CFD Member Brian Brooks has been busy lately. He took the time to write about where he's been and what he's been up to -- namely winning competitions. He's a great person, a great competitor and we're lucky to have him. Here's his quick re-cap of his competition prep / competition experience:

Where The Heck Have I Been? Testing Myself and Representing CFD!

By Brian Brooks

Some of you have been asking why I was MIA from the box over the last few months. While trying to squeeze a Crossfit workout in once or twice a week, I was training specifically for an competition at the Western States Police and Fire Games called "The Toughest Competitor Alive". It consists of 8 events in one day. Here are the events:

• 5K Run
• Shotput
• 100m Sprint
• 100m Swim
• 20ft. Rope Climb(Start on butt, no legs)
• Max Bench Press
• Max Pullups
• Obstacle Course

During my training for this event I started a strict Paleo Diet(minus a few beers) to see how that would effect my training. The short of it is that it works! One week before I started eating Paleo I weighed 189lbs. at 13.2% body fat. Eight weeks later, 4 days before my competition, I weighed 180lbs. at 9.8% body fat. Both of these body composition tests were taken by hydrostatic weighing -- the gold standard for bodyfat measurement. Eating Paleo and sticking to it was and is much easier to do than I expected. My energy levels were / are high and I was able to complete multiple training sessions in a day as the competition neared. As I leaned out, I kept my lean body mass, and most importantly kept my strength.

During my training, about 3 weeks before the Police Fire Games, I also competed in the first ever Crossfit competition at the Firefighter Olympics.
This event was hosted by Jason Khalipa, winner of the 2008 Crossfit Games. After finishing 4 intense workouts in 5 hours that he created, I finished 15th out of 40+ competitors. After a couple days rest I got back on the grind for the Police Fire Games. Here are the 8 events and how I did in each:

• 5k(they measured wrong and it was actually .3 mile longer)-26:20
• Shotput- 25ft
• 100m Sprint- 12.5
• 100m Swim- 1:03.97
• 20ft. Rope Climb(Start on butt, no legs)- 5.8 sec
• Max Bench Press- 330lb.
• Max Pullups(No kip, 3 sec. between each)- 29
• Obstacle Course- 1:30.9

My training and dieting paid off, I won the event and recieved the gold medal. {Gotta love the modesty -- he buries the lead, the fact that he WON a huge event -- waaay down here. ~Kitch}

Four days after this I also competed in the Push-Pull competition at the Police Fire Games which is max bench press and max deadlift. I also won this event for my age and weight class with a combined weight of 360kg. This was 330lb. on the bench and 462lb. on the deadlift. I broke the old record by 60kg. that was set in 2001. So as the coaches at the box are always pressing, set goals, go heavier, go bigger!

I've already set my goals for next year: Qualify and compete in the 2011 Crossfit Games and the World Police and Fire Games, which will be held in New York with over 15,000 competitors from over 70 countries.

If anyone has questions about training or dieting, I'm always down to help. Thanks to everyone who pushed me along the way and supported me. Remember, go BIG!

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