"(I am) planning on just taking the Open workouts as if it is another training session. No need to do them twice. You don't get re-dos at Regionals."
Last year, during the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games Open, fans of Travis Mayer, 22, knew something must have gone wrong when Mayer posted one rep on Open Workout 12.3.
It turns out 5-foot-11, 190-pound Mayer injured his L-5 vertebra and was unable to complete the workout.
He appears to have made a complete recovery, as Mayer currently sits in eighth place on the South East Leaderboard after three weeks of Open competition. In fact, Mayer posted the highest score in the South East on Open Workout 13.1, logging 303 reps.
“I was stoked when Dave (Castro) announced 13.3,” Mayer says. “At this time last year, I fractured my L-5 in my back, which took me out of the Open, but when they put this up (last yea)], I still did it with my injury and got 25 muscle-ups. So, I was hoping to do really well. This year, I got 33 wall balls into the next round for a score of 303, which I am very happy with.”
From Alpharetta, Ga., Mayer discovered CrossFit about two years ago when one of his friends showed him a video of Chris Spealler doing Fran.
He could not believe how fast Spealler moved the weight. Mayer decided to take on Fran himself using 115 pounds and strict pull-ups. He was immediately hooked.
With a background in motocross, basketball, and cross-country, Mayer’s skill sets have helped him to adapt as a competitive CrossFitter. On the local competition circuit, Mayer has recently won seven first-place finishes and even took third place behind NorCal’s Neal Maddox and SoCal’s Kenneth Leverich, at the OC Throwdown. Mayer says he learns something with every competition he does.
“At the OC Throwdown, I learned that being consistent and mentally focused the whole time helps going into the next workouts,” he says. “Don’t get so caught up on one WOD, just look forward to the next one and how you need to give it everything you got.”
Mayer, who is the head trainer and manager at CrossFit Silos, currently trains Tuesday through Thursday, leaving Monday and Friday for rest, and Saturday and Sunday for testing days. He chooses not to get too caught up in paleo or Zone diet and supplements with fish oil, Blonyx, and Progenex for recovery. Max El-Hag is his coach.
In taking on the Open, it is “one and done” for Mayer.
“(I am) planning on just taking the Open workouts as if it is another training session,” he says. “No need to do them twice. You don’t get re-dos at Regionals.”
So far, he has logged an impressive 190 reps on 13.1, 327 reps on 13.2, and the aforementioned 303 reps on 13.3. These scores have him in 47th place worldwide.
“The reason I love competing is to mentally push myself beyond my comfort zone and getting to that uncomfortable place, where you want to stop but you just can’t,” Mayer says. “CrossFit pushes you physically and mentally to a whole new level that helps translate into just everyday life.”
