Tempo Back Squat 4-4-4-4 & FT: Row and Wall Balls

Photo by @robcwilson @snoridgecrossfit

…1 day until the 2022 CrossFit Open kicks off. Register today.

Team SRCF Athlete Count for the 2022 CrossFit Games Open: 33

How to Watch Open Announcement 22.1

The first live Open announcement of the Post-Dave Castro Era and the official start of the 2022 CrossFit Games season is coming in hot tomorrow on the official CrossFit YouTube channel.

Looking for clues as to what 22.1 is going to be? CrossFit dropped a hint on their Instagram, see if you can figure it out.

It’s officially official, Samuel Cournoyer, three times CrossFit Games athlete, will be joining none other than Rich Froning and Mayhem Freedom in the team competition.

Row Pro: Calories Vs. Meters

Read the link above for insight on the difference between rowing for meters and calories and how it impacts performance in a workout.

Rowing for Meters Versus Calories

“When a row is measured in calories, it’s a different story for a CrossFit athlete, Dreissigacker said.

Peter Dreissigacker is the founder of the rowing company Concept2 Inc., a business he started with his brother Dick back in 1976.

Concept2’s ergometer monitor has a built-in algorithm that was designed to mimic the fluid resistance of a rowing shell going through water, Dreissigacker explained. This means a monitor on the meters setting — as opposed to the calories setting — forces a rower to work really, really hard to increase his or her speed, he said.

“That’s what happens when you’re in a boat. It’s because of the drag on the water. This means you put a whole lot more effort in and you go just a little bit faster.”

Thus, rowing 500 meters in 1:45 can make you feel like you’re going to die, while going just five seconds slower over the same distance barely hurts at all, he added.

When you’re competing in the sport of rowing, it makes sense to go as hard as you can because the only goal is to move the boat faster — or to get the best possible time on the ergometer — but using a rowing machine during a multi-modal CrossFit workout changes the game completely, Dreissigacker said.

“The way the ergometer is designed … throws a wrench into CrossFit competitions, as it has created this whole dilemma of ‘how hard do you go?’” Dreissigacker explained.”

What About Calories?

“If the work is done in calories, it’s not the same game as if it’s done in meters because the calories don’t have the same effect as the meters,” he said.

He added: “The calorie setting is about as scientific as we can be without plugging in all the individual factors, like body weight and metabolism speed. It ends up being a unit that resembles calories somewhat and is consistent for everyone.”

The calorie setting on the ergometer doesn’t take water resistance into consideration the same way, so calories are earned differently than meters. On a practical level, the calorie setting rewards athletes for pushing harder. And much more time can be made up when the row is for calories, Dreissigacker said.

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