For years I saved every article I read about the importance of regular physical activity, thought about physical well-being, and made small efforts that felt large and didn’t last. I searched for personal trainers, tried working with two of them, and injured myself both times. Wary of tripping over my good intentions yet again, I settled for walking regularly and not complaining about the three flights of stairs to my apartment. I could so easily have kept on this way, always meaning to do more but never actually doing it.

Instead, I got lucky. In late August, just over a year ago, three things happened in rapid succession to knock me off the path I was on.

First, I visited life-long British friends who were just turning eighty. I hadn’t seen them since before the pandemic. As always, we walked together. But much more slowly. With frequent rest stops. With long naps afterwards. I could feel the tug of a slow but unrelenting downward spiral. It scared me.

Second, I read a New York Times article on the ferry back to the Netherlands – about a new study of strength training, aerobic exercise, and mortality that had recently been published in The British Journal of Sports Medicine. “Switching from a sedentary lifestyle to a workout schedule is comparable to ‘smoking versus not smoking,’ said Carver Coleman, a data scientist and one of the authors of the study.” I found it difficult to ignore that particular sentence, however broad the generalization, given how harshly I have judged people who smoke.

And lastly, I listened to Peter Attia summarize “an amazing study that demonstrates muscle mass changes, strength changes, and activity changes in men and women as they age. * * * At the age of 75 there is a cliff [in the data] that is so violent that you can’t believe what you’re watching. It’s at that cliff where physical activity level declines like this, it just goes boomp; muscle mass, boomp; strength, boomp. Same thing.” The sound Attia made to convey the data landing at the bottom of the cliff was particularly effective. My rendering of it as “boomp” hardly does it justice.

I wasn’t feeling particularly diminished or unable at 75, but after these three experiences I could see where I was headed if I didn’t change course and I was not about to go there. I knew that to change direction I would have to work with someone I trusted – and I knew that finding that person was not going to be easy. Back in Brooklyn, I asked for help instead of searching alone –- and I got it. A description of Noelle Nieva soon showed up in my inbox –

“Noelle specializes in working with older athletes, particularly women. She dreams of a world full of strong, kick-ass 40-, 50-, 60-, 70-, 80-, and 90 plus year-olds who are fully embracing their physicality and staying self-sufficient throughout their golden years!”

Yes! – but only if I could make it past the fact that the word “barbell” featured prominently, that the homepage photograph featured serious weightlifting, and that Brooklyn Barbell Club seemed to be part of a CrossFit gym. This was not what I thought I was looking for – but Noelle was.

Again, I was lucky. Some very classy writing softened the “barbell” blow, presenting Brooklyn Barbell Club on its homepage in eight carefully chosen words. “Dedicated, passionate, intelligent: welcome to bespoke private training.” And a Dutch trainer had already defused the worst of my CrossFit preconceptions. She was a physical therapist, CrossFit coach, running coach, triathlete and strength-endurance trainer, and, by chance, offered the Dutch exercise program for seniors that I was looking for because it was known for reducing their risk of falling. What I found, when I took a deep breath and walked into her CrossFit gym in The Hague, was not at all what I had imagined from her website’s gallery of CrossFit photos!

When we met for an assessment, I stumbled over Noelle’s first and very sensible question. What did I want? All I could really say was that I needed her because I didn’t know what I needed. I tried again in an email that I sent before our first training session.

“So, let me try again. [1] I want to trade in the baggage, the awareness of past injuries that limits me, for the ability to confidently read my own body now and as it changes. You said you would be asking me lots of questions as we worked so that I would feel and understand what we were doing. This is exactly what I think I need. [2] I want to improve my mobility / strength / alignment / balance / stamina for a long and self-sufficient life. This list may be too broad to be much help, but my repeated reference to “strength training” was, I think, too narrow. [3] In the process (which I realize will not be fast), I hope to eventually be drawn to physical activity rather than having to make myself go there.”

It’s been a year now of twice weekly sessions with Noelle, with increasing amounts of physical activity outside those sessions. In every session I’ve felt both challenged and safe. I see changes in every corner of my body – and of my life. In the process I’ve learned a lot about learning and laughed at myself a lot. It’s clear to me that the path I’m now on, this work with Noelle, is essential to my well-being.

Lesson 0: Why Is Judging Important?

The Open is a rare opportunity to record a score that’s been verified by someone standing next to you who has a much greater amount of oxygen getting to their brain, and can make sure you’re doing the right number of reps with full range of motion.

With good judging, you’ll be able to do these workouts again in future years and be absolutely sure that your scores are accurate and that your fitness is improving.

Judges also make sure that the Open is a fair competition: do you want to be comparing your score to someone’s whose judge let them get away with throwing half their wall balls a foot lower than the target?

Want to be a superstar judge? Take the CrossFit Judges Course online in time for the Open! You can register for it here. CFV members, if you pass the course, we’ll reimburse you the $10 fee: email your certificate to contact@crossfitvirtuosity.com.

Lesson 1: Counting!

One of your primary judging responsibilities is to count. This is harder than it sounds! A couple pro tips:

Use your scoresheet! Make hash marks for every rep (or every 5 reps for something speedy like double-unders). It’s really, really easy to lose count if your athlete takes a rest and your mind starts to wander: this way when you have that “oh f*&^” moment, you’ll have it written down!

Count out loud: this reenforces the number in your head, and also lets your athlete know what rep you think they’re on so they don’t move onto the next movement with one rep left, get confused, ask you to clarify, go back to the previous movement to do 1 rep, waste precious seconds doing all that, end up with a worse score, and leave you feeling like you messed it up for them.

Lesson 2: NO REPS

One of your primary judging responsibilities is to enforce movement standards. This is harder than it sounds: no one likes to make their athlete repeat reps. SO… some tips to get comfy with calling no reps:

Be clear & succinct: call the no rep, describe what they did wrong in as few words as possible, and keep counting. For example if they’re squatting: 1, 2, 3, 4, NO REP SQUAT LOWER, 5, 6, 7 etc.

Practice! The more no reps you call, the easier it gets. Get that first one under your belt the first chance you get. Do it NOW while you don’t have the pressure of it being the REAL Open!

Stop feeling bad about it: you’re not only helping your athlete record a valid score, but you’re making sure that the Open competition is fair. It might not seem like a huge deal to give someone a rep when they merely got very close to the bar with their chest on a chest-to-bar pull-up (for instance), but a single extra rep can have large scoring repercussions.

Don’t give pity reps! Yes, it sucks to watch someone struggle. Everyone wants to reward the person who tried 30 times to get their first toes-to-bar. But if they didn’t do it, don’t give it to them.  It’s pretty condescending to be like “awww, you tried so hard, have a participation rep”.

Lesson 3: The Athlete Angle

How to be a good athlete so your judge has an easy job!

Make your reps clearly good. Don’t make your judge guess. Squat an inch below parallel. Let them feel your chest hitting the bar on chest-to-bar pull-ups. Keep it as clean as you possibly can.

Breeze through the no-reps. If your judge no-reps you, do the rep again. It will screw up your score if you spend time sweating yourself or your judge for the no rep.

Don’t accept pity reps! If your judge tries to give you a rep that you didn’t earn, don’t accept it!! Sometimes judges have a hard time seeing everything. Tell your judge it wasn’t a rep and move on.

🫶 Don’t forget to thank your judge for their service!

Lesson 4: Preparation

The best judges come to the workout prepared!

Read through the movement standards (they’re linked from each workout description on the Games website and in SugarWOD) and bring any questions to class to ask your coach.

Peep the scoresheet so you know how you’re going to need to record things. Take special note of easy-to-forget things like TIEBREAK TIME (this gets people every single year!!)

Watch your athlete do a couple reps of each movement before the workout starts. Make sure you know where your athlete is likely to struggle, because that’s where you’ll have to do the most work.

Take the CrossFit Judges Course online to be a superstar judge in time for the Open! You can register for it here. CFV members: if you pass the course, we’ll reimburse you the $10 fee: email your certificate to contact@crossfitvirtuosity.com.

Lesson 5: Scoresheets

CrossFit is nice enough to make beautifully formatted scoresheets for us to use every year, but it’s easy to forget parts or write things down that are confusing!

Some tips from Sam, who has entered about 7000 scoresheets into the Master Virtuosity Intramural Scoring Spreadsheet, and has seen some things.

Athlete Name: make sure to write down your athlete’s first name AND LAST NAME, because believe it or not, there’ a pretty good chance your athlete is not the only person at the gym with that first name (and if we’re not sure who they are, we won’t know which team to credit their score to!)

Judge Name: write down your FULL NAME also, just in case you write something down on the scoresheet that your data entry professional / score validator doesn’t understand or needs clarification on.

Rx or Scaled: check the box corresponding to the score that you’re going to enter for your athlete. This can get complicated if your athlete starts the workout Rx, but then gets stuck and decides to continue as scaled. If this happens, STOP JUDGING when they switch to scaled, record their Rx score, check the Rx box, and don’t write anything else onto the scoresheet. The part they did scaled won’t count anyway.

Tiebreak Time: Many Open workouts require that you enter a tiebreak time, which helps separate athletes who scored the same number of reps. It’s really easy to forget about these, but they can make a real difference to an athlete’s score so try your best not to!

Score: You will need to enter your athlete’s time, reps completed, or load lifted, or some combination of those things, at the bottom of the scoresheet. Almost all the scoresheets have some tiny numbers at the corner of each box that help you do the math on how many total reps your athlete got through. Use them! And/or a calculator.

Lesson 6: Have Fun!

Don’t forget to have fun with this: The Open is always a blast!!

Session 1

Video Demo / Instructions

10 Minutes for Quality:

• 2 Tempo Pull-Ups (3-5s hold at top, 3-5s eccentric, 1s hang)
• 2 Tempo Push-Ups (3-5s plank hold, 3-5s eccentric, worm up)

Session 2

Video Demo / Instructions

10 Minutes for Quality:

• 2 Hanging Box Hollows (3-5s hold in hollow)
• 2 Tempo Box Handstand Push-Ups (3-5s handstand hold, 3-5s eccentric, 1s concentric)

Points of Performance

Pull-Up

• Hold shoulders down all the way to the very bottom
• Make sure to spend 1s in a relaxed hang before you drop

Push-Up

• Full arm extension at the top
• Chest and thighs touch down at the same time at the bottom
• Perfect hollow held throughout

Points of Performance

Hollow

• Initiate with scap pull-up
• Push down into the bar
• Tuck abs into hollow, squeeze butt, squeeze legs together

HSPU

• Complete with knees or toes on the box; move to toes if knees get too easy (if you start on your toes and you run out of reps, you can move to knees halfway through!)
• If you want to use an abmat to cushion your head, place two 25 lb bumpers on either side of the abmat for your hands so you’re still training full range of motion.
• Push the ground away in the hold, active shoulders
• Reach tripod position at the bottom (you should be able to see your hands) with neutral neck (look at the box not down at the ground.)
• Reach nose back to box on ascent (push vertically not horizontally: don’t let it turn into a regular push-up.)

Scaling Options

Pull-Up

• If you’re falling through any part of your eccentric, you should scale.
• The goal is to scale in a way that is still very challenging but allows you to complete the movement with full control.
• Set up a bar in the rig, such that you can just reach the bar over your head with a full grip when you’re sitting on the ground underneath it.
• Extend your legs out in front of you, and proceed to complete the tempo pull-up with a little help from your feet.
• If you’re still falling through any part of your eccentric, bend your knees when you’re sitting on the ground so that your feet are closer to the bar and can provide more support.

Push-Up

• If you’re falling through any part of your eccentric, you should scale.
• The goal is to scale in a way that is still very challenging but allows you to complete the movement with full control.
• Set up a bar in the rig, and complete your push-up with your hands on the bar. You can also use a box or bench to elevate your hands, but the bar height is more adjustable so that you can get just the right challenge.

Scaling Options

Box Hollows

• If you’re not able to pull your shoulder blades down and hold them there (keep your neck long) while you’re hanging from the pull-up bar, you should scale these.
• It doesn’t matter how far behind the pull-up bar you’re getting as long as you’re keeping your long neck, pushing down hard into the bar, and squeezing yourself into a hollow shape.
• If you can’t maintain your shoulder position, scale to 5 scap pull-ups with a toe or toes on the box (take off just enough weight to make it challenging), holding 3-5s in the top and bottom positions.

HSPU

• If you’re falling through any part of your eccentric, or can’t hold a handstand, you should scale these.
• Scale to downward dog HSPU or seated double dumbbell shoulder presses: sit on the ground with your spine neutral, legs extended (slight bend is ok to maintain neutral spine), and holding the dumbbells at your shoulders, press overhead to full lockout with the same tempo as the HSPU (3-5s up, 3-5s hold overhead, 3-5s down).

Show your love for CFV! We’ve overhauled our online store with designs old and new on tees, tanks, hoodies, kids stuff, even dog bandanas

All of our memberships and private training sessions can be gifted by purchasing an online gift card of the appropriate value. Don’t forget to factor in sales tax (4.875%.)

We’ll also happily send you a printable PDF card as pictured if you shoot us an email (contact@crossfitvirtuosity.com) to request it after purchase!

Note: if it’s not working from your phone, try it from a computer (ZenPlanner doesn’t officially support phones )!

CrossFit Sneakers

A good pair of CrossFit sneakers can be a game-changer for your movement quality, because they’re less squishy than running shoes so you can get that sweet, sweet proprioceptive feedback on how exactly you’re balanced over your foot.

Here are some pairs we like —

• R.A.D One: cutting edge, eco-friendly
• NoBull Trainer+: minimal & stylish
• Nike Metcon 9 (men’s | women’s): versatile but run a little narrow
• Reebok Nano X3: a little more cushy
• Inov-8 F-Lite G300 (men’s | women’s): for wider feet

Weightlifting Shoes

If you struggle to get into a good squat position when weightlifting due to limited calf and ankle mobility, weightlifting shoes can make a world of difference.

Here are some that are designed to be worn for WODs (i.e. you can kinda run and jump in them once you’re done lifting.) —

• Nike Savaleos
• Reebok Lifter PR

For a pure weightlifting shoe (usually pretty heavy and clunky for running and such, but optimized for heavy lifting) check out these —

• Nike Romaleos
• Do-Win Lifters
• Adipower IIIs