Self reported Performance Measures Of Males Are Predictive Of Overall Performance In The Crossfit Open

Abstract

PURPOSE: To determine if measures of strength and skill, obtained from online athlete profiles, could distinguish overall performance in an international online fitness competition (OFC). METHODS: The highest ranking male competitors (n = 1500; 27.18 ± 8.4 y; 85.2 ± 7.88 kg; 177.01 ± 6.47 cm) were split into quintile groups (Q1 - Q5). Subsequently, quintile comparisons were made using self-reported performances for a one-repetition maximum (1RM), squat (SQ), deadlift (DL), clean and jerk (CJ), snatch (SN), 400-m sprint, 5,000-m run, and benchmark workouts (Fran, Helen, Grace, Filthy 50, and Flight-gone-bad) via separate one-way analysis of variance. RESULTS: Greater (p < 0.011) performance scores were reported by Q1 for DL (232.4 ± 20.5 kg), SQ (201.6 ± 19.1 kg), CJ (148.9 ± 12.1 kg), SN (119.4 ± 10.9 kg) and Fran (2.3 ± 0.2 min) compared to all other quintiles. For Grace, Q1 (1.7 ± 0.4 min) reported faster (p < 0.001) completion times than Q3 - Q5, while their performances in the 400-m sprint (59.3 ± 5.9 sec), Helen (7.6 ± 0.6 min) and Flight-gone-bad (430 ± 70 repetitions) were only better than Q3 (62.6 ± 7.3 sec, p = 0.022), Q4 (7.9 ± 0.7 min, p = 0.007) and Q5 (398 ± 73 repetitions, p = 0.010) respectively. No specific quintile differences were observed in 5,000-m or Filthy-50 performance. CONCLUSION: The data indicates that the most successful male athletes in this OFC possessed the greatest strength and power. Further, these athletes performed the best in a short-duration (< 3 min) sports-specific workout (i.e., Fran) that emphasized these characteristics. Lower ranking athletes should focus on emphasizing strength and power development once sufficient anaerobic, aerobic, and sports-specific proficiency has been attained.