly want abs.
So they feel that they look at that and Oh, that's going to give me a six pack. So I'm just going to do it all day. Like I do my crunches. Like it has nothing to do with a sit up. It's not even relatable, so just the way you're positioned your way, your legs are locked in. And how much of an angle you're going back.
They were in the first stage of the CrossFit games last year. And they were paired with a complimentary moving pattern, right? When you you have to really try hard to you're opening up your hips and then you're flexing at the hips. That's what's the struggle to move in is right. They paired it with power, heavy cleans, really heavy cleans where you're starting in that hinge position.
But now the production needs to come from you opening up, extending the hips. So one is hard to flex. The hip one is hard to extend the hip. I think that's something that you would see with it. So if I'm practicing something on the GHD paired with another movement, that's what I would go after is either a row or a heavy pole off the ground.
And if you really wants to throw a non complimentary movement at you, like something that the GHD makes harder. He could throw GHD in with TOSA bar and wall balls, because your quads get lit up on GHD. When you do them correctly, your quads get lit. 
Sam Rhee: [00:18:45] That is the important thing about GHD is your form has to be really good or that's a real problem if you're not doing them properly. And then the other thing is volume. Like you said, when you start training on GHD is you have to start with fewer reps because yeah. You don't necessarily, you won't ever notice the first time you get on that fricking Michelle, you'll just do, you could, you'll knock out 50 and then you'll die the next day.
David Syvertsen: [00:19:09] And I would also suggest get a coach that knows what they're doing with that thing to just watch you and guide you a little bit, because it. You view it as just a sit-up it's the only thing I look at when people doing them is their knees. Yeah. You have to extend, you got locked down. That is what needs to pull you up.
Yep. So if I see someone with their knees bound at the top of the juicy set up and they're like, Oh, I'm doing it. I'm like, no, it's not even close. And you also need to maintain tension on the way down. You're not a wet noodle. It's not it's not like an ad mat. Sit-up where like you're going to back your spine.
Yes. You have to keep up with your core needs to protect the spine. That's exactly the course job. 
Sam Rhee: [00:19:44] So come up. That's why you have to extend your knees because it has to be a quick movement. It's not this slow, 
David Syvertsen: [00:19:50] like you're you're trying to maintain good posture at the top. Like you don't want to be flexing, extending nonstop. Like I always try to say like at the top, I'm keeping my eyes straight ahead. If not up. Because it keeps my entire torso in a good position. I don't want to keep flexing and extending. 
And that all of those things is what makes it so challenging. And you don't think about it when you watch someone do it Oh, this is a setup.
Yeah. 
Sam Rhee: [00:20:10] You watch yeah. CrossFit, man. They program those in their training all the time. 
David Syvertsen: [00:20:14] And I'll tell you what. I always feel like they have an inside track at Castro's programming. It's probably not true because Castro wouldn't do that, but I've seen, I see what mayhem programs with the GHD.
They do them a lot, but beat lately the past year. They've been doing a lot of GHD is paired with TOSA bar. And I started doing some of that over summer. I did this like weekly thing where it's like GHD toes bar and then increase the reps and throwing skier given between. So your body's doing the same thing over and over.
It was so hard when you do Jaycees and toes, we're on the same workout. So I feel like that's something I want to touch on a few times before it just to play around with, just have some muscle recruitment patterns and. Get used to how it feels. Where does it get hard? Where does it get easy?
Where can you push what can you do on TOSA bar to save your abs a little bit? Stuff like that. 
Sam Rhee: [00:21:03] The last thing is squat rack 
David Syvertsen: [00:21:06] not cool. 
Sam Rhee: [00:21:09] Oh yeah. Cause you're, it's a heavy barbell is essentially what they're looking for. 
David Syvertsen: [00:21:13] Yeah. If you go, it really could be so many different things. My first thing, my first thought is some sort of squat. Max type situation, max five at max through at max, something like that, something along those lines. Again, you look at what Dave Castro has programmed in the past this past year stage. One of the games was a one-rep max front squat. Yeah. And I think, I remember hearing him say like how much he enjoyed that.
Just like the how it went, how 
Sam Rhee: [00:21:37] it was understandable. It was visually 
David Syvertsen: [00:21:40] you can't lie and you can't cheat. Yeah. 
Sam Rhee: [00:21:42] And it also translated over multiple sports. He didn't have to be a CrossFitter to watch someone do a one rep max front squat and be like, holy cow. 
David Syvertsen: [00:21:50] Yeah. Some of these guys that weigh one 80 that are front squat and 450 pounds, you're like, that's freaking impressive.
There's another thought that it could be a shoulder overhead. If you're going to test, they usually do some sort of one-rep max in the age, online qualifier last year, it was the clean and jerk. So like they, it's a way to no Le let those weights go up by just testing the one or at max clean and then let them do it one at max overhead from the rack, like I could see something like that.
Like where a workout is. Point one is the clean 0.2 is, off 0.2 0.18 is off the rack 
Sam Rhee: [00:22:20] now aren't they going to do something to elevate the heart rate, get you going before they just throw you into the bell. 
David Syvertsen: [00:22:26] Think they need to like they, they do both. They test your one at max when you're tired, they do it when they're, when you're not tired.
I think in a age online qualifier, where they give you five events over the course of four days to do, they're just gonna make one, a simple lifting, one like there. And again, you have to think about this, right? They have to check videos. They're telling everyone that's doing these qualifiers, video, everything.
Yep. Don't try it. Like they might ask for every single one of your videos right here. They might not watch them all. But if you don't send them one of the videos you're disqualified, that's what legends did this year. So you had to send them all and then they picked out to that. So you have to also think what is easy to watch.
Okay. I wonder at max it's pretty easy to watch and it takes 10 seconds. 
Sam Rhee: [00:23:06] So that means less likely to be a three rep max or a five rep. 
David Syvertsen: [00:23:10] It's going to be a one-rep max. And you can try it as many times as you want, and th that would make me nervous, especially if it's a squat, back squat, front squat. I don't mind testing off a rack because when you bail, it's pretty easy to get out from under that. I just seen some Sony bad things happen when people just go for a true one rep max back squat, and What's on the line, you're really going to have to kinda go for it. 
Sam Rhee: [00:23:28] And you're going to have some guys in the masters side that are just monsters.
David Syvertsen: [00:23:33] Yeah, you do. But you also have to, you have to also I hope that they respect that. Not my age group, but guys in like fifties, sixties, right? Like you gotta be careful with telling these guys to do a one rep max squat. I just think. Responsibility wise, you gotta be pretty careful blown discs everywhere across the country.
Like I think there are certain programming that should be a little different for the older crowd. And I'm not trying to get myself out of it. Like I'm a young master, so it's not, but I think at some point you gotta be really careful with what you're asking some of these guys to do, especially in combination with, this is not one work like this is five days of pretty nasty work and you're really putting your nervous system through a blender.
And to tell someone to go put a max load on their back is a little scary. 
Sam Rhee: [00:24:17] I feel like. At least there's a little bit more technique in a front squat and mobility wise. And just to test simply one rep max back squat doesn't seem like it makes it, I would say front squat makes more sense than backstory.
David Syvertsen: [00:24:33] I agree. It was with what the sport is a test more. Yeah. Your brute strength will get tested, but you can be, like you said, you can be a really strong guy, but in mobile you can get it. You can get away with that on the back squat. But if you have a really crappy front rack. You don't mobilize enough.
It doesn't get exposed. You could honestly, they've tested what they've tested. Strength wise, in terms of one rep max three at max is the overhead squat. I could see them do that off the rack is test out a one-rep max overhead squat, because you can't necessarily get that in a snatch for some people you can.
I was about to say, they love the overhead squat, right? 
Sam Rhee: [00:25:06] The and yes, but they usually last year they paired it with. Stuff and the bar, right? Yeah. And most people like they got heavy on those overhead squats. They were expecting you to take it off the ground, but what was 
David Syvertsen: [00:25:21] the heaviest two 25 for the guys was the last one, I think, or two 55.
So are they allowed, you were allowed to clean it onto your bag and then back? Yeah. 
Sam Rhee: [00:25:29] So why would they expect you to do more than two 55? 
David Syvertsen: [00:25:34] There are people that can overhead squat 300, like guys that did that work out and struggled with it because, again, that was in the middle of a workout, a lot of volume leading up to those final weights.
But if you also look at the guys and girls that really finished that workout pretty quickly, it never got that hard, but they had to concentrate a little bit, but it wasn't like they were like failing the rest were a true, like one rep max overhead squat. 
Sam Rhee: [00:25:56] So you would have to one expect that it's going to be at least over two, like the they're going to go over two 55, which means probably over 300. Which means. That's. Is that not dangerous to, to expect these people to be squatting 300 over their heads? 
David Syvertsen: [00:26:10] Yeah, no, I agree. I don't think, I don't think they're going to say squat 300. I think they're going to say, find your max. I do think that's going to be over 300 for these people, for those people.
Yeah, but I could say if you could squat over 300 pounds over your head, you probably do it safely. The people that can't squat two Oh five because their internal rotation on the shoulder is too drastic in their chest comes forward. Or the ankle flexibility's terrible. 
Sam Rhee: [00:26:28] It should still be able to take it off the ground.
David Syvertsen: [00:26:30] Yeah. Take that off the ground. Yeah. 
Sam Rhee: [00:26:32] That's not the ground is not the limiting factor. They're only taking it off the rack if you can't actually clean it and get it all correct. Yeah. So that's why it doesn't make 
David Syvertsen: [00:26:40] sense to me. Yeah. If I think what we're looking at is going to be a front squat or some sort of overhead the split jerk.
Yes. One rep max front squat 
then could be a word. Yeah. It could be a one Mac, a one rep max squat plus jerk. Yeah. I would 
Sam Rhee: [00:26:54] love that. I wouldn't love it, but that makes more sense too. 
David Syvertsen: [00:26:57] Yeah, it does. Yeah. I agree with you. So yeah, a one rep maximum one lift is not that th it doesn't take a lot of thought the program that, just doesn't, Olympic lifts is different because there's so much speed technique, mobility involved.
But some sort of complex, I think just makes a little bit more sense. It could be three squats and a jerk, 
Sam Rhee: [00:27:13] now the other thing that they did mandate is what you said. They didn't mandate it, but it's probably mandatory that all of your workouts be videoed. Yep. And I think they're going to provide some, they've never provided recommendations or guidelines regarding quality camera position.
Yeah. But 
David Syvertsen: [00:27:29] I think they're gonna, yeah. Legends said that this year they gave, I remember listening to the masters chatter about Bob Jennings was so pissed that they gave all this information and input on where you should put your cameras and what the angles, and nobody followed it. I was like, I did it.
And I'll tell you what our gym is pretty big and it's a pretty attractive layout. Yeah. There are some workouts where their suggested layout didn't work with our gym. So it's tough to mandate what your camera angle has to be. But I think there are certain movements where you have to show that your hips are both you can't do thrusters and overhead squats with the camera directly in front of you see the hit it should disqualify score or give you a penalty.
And again, it sounds and you and I have talked about, they're trying to legitimize masters competing. They're trying to show my opinion more respect to the masters crew, which is smart because that's where a lot of us are heading towards right now that we're OJI cross hitters that if you're going to legitimize the sport, the officiating is what needs to happen first. Everyone needs to be on the same page. Like at the games this year, they started saying you had to have a starting line about six feet away from where your barbell was and workout. All right. They might start doing that because one of the things they penalize people now in the open is.
Three, two, one go someone's hands are already on the barbell. You have to start the workout standing. When you hear the word go. That's when you're allowed to bend over and pick up the bar, it's that detailed. And I think you're going to start seeing some of that stuff is where's your camera need to be.
Or what do you, what is the, what does the online judge needs to see, but also where are you standing in relation to your equipment? Because let's be honest, there are certain gyms that just have a much better layout, so they might try to like, Beat that out of saying Hey, if you have a pull up handstand pushup workout here, like that's 25 feet for us is the closest pull-up bar to the hand center. So maybe they say, your starting line needs to be here. And this is how you got to bang it out. 
Sam Rhee: [00:29:28] I think they're going to do that for a couple of reasons. One is masters are definitely More, they're paying more attention. There's more of a priority because of the demographics, because I think the level of competition on the master side is increasing because as you said, these CrossFitters are aging up into these divisions.
That's why they feel like the quality is high enough that they split the 60, whatever, the 60 and over into 60 to 65 and 65 plus this year, because they feel like the level of competition is high enough in these even older age divisions. The other thing is that online is now universal the quarterfinals are going to be all remote basically in, in all these gyms. And so they're going to be spending a lot of resources evaluating these performances, not just for the AGOQ but for the quarter finals to determine who makes it to the semis. And so they're going to be standardizing the video quality, the camera perspective.
And they're not going to say, okay the 36 year old can have the camera right in front of them. Yeah. But then the quarterfinal finisher is going to have to do it this way. They're going to do it for everybody. 
Yeah. And they should, they will. That's one thing. What about online competing?
David Syvertsen: [00:30:35] Like I love competing in person. I love it. I hate online stuff. It's this what the sport is. And if you want to get to the pinnacle of live competing, you have to go through the online process. But part of the reason why is some people get away with murder online? And I remember being with the Colliseum team 2018.
And, this is like maybe a little bit of immaturity on our side, but you used to spend so much time stressing out about other teams and some of their videos about like those elbows aren't locking out or her feet aren't hitting the line. Yeah. That's not five feet for the handstand pushup for the Hanson walks.
And I think that it's a huge task for CROs to take on to legitimize judging camera angles, videos of think about how many videos are going to get. You're talking about thousands and thousands, they probably have what 15 people that watch them. I think 
Sam Rhee: [00:31:24] they're going to probably have a lot more, 
David Syvertsen: [00:31:26] they're going to have to expand that crowd a lot more and they're going to have to be, make sure it's as objective as possible.
That's why there are certain movements you'll see in the open that you'll see in the qual online qualifiers are that you can only see in those like there's movements at the games or sanctions live competitions that you'll never see. In the open because it's too subjective, too hard to judge, and you can really trust the game judges where you can't judge your buddy, that you're going to get drinks with.
You know, 
Sam Rhee: [00:31:52] I like the fact that the skill level is so high. And they've only updated this year and they didn't say okay, because of COVID, we're going to dumbed down the ACOG, if anything, they made it harder, more complex, more skills. And I think they're going to also hold, I hope the video judging too at least as high of a standard as they did last year, like you said, in terms of penalizing everyone for any small infraction. Yeah. They penalized Matt Frazier. I think for that, and if they're going to go from there, they're going to, I think they're going to go all the way, they're going to make it consistent all the way through. Yeah. 
David Syvertsen: [00:32:28] I hope they do. I think with all this extra money that they're going to be getting from, used to have 200 people that qualify for these things and you're paying 50 bucks.
Now you're going to have, you might potentially have a thousand people qualify for an age online qualifier per division, per gender paying 50 bucks. Use some of that money to hire some resources, to do some extra judging for you. 
Sam Rhee: [00:32:46] Oh, they will. And I feel that the fact that they're going to have at least 20 per division go.
Yeah, that's huge. Huge. Yeah. It's huge. I think the fact that they realize how much of the, 
David Syvertsen: [00:32:58] they also told them, like never been to the games as a spectator, but I've always heard it doesn't bother me. I think it bothers some people that want to be seen more is that the masters athletes and teams were like not even a sideshow at the games. They stuck them in the back corner with a set of bleachers and they don't want to really watch it. Nobody broadcasted it. And I understand it, I was like, when we'd go home and watch baseball, we're not watching minor league baseball. We're watching the top dogs watching major league baseball.
No disrespect intended to masters athletes at all. I'm one of them. But no, I think what they said this year is we care about you guys a lot. We're going to get you 20 per division per gender. And we're going to start putting guys on the main floor. Yeah. I'm cycling you guys in and out.
Sam Rhee: [00:33:41] I think that makes sense because, and the more I get into watching the competitive side of the masters, there are compelling stories and. I think that there's any more yeah. And I think you're starting to see, I know the mass, they have a chip on their shoulder and every time I hear any of the podcasts, I hear how much, how pissed on fair the situation is, but you know what it is about the money.
But when you start seeing some of these guys that were really big names up into the younger master's divisions. Yep. It makes me really want to watch. I would love, I want to see what a 39 year old, Nick Juran car can do or what any these guys. Yeah, 
David Syvertsen: [00:34:19] no, I know. And I actually think it's also somewhat relatable too, because most masters athletes are not pros. Like they have jobs, they have kids, they have families. Whereas the open division they're pretty much not every games athlete, but most of them are pro athletes, but their jobs to train, they get sponsored. Living arrangement is set up for them. Everything's hooked up treatment wise, nutrition wise, where they're just training all day, every day, where masters it's compelling to watch, a guy, a father of three and a mother of two that just had our second baby.
And she also has a job and she's, crushing at the games. I think those are stories that can inspire people all over the, across the globe. Where there aren't many stories associated with. Matt Frazier, who like, is very open about the fact that like for 10 years, however long he eat seven years, he didn't do anything other than train.
And that's not a compelling story to me. Yeah. Yeah. 
Sam Rhee: [00:35:08] I think the other thing that's making masters better is that the quality of competition has increased tremendously. These people are not pulling baby weights. These are serious heavy weights. Yeah. The performances are incredibly high.
Yeah. And when you see these guys performing at that level, it's not watching geriatrics. These guys, it's very legitimate athletes. They're real and they're real performances. And that's when I, and that's what is compelling me to watch is when I watch these guys, I'm like, okay, These guys are amazing.
David Syvertsen: [00:35:38] Yeah. I agree with you and the, just watching some of the older you guys compete at legends, that's like something, I got ahold of, like they were using the same weights as my, my, I was the youngest guy there. My division was the youngest one there. And then watching the 40 fives, the fifties used the same way as us.
And they were tossing around ring muscle ups, back and forth. I'm like, wow. Like I always say this here, like some of our masters athletes here I want to be you guys when I'm 10, 15, 20 years down the road. Because that to me. Is a true sign of longtime dedication because I can feel right now, it's harder for me now than it was five years ago.
And it's going to be harder in five years and five years. That's that, but that doesn't mean to give up. And I think watching that, watching those guys work at that level, that capacity, broad domains, like long, short, heavy gymnastics It's very inspiring. And I think it's great for the sport because that is where everyone is eventually heading towards.
It's inevitable. And I have, I know there are people in the gym right now that are like in their low thirties, can wait till the 35 for that reason. And I think as long as cross, it keeps feeding this and promoting and giving us opportunity to display what we can do or put our hard work to, show what our hard work is producing. It's going to continue to grow. 
Sam Rhee: [00:36:49] You can get every episode of Botox and burpees, wherever you listen to podcasts, or go to botoxandburpees.com. thanks for listening