"My first workout was a seven-minute AMRAP ... it was the longest seven minutes in my life."
Photos by: Adrian Wirawan
Ten months ago, Ronald Wihardjo had one goal upon returning from his honeymoon last May: to get his weight below 100 kg.
Today, along with thousands of athletes, he is competing in his first-ever Open.
“I weighed 123 kg and I was leading an unhealthy lifestyle,” Wihardjo says. “For the past 15 years, I've been dealing with liver problems. My SPGT and SGOT were always elevated. I recently went for a blood test for the first time in 15 years. The results came back normal.”
His marked improvement in his health is largely due to his determination to be better. Within the short period of 10 months, he has lost 27 kg through a combination of consistent training and the paleo diet.
“I told Ronald that it would involve a lot of hard work, but mostly, it would start from nutrition,” Brian Panji, head coach at CrossFit Equator, says.
Recalling their first meeting at the box’s 2012 CrossFit for Hope after party, Wihardjo shared his weight-loss goal with Pandji. Shortly after, Wihardjo committed himself to CrossFit Equator’s paleo challenge and started CrossFitting at least three times a week.
“The first time I stepped into the box, it felt a little bit intimidating,” Wihardjo says. “My first (workout) was a seven-minute AMRAP of seven wall balls and seven burpees; it felt like the longest seven minutes of my life.”
But Wihardjo was committed to his goal.
“He took every (workout) seriously, did the met-con and followed every (workout) with a 1k row,” Pandji says. “Six weeks later on the end of the paleo challenge, he already lost about 10 kg.”
Not only was he losing weight, Wihardjo was also getting stronger.
“He was also PRing at every lift,” Pandji explains. “Ron is now hitting past 300 lb. on the deadlift and front squats.”
Encouraged by the results he’s seeing with CrossFit, Wihardjo says he wanted to see how much further he could go. He is competing in the Open with the purpose of benchmarking himself.
“I want to see how much I can improve within the next few years,” he says. “I want to unlock all the potential within me by identifying and improving my flaws.”
However, one of his weaknesses was exposed during 13.4.
“When HQ first announced 13.4, it was going to be first time I had to do toes-to-bar in a (workout),” he says. “All this while, I always scaled down to knees to chest. I did a trial two days before I did 13.4 and ripped the skin on my palm. During 13.4, my palms got worse, and it started bleeding badly. I had to stop, but (tried) to get every rep that I could.”
Also a new father, Wihardjo is adjusting to his new responsibilities. As the father of a 3-week-old baby, he says he’s dealing with some fatigue.
“It really stretched me mentally and physically, as I needed to keep my mind and body in prime condition for the Open workouts,” he says. “Every second, every rep, every opportunity to rest mattered. But in the end, it is about how much I am willing to give to finish the (workout).”
With the Open drawing to a close, Wihardjo is 823rd in the Asia Region, and although it is not among the top, he still feels the Open has been a fruitful experience for him. And he’s not about to stop.
“Every Open (workout) has been very challenging and has really pushed me to the limit. But I have also seen improvements,” he says. “I did Karen two months ago with a time of around 22 minutes, but on 13.3, I managed to complete 126 wall balls in 12 minutes. It has been tough, but the 2013 Open is just the beginning of the many more awesome years to come.”
