With the Wodapalooza CrossFit Festival concluding this past weekend, the sport’s top athletes showed us why they’ve been so dominant these past few years. The results of the competition also gave us a clearer picture of who will be headed to the CrossFit Games.
Wodify was in Miami to cheer on the competitors and meet with gym owners, alongside NCFIT Collective founder Jason Khalipa and fitness entrepreneur JP Perelmutter. Because of our international customer base, meeting face-to-face is challenging, which is why we made it a goal to talk to as many customers as possible.
The big takeaway from Wodify’s breakfast meet-up was the idea of “fitness field trips” - taking time to explore non-CrossFit gyms (bootcamps, spinning classes, etc.) to see what’s working for them and their members. Box owners might not copy their operation style, but they’ll likely find one or two good ideas to bring back home. Shoutout to Michelle from CrossFit Red White and Blue for the pro tip!
Our Happy Hour event allowed us to connect with even more gym owners who made the trip to Miami. Time after time, we heard that building a peer network of fellow owners is crucial. Because everyone is going through similar challenges, bouncing ideas off those with similar experience and learning from each other’s mistakes is invaluable!
If you were looking for surprises on the Wodapalooza leaderboard, you’re out of luck. In the Team division, multiple CrossFit Games winners CrossFit Mayhem Freedom took the top spot. The Elite Women’s and Men’s division winners were also familiar faces, as Tia-Claire Toomey and Patrick Vellner, who edged out Cole Sager in a tie-breaker, repeated as Wodapalooza champions.
Shameless plug alert! Vellner’s coach, Michelle LeTendre, is the creator of DekaComp, workout programming that seamlessly integrates with Wodify. Your members may not be him, but they can certainly train like him. Check out the WOD Marketplace for more information on DekaComp, and other top-rated programming systems.
Once the 4-day competition was finished, more CrossFit Games invitations had been determined. Canada’s Emily Rolfe earned her invitation to the 2020 CrossFit Games by finishing in 10th place, as all athletes ahead of her had already qualified. The same can be said for Saxon Panchik, whose 4th place finish also earned him a trip to Madison. Again, due to prior qualifications, Team CrossFit Mayhem Independence will also be going to the Games after finishing in fourth place.
Thanks to all the gym owners who came out to meet us over the weekend. We hope everyone enjoyed the exciting competition!