CrossFit Athletic Group

For the majority of this Summer we have been working on the concept of competing, and I thought this weekend's Olympics workout might serve as a good opportunity to talk about sample size, bias, and conflict of interest, and how that can play into our ability to assess how we've done.

Guys First run/bike/run

1. Mr. Ron 11:01
2. Iakov 11:25
3. Anto 13:13
4. Mr. Francis 14:05
5. Charles 14:05
6. Moustaache 14:06
7. Mr. Gjon 14:57 (?)
8. Bewick 17:59
9. Mr. Coffee 19:55
10. Mr. Lett 21:15

Girls first run/bike/run

1. Faith 14:30
2. Bubs 14:43
3. Jessica 15:12
4. Natalie 15:24
5. Mrs. Van 15:45
6. Cecilia 15:47
7. Tea 15:50
8. Bethany 15:51
9. Mrs. Colleen 16:19
10. Mrs. Robinson 16:20
11. Sarah 16:20
12. Mrs. Goga 17:23
13. Mrs. Nevarez 18:38
14. Mrs. Hana 18:55
15. Mr. Malak 21:00
16. Mrs. Carey 21:12

Guys handstand hold

1. Mr. Ron 1:43
2. Anto 1:23
3. Iakov 1:05
4. Mr. Lett 1:00
5. Mr. Coffee :50
6. James :46
7. Parker :45
8. Moustaache :40
9. Mr. Gjon :38
10. Mr. Van :36
11. Mr. Malak :24
12. Mr. Francis :20
13. Bewick :19

Girls handstand hold

1. Faith 2:53
2. Bubs 2:48
3. Mrs. Van 2:38
4. Sam 1:30
5. Mrs. Nevarez 1:18
6. Natalie 1:05
7. JT 1:05 (tied his sister!!)
8. Sarah 1:04
9. Mya 1:04
10. El 1:00
11. Mrs. Carey :55
12. Jessica :51
13. Cecilia :47
14. Mrs. Colleen :46
15. Tea :45
16. Mrs. Goga :42
17. Mrs. Hana :38
18. Mrs. Robinson :21
19. Bethany :20
20. *Madelyn claimed a 40:30 handstand hold, so judges will need to review that

Guys 2nd run/bike/run

1. Mr. Ron 12:24
2. Iakov 13:17
3. Mr. Francis 14:43
4. Moustaache 15:31 (+ fall)
5. Anto 15:38 (+ a fall)
6. Mr. Gjon 16:29
7. Mr. Lett 18:20
8. Mr. Coffee 18:48
9. Mr. Malak 21:34
10. Bewick 22:40

Girls 2nd run/bike/run

1. Bubs 14:39
2. Faith 15:03
3. Mrs. Nevarez 15:24
4. Cecilia 15:51
5. Natalie 16:07
6. Jessica 16:12
7. Tea 16:32
8. Mrs. Van 16:40
9. Bethany 16:46
10. Mrs. Colleen 17:16
11. Mrs. Hana 17:37
12. Mrs. Carey 19:02

Guys toes to bar

1. Mr. Ron 46
2. Anto 35
3. Iakov 32
4. Mr. Robinson 31
5. Mr. Gjon 21
6. Mr. Carey 19
7. Xavier 14
8. Mr. Francis 10
9. Mr. Malak 7
10. Parker 5.5
11. Mr. Lett 5
12. Bewick 0

Girls toes to bar

1. Bubs 34.5
2. Faith 26.5
3. Jessica 19
4. Mrs. Van 18
5. Mrs. Colleen 16
6. Shakes 10
7. Cecilia 8
8. Mrs. Hana 6.5
9. Bethany 5.5
10. Mrs. Carey 5
11. Mrs. Robinson 4

Guys Throw/jump

1. Iakov 3:10
2. Mr. Ron 3:19
3. Mr. Robinson 4:08
4. Mr. Malak 4:13
5. Mr. Gjon 5:33
6. Xavier 6:20 (?)
7. Mr. Lett 6:25
8. Mr. Carey 6:26
9. Bewick 6:36
10. Anto 6:50
11. Mr. Francis 7:20

Girls throw/jump

1. Cecilia 3:23
2. Jessica 3:25
3. Shakes 3:53
4. Mrs. Carey 4:13
5. Mrs. Van 5:00
6. Mrs. Robinson 5:11
7. Faith 5:15
8. Mrs. Hana 5:44
9. Bethany 5:51
10. Bubs 5:58
11. Mrs. Colleen 6:17

Guys clean

1. Anto 175
2. Bewick 175
3. Mr. Ron 160
4. Mr. Carey 145
5. Xavier 135
6. Iakov 115
7. Mr. Lett 115
8. Mr. Robinson 95
9. Mr. Francis 95

Girls clean

1. Jessica 142.5
2. Shakes 142.5
3. Cecilia 140
4. Bubs 140
5. Mrs. Carey 105
6. Bethany 105
7. Faith 100
8. Mrs. Van 95
9. Mrs. Hana 95
10. Mrs. Robinson 80
11. Mrs. Colleen 62.5

Guys swim/bike/swim

1. Mr. Ron 9:02
2. Iakov 9:50
3. Anto 11:49
4. Parker 14:41
5. Mr. Francis 14:45
6. Xavier 14:45
7. Mr. Robinson 15:15
8. Mr. Gjon 15:33
9. Mr. Carey 16:32

Girls swim/bike/swim

1. Faith 11:25
2. Mrs. Van 12:38
3. Bubs 13:21
4. Jessica 14:40
5. Cecilia 14:54
6. Shakes 15:04
7. Madelyn 16:00
8. Mrs. Hana 16:11
9. Mrs. Colleen 16:13

So instead of writing paragraphs that most of you will probably skip over anyway, I'd like to just present a few questions first:

1. What do these results mean to you?
2. What do these results mean for the gym, in general?
3. What/how many workouts would you have picked for the Olympics Theme Workout?

And now, let's bring up a few more questions that might guide you in the answers to the first three:

1. How do you think equipment played a role in the bike/run/bike workout format?
2. How do you think equipment played a role in the bike/swim/bike format?
3. How do you think equipment played a role in the selection of the Gymnastics tests?
4. How do you think space played a role in the format of the throw/jump workout?
5. Who do you think was the target audience for the broad jump/med ball throw?
6. What kind of role did my "community" bias play in the selection of the workouts?
7. What kind of role did my "athletic" bias play in the selection of the workouts?
8. What kind of role did Make It Up As I Go format play into the selection of the workouts?
9. How did my bias towards individual athletes play a role in the workout selection?
10. How did the attendance on each day factor into your perception of the results?
11. Does knowing who wasn't at the workouts factor into how you perceive the results?
12. How much did self-judging and self-counting play into the final scores?
13. Would it be fair to take injuries and physical limitations into account?
14. If these same 7 workouts were repeated for 10 weekends, would the results change?

One thing I have learned in the past two years is that you don't have to be a scientist, PhD, senior board member, or any other kind of authority figure to not only ask these kinds of questions, but also expect to receive honest answers, whether that's for school, medical stuff, politics, or athletics. When you take that into account, you'll understand that it becomes very, very difficult to make accurate, fair, and just comparisons. Instead, I think our focus and energy would be better spent on competing with whoever and whatever we're facing at any given moment, knowing there are dozens of outside factors beyond our control. But, then again, I'm biased so I may be completely wrong.