*This post is sponsored by Fitfluential, LLC on behalf of Reebok.
Yesterday was Day #1 (for me) of the 2014 CrossFit Games in Carson, California. It was every bit as awesome and amazing as last year — and then some.
To begin, I’m staying at a gorgeous resort called Terranea on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. It could NOT be more picturesque and Reebok went above and beyond to provide media with such a luxurious place to stay.
I wish was staying a few extra days because the view is spectactular. The weather has been perfect and I am wondering why I do not live in Southern California for real.
After a quick welcome session on Thursday night, we woke up early Friday for breakfast and a cool sneak peek into the Reebok store and inside baseball info on the new products. Reebok’s CEO, head designer and more talked with us about the Nano 4.0 and why they chose to construct it the way that they did, as well as their new lifting shoes, endurance shoes and a whole host of fresh new clothing.
Each year, the clothing gets way better and this year stood the test. They are truly innovative with their style and talked a lot about immersing fitness wear into everyday style and how that’s becoming an major trend in fashion.
You can find all the new stuff in the CrossFit line here (I’m scouring it for a purchase already!)
Considering I’d rather wear leggings and comfy shirts any day of the week, I’m with them on this one. Here are a few of the new styles:
I love Reebok because they really made a comeback in the past few years. They are known for their style in the 80s but have reinvented the brand and become a huge success again.
For me, it obviously had a lot to do with CrossFit. I learned that Reebok has a 10-year partnership with CrossFit and each year they strive to make better clothing for the sport. The speak regularly with the athletes to ensure they are creating shoes and clothes that work — and are already working on the Nano 5.0! I’ve been enjoying the 4.0’s a lot this weekend!
We stopped by the #ReebokBacon truck, which is giving out FREE bacon all day!
After getting this sneak peak at the product — which, by the way, we all got a wonderful gift bag full of! — we headed over to Torrance CrossFit for our WOD with Blair Morrison, Chris Everett and Lindsey Valenzuela — our “celebrity” CrossFit hosts for the weekend.
They took it easy on us and had us to “Fight Gone Bad” — ha ha. Here’s how that works:
Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20″ box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)
Rough! We only did 2 rounds but it was STILL rough!
I also got to sneak a pic with Lindsey Valenzuela — who is super nice and down to earth. She, Blair and Chris also came to lunch with us afterwards. So gracious and all very easy to talk to!
After the WOD, it was back to the resort for some lunch at one of their delicious restaurants — and I mean delicious! Oh the view, the weather, the food, the company — all amazing.
I mean, look at where we were sitting:
It was FINALLY almost to go actually watch the CrossFit Games. It’s about 30 minutes from our hotel so we all showered and got ready to go. I was so excited and couldn’t believe it had already been a full year since I was here last.
I never thought I’d have the opportunity to go to the Games once, let alone twice — so I’m reveling in it! Thank goodness for my awesome camera lens again this year as well. Here are some of my best shots from Day #1:
Jason Khalipa dominates! I hope he wins!
Julie Foucher before jumping on the last bar.
Jenn Jones was awesome in this workout!
Day #1 was…awesome if you can’t tell. I got to see some of my favorites but it’s definitely NOT clear who is going to win this year. Rich Froning did awesome in the events yesterday that I saw but he didn’t do as well in a few other things. He was not even in the men’s final heat!
Julie Foucher and Annie Thorisdotter are not doing as well as I expected either but there is still time to make up for it. It’s odd that last year’s first and second place winners are not here this year so it makes the battle more intense.
I would love to see Jason Khalipa win. His personality won me over last year in the press conference and I have been following him on Instagram since then. He seems like such a fun, nice guy who is devoted to his wife (high school sweetheart!) and a great Dad. He also works extremely hard and doesn’t necessarily have the prime build for all the things CrossFit entails but he dominates anyway. We’ll see if he can move from second to first place this year!
I’m have a blast paling around with Gina and meeting a lot of other great press folks. Even Greatist is here covering it — very cool!
Want to keep up with things? You can check out the leader board here or check in to ESPN3 for live coverage. You can also watch live online!
Now I’m on to WOD and Day #2! Still lots of updates on Instagram and Twitter happening all day!