GILROY—There was only one scenario that would get Wes Piatt and his teammates to first place at the 2015 Wodapalooza—and that’s just what happened.
After finishing what Piatt dubbed “the worst workout” he has ever done, there were seven other teams and seven points between his team and first place, meaning they needed all those teams to outscore the one on top.
They did.
“It was crazy. A couple years ago when I made it to the (CrossFit) Games, it was the exact same kind of scenario,” Piatt said. “It was even better this time…because I got to share with these guys.”
Piatt, owner of Gilroy’s Coast Range CrossFit, and RX Smart Gear teammates Jon Pera and Nick Urankar took first place out of 38 teams and edged out second place SF Fire by a single point Jan. 17 in Miami.
That workout was the last—and most intense—of nine the team had to do over the course of the competition. It consisted of 30 Pistols—or single-leg squats—on each leg, followed by 30 Cleans, where an athlete lifts a weighted barbell onto his shoulders. Next up was 20 Muscle-Ups—picture a pull-up on steroids—followed by 20 Jerks, which are like the Clean, except this time the barbell is extended overhead in a locked-arm position in one swift movement. The team then had 10 rope climbs and finished with 10 Thrusters—a combination of a front squat and push press.
“I thought I was going to die,” Piatt said with a laugh.
But Piatt took home more from Wodapalooza than just a title. In his downtime he watched the Adaptive Athlete Division, which featured competitors with various disabilities—everything from missing limbs to autism. The adaptive competitors didn’t receive any special treatment either and had to do the same workouts as everyone else.
“There were guys who were missing limbs, but made things that they strapped to their nubs and wrapped around the pull-up bars so they could do pull-ups,” Piatt said. “It was just amazing seeing these guys who literally have zero excuses for anything. …Coming back from that, I’m just like ‘there’s no more excuses.’ No more, ‘oh I’ve got a sore back’ or ‘I’m feeling a little under the weather today’ or anything like that. It’s just a whole new perspective on life for sure.”
The Wodapalooza fitness competition served as a warm-up for Piatt as he prepares for the CrossFit Open. On Feb. 26, he’ll begin the CrossFit Open, which consists of five workouts over five weeks. Competitors can film themselves performing the workout, upload it online to be judged by their peers around the world or do it at a participating gym for judging.
From there, the Top 20 CrossFit athletes in Northern California are invited to the regional competition in May. A Top 5 finish there means an invitation to the coveted CrossFit Games in July.
“The next three months are basically my season,” Piatt said. “The training has begun.”
