"At the beginning of Day 3, I was back quite a bit, but knew that Events 6 and 7 should be decent finishes for me. I put my focus on what I could control and did not worry about what happened after."
Cinderella stories happened left and right during the 2014 CrossFit Games regional season.
Upsets shook up Leaderboards worldwide, and a handful of newcomers and underdogs emerged on the scene.
Jeff Germond of the South Central Region was nowhere near the top of the Leaderboard going into Day 3 of his fifth-ever trip to regionals. After a third-place finish on Event 6 he jumped to seventh place—shaking up the Leaderboard and sitting only 6 points away from Roy Gamboa’s second-place spot.
In Event 7, Germond finished first and jumped from seventh to second place, knocking the projected weekend leader, Gamboa, out of the top three. Once scores were verified, Germond was told he was finally going to the Games—something he had been trying to do for years.
Reflecting back on his previous attempts (22nd in 2010; 13th in 2011; and eighth in both 2012 and 2013), he could not believe it.
“At the beginning of Day 3, I was back quite a bit, but knew that Events 6 and 7 should be decent finishes for me,” Germond recounted. “I put my focus on what I could control and did not worry about what happened after.”
“When my CrossFit NOLA family started screaming that I was second, I felt overwhelmed,” he added. “It has literally been a five-year long journey for me that culminated on the final day. Just thinking about the journey is emotional for me.”
While the 33-year-old box owner of NOLA has qualified every year for the South Central Regional for five years, he’s only now beginning to realize his potential.
“This year, I finally caught up to the competition. I had always been a year behind, being able to put up scores that would qualify me but only a year after the regional,” he said. “The past two years, I have been capable of putting up scores that would get me out of the current year's regional. I have had expectations to make it out the past two years, and last year … was particularly hard to swallow because of one bad workout.”
Germond continued: “I generally never win events, so when I get in a hole, I have a hard time digging out. This year was different because I had two of my best regional finishes ever on the last day. I was able to complete the comeback.”
It’s clear his success this year did not come overnight. He left last year’s regional with one goal in mind: 2014 Games. Three days of rest, and then he was right back at it, in the gym, following whatever programming his coach, Spencer Arnold, told him to do. He was in the gym five to six days per week for three to four hours at a time.
“I trained more and harder than I ever have,” he said. “I communicated with Spencer practically daily, sending him lifts over text message and training summary over a shared document. I generally have an Oly strength piece, a powerlifting strength piece, a gymnastic skill/conditioning piece and a conditioning piece on most of the days.”
Germond never complained about any of the hard work or time he put into his training. But it wasn’t just the physical dedication that made a difference. This year, he believed in himself.
“I don't have staggering numbers in anything. I don't feel that I am the strongest, fastest, most explosive or best at one thing,” he admitted. “But one thing I have come to realize is a strength is that I do feel like I can do almost everything pretty well, I am pretty well-rounded. And the best thing about this year? I learned that I can win a workout. This lesson came at the most opportune time!”
Arnold, who’s been working with Germond for three years, calls his athlete a model of hard work and consistency who always “gives all he has.”
In the last year, Arnold has seen obvious improvement in Germond’s Olympic lifts.
“The snatch ladder kept him out of the Games last year,” Arnold said. “He snatched 255 this week. He’s massively ahead of where he was and his Olympics lifts are most obvious.”
Germond has a reputation for grinding out long workouts but wasn’t as proficient in the short events. He and Arnold worked specifically on that in the last year, and it bore fruit this year with his Event 7 win.
“I had him do a lot of work in shorter time domains, 2 to 3 minutes, rest for 6 minutes, then complete 9 to10 rounds,” Arnold explained. “Or maybe hit five to six benchmark workouts in training, quick movements … do Fran, Grace, Elizabeth, rest 5 to 6 minutes, hit five to six benchmarks.”
Arnold added: “He didn’t believe he wasn’t that good at that … but I told him, ‘We have to work here, you are a grinder.’ Come regionals, I knew that last workout would be great for him.”
Competing at the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games won’t be an ego boost for Germond. Instead, it’s sweet reward for his dedication and tenacity.
Competing as a Games athlete is part of that dream.
As one of the many rookies at this year’s Games, Germond is as nervous as any other athlete about the inevitable surprises that will be thrown his way.
Nonetheless, he remains confident. He won’t let his recent success or the pressure to perform get to him, and said his training will stay pretty much the same with a few additional components thrown in: swimming and odd-object lifts.
“More than anything, I am looking forward to competing with some of the best in the world and I don't want to leave doubt that I belong there,” Germond said. “I have earned my spot through hard work. I show up every day, train even when I don't want to and try to lead by example. I think I finally got the world to notice a little.”
