Wodapalooza with CompTrain!
Hey guys! Welcome back to the my CrossFit Blog! This week I want to tell you about one of the greatest opportunities that I’ve ever gotten. Penn State works closely with CompTrain which is one of the biggest training companies in the CrossFit industry. Last semester, on their road tour, they stopped in at our gym and we got to meet them and do a workout with them. CompTrain writes programs, has its own professional athletes, does media coverage, and was founded by one of the best trainers in the world, Ben Bergeron. To put it all together, they pretty much do everything in the realm of CrossFit. They even have their own gym which they are based at which is in Boston, MA. Basically, when an athlete signs a deal with a training company, they move to wherever they are based out of and train with them daily. The training companies then make money off of how well their athletes do and of course, if they win the CrossFit games or even do well, they get more business.
Anyway, now PSU CrossFit club has close ties to CompTrain and we plan a bunch of event for them and reach out to them if we need anything. After they stopped by on their road tour, they said they were highly impressed by our club and asked if 4 of our coaches would want to fly down to Wodapalooza in Miami with them! Well, we said yes, and I was one of the coaches picked to go! This was a great networking opportunity for me because I want to own a CrossFit gym one day and it was great to see all of my favorite athletes compete!
Over the course of the week, we helped them coach people at their booth and help them assist their athletes. Wodapalooza is definitely a great preview into how great the CrossFit community is. There were booths selling merchandise and booths like ours that was an interactive workout that anyone could try. This set up really brought people together which made it so fun!
I got to meet some of my favorite athletes on this trip, including Justin Medeiros who won the CrossFit games last year and Matt Fraser who is the GOAT of CrossFit. People have said that no one has ever performed like Matt Fraser did. He won the CrossFit games 5 times before he retired which is extremely hard to do. He set the bar pretty high for a lot of athletes.
My favorite workout to watch was the row, swim, run workout. I have never watched something like this in person before so it was really cool to see. Below I included a video of the men’s division doing it.
(It’s long but if you fast forward you can see multiple parts).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5BcrIo9U2k
Another thing we got to do was drop into CrossFit gyms in Miami! Which was super fun! I plan on interning with CompTrain in the future and can’t wait!
Next time I will tell you about the recent competition I had here at Penn State!
Amber Krape
That’s pretty sick! It’s really nice getting a peek into the world of CrossFit both with your workouts and with the community. I really like the inclusion of pics from your trip. Good job!
Will Corvino
This sounds like a really cool opportunity! So is Wodapalooza like a Crossfit conference? By which I mean, is it like a competition or a networking conference or a how to open a gym conference or any combination of those? I wish I had more prior knowledge so I could give a more in depth comment
Ainsley Spitz
This is so cool! I knew there were Cross Fit games, but I didn’t know there were events and tournaments like this. I loved seeing the pictures of you there! This definitely seemed like a great networking opportunity. I hope one day you can own your own gym! That workout also does seem insane. It’s so funny when they all come running to jump in the water.
Madeline
This is so cool! I’m so happy you got to have this awesome experience and meet all of these people that you really admire. Also, being 1 of 4 chosen is so cool, and I hope you’re super proud of yourself! I love all of the photos you included because it really does show the fun time you had.
Amana Seaton
Wow! That sounds amazing! I didn’t know there were tournaments for CrossFit, but also I love that the event was called Wodapalooza! It’s definitely an amazing opportunity to network and meet other students who are just as enthusiastic about CrossFit as you are!
Barbie Smith
I love that you are already combining your passions with your job aspirations. The trip looks like it was tons of fun. I think attending the event, as you said, will really help you network and find a future internship. The internship will give you the tools to start your own gym wherever you end up in the world!