How strong are CrossFit athletes?

CrossFit is an intriguing sport because any one can walk into a gym and attempt the same workouts that they watched the world’s best athletes perform at the Games. People that regularly weight train can also appreciate the loads that these athletes are repeatedly lifting, at high speed and under immense fatigue. However, I think we all wonder how strong the people at the CrossFit Games actually are.

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How Strong is the Average CrossFit Games Athlete

We went through the CrossFit Games website and did a ton of other searching to try to find the 1 rep maximums (1RMs) of all of the athletes that competed at the CrossFit Games in 2022. These numbers are listed in the tables below for their squat, deadlift, snatch and clean and jerk. You can compare them to yourself, and across your favourite lifters.

The average female CrossFit Games qualifier in 2022 was:

• 26 years old and 150 lbs
• Back squatted 308 lbs
• Deadlifted 360 lbs
• Snatched 192 lbs
• Clean and jerked 238 lbs

The average male CrossFit Games qualifier in 2022 was:

• 27 years old and 200 lbs
• Back squatted 460 lbs
• Deadlifted 532 lbs
• Snatched 286 lbs
• Clean and jerked 353 lbs

Of course, there are outliers in all of this. For instance, Dani Speegle had the heaviest back squat (370 lbs), snatch (220 lbs) and clean and jerk (270 lbs) out of all the women competing but “only” finished 17 th at the Games. So, being the strongest doesn’t necessarily lead to the podium.

If you’re interested in seeing how you stack up against the world’s best CrossFitters then you may want to sign up for the CrossFit Open. The Open is the 3-week international competition that serves as the starting point to qualify for the CrossFit Games. You can compete in The Open from your garage gym, provided you have all of the necessary equipment. I’ve gone through all of the workouts from the past 5 Opens so that you can ensure you have all of the equipment needed. You can read more about doing The Open at home and the required equipment here.

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What strength events happened at the CrossFit Games in 2022

The 2022 CrossFit Games didn’t have a traditional 1 rep maximum strength test like we have seen in the past. Previous Games have had a 1RM deadlift, or 1RM snatch, but we didn’t get anything like that this year. There seems to be a bigger move towards aerobic conditioning and gymnastics work as the key components that determine (podium) success at the Games. A breakdown of this year’s events can be found on the CrossFit Games site.

However, we did see the Shuttle to Overhead event where the athletes had to perform a max number of jerks at either 200 lbs (women) or 300 lbs (men) after running between 400 and 800 meters. I can’t imagine having 2 minutes to sprint for 400m then having to do a max number of jerks …let alone with a 300 lbs barbell, but these athletes made it look easy.

The Back Nine workout also asked the women to carry a 485 lbs yoke (108 feet), front squat 215 lbs (4 times) and deadlift 315 lbs (3 times). That deadlift is heavier than a lot of the women’s listed 1 rep max, as you can see in the table below. The men had a 665 lbs yoke, 315 lbs front squat and 475 lbs deadlift. These loads are huge, let alone after a full weekend of competition.

The 2022 Games seemed more focused on moderately-heavy (for the best CrossFitters in the world), multi-rep, repeated efforts rather than a true 1 RM test of strength. However, there definitely is a threshold level of max strength that is needed to be competitive.

Have you ever wondered why CrossFit athletes have the crazy abs that they have? Well, I wrote a full explanation that you can read here.

1 Rep Maxes of the Women Competing at the 2022 CrossFit Games