“This is as much of a mental game as it is a physical. We practice a mindset where we are without mind. It’s called Mushin, and it literally means, ‘no mind.’” ~Ariel Fernandez
CrossFit Virtuosity placed 26th in the 2014 Open in the North East Region, qualifying for the regional by just four spots, and no athlete from Virtuosity qualified as an individual.
But now the team is going to the CrossFit Games.
These six athletes attribute their upcoming trip to Carson, California, to the leadership of Steve Cirbus, who accepted the coaching job just three weeks before the Open started. Cirbus said his team’s third-place podium finish at the regional was a result of flawless execution and a spiritual connection between the athletes.
“We stuck to the plan,” Cirbus said. “We cultivated a group of individuals who would die for each other. No one was there for themselves. They had a higher purpose and a common language.”
Cirbus is a Buffalo, New York, native and the owner of EFC CrossFit in Astoria, New York. Since 2009, Cirbus has done the programming for former Games competitor Jessica Pamanian, who leads the women of Virtuosity. Pamanian introduced Cirbus to CrossFit Virtuosity’s owner Samantha Orme who knew bringing him on board could make the difference on the road to regionals.
“I brought Steve in as a strong central point,” Orme said. “They are all great athletes but needed to gather around one purpose.”
Interestingly, Cirbus moonlights as an actor and has been featured in the films “Salt” and “I Am Legend,” as well as television shows including “Delocated,” “30 Rock,” “The Good Wife” and “Law and Order.” Cirbus coached Pamanian as an individual in 2010 and 2011. She finished in fourth place in 2010 behind Kristan Clever, Annie Thorsdottir and Valerie Voboril.
“Steve is always typecast as a big bad Russian dude or a hit man, neither of which are surprising given his traps have biceps,” Pamanian said, who took three years off from competition to regain her confidence as an athlete.
“I stopped competing because I was scared to fail,” Pamanian said. “All throughout my youth and college years I was a part of winning teams. I had never experienced personal defeat until 2011. I felt lost.”
The former University of California, Berkeley softball player was disappointed in her 38th place at the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games and wondered if her competitive athletic career was over.
“Jess has fought her way back,” Cirbus said. “She has very few weaknesses and has multiple gears for different time domains. Her mental game is strong.”
Pamanian’s barbell game is also strong including a 210-lb. clean and jerk, 200-lb. overhead squat, 350-lb. deadlift and 165-lb. snatch. Cirbus said Pamanian’s barbell strength as a great asset to the team.
“Our team dynamic is one of great respect,” Pamanian said. “Every athlete brings something unique to the table. No person is put above any other. We are all equals.”
Professionally, Pamanian is a trained pastry chef and also cooks paleo meals for personal clients. Her résumé includes fine New York establishments including Le Grand Vefour, Al Forno, Jardiniére and Daniel.
“I love making people fat with happiness after a good meal,” Pamanian said. “My favorite thing to make (is) French macarons. After the Games I’m going to cook my team a three-course dinner.”
Perhaps first at her table will be teammate Paul Delanoy. At 6-feet tall and more than 200 lb., this former football player for Western New England University has a 310-lb. clean and jerk, 405-lb. back squat, a 2:39 Fran time and 56 consecutive pull-ups. A New York City police officer, Delanoy attributes his team’s regional finish to the programming Cirbus provided during regional preparation.
“Steve asked us to believe in the process,” Delanoy said. “He pushed us to limits we didn’t know we had.”
Entering the North East Regional in 26th place and finishing third was no short climb. Delanoy describes the excitement of the regional weekend as one of the greatest highs of his life.
“We took second on the first event and everyone was like, ‘Whoa,’” Delanoy said. “We had been together at smaller competitions, but this was so much bigger.”
“Coming in above average in every event is what gets you on the podium,” Cirbus said. “You don’t have to win one thing.”
Virtuosity didn’t win one single event at the North East Regional. Placing second, fourth, ninth, eighth, 12th, ninth, fifth, and third, respectively, was enough to solidify its spot at the Games. Top-ranked Team Dynamix Strength had four first-place finishes. The second-place team CrossFit King of Island Park finished first in two events.
“Once the workouts were announced, that was our focus,” Delanoy said. “We studied regions that went before us. We even had a script for the snatch workout. We needed every second of the 8 minutes.”
Cirbus describes Delanoy as having “psychological durability.”
“He’s big, strong, fast and has gymnastics ability,” Cirbus said. “I tell him to channel the anger he has inside and release it into his workout.”
“Steve encourages me to go ‘there’ and find ‘that place,’” Delanoy said. “At work, I have to have thick skin, and the past 18 months of my life have been the greatest highs and the lowest lows.”
Delanoy refers to losing his father just before the 2013 Open in an unexpected heart attack and getting married 13 months ago as two sources of inspiration for his training.
“I always want to be the best I can be for my family,” Delanoy said. “Going to the gym and training helps me find balance.”
Training is sometimes a delicate balance for Gregg Martino, who works as a trainer at CrossFit Virtuosity and is part of CrossFit’s Level 1 Seminar Staff. A newcomer to both the regional and Games stage, Martino works diligently to complete his Games preparation while on the road.
“I travel with seminar staff from Friday to Monday,” Martino said. “We work out at the lunch hour together as a team. I follow both what we are doing as a staff and what my Virtuosity team is working on.”
Martino served as a judge at the Canada East Regional and attributes that to his preparedness for the North East.
“It’s always good to do more than the minimum requirement,” Martino said. “I judged each team member’s workout before regionals. That was instrumental in preparing.”
Martino has 18 years of experience wrestling in high school and college, and believes this gives him a great ability to adapt to unconventional workouts.
“In wrestling, you have to be reactive to what your opponent does,” Martino said. “At the Games, you have to be ready for the unknown. We are going to have to deal with an odd object. Steve is programming some odd stuff, and we are having fun with it.”
Cirbus said Martino has impeccable movement patterns, strong gymnastics and great tactics. Martino is much more humble when describing himself.
“I’ve got no remarkable stats, but I contribute,” Martino said. “This team works so well together because alone we aren’t spectacular. But we show up together on game days.”
Cirbus calls teammate Kathleen Ryan a “machine,” which makes Ryan laugh, but she considers competition no joking matter.
“I just don't like to lose,” Ryan said. “I have played sports all my life and I push myself until there is no more to give. My fire gets heightened because I have five others to win for. I’m a sickly intense competitor.”
Ryan is new to Games competition, but recalled sitting in the stands last year at the regional vowing to help the team earn a top-30 spot.
“My team puts their heart and soul into training each day,” Ryan said. “We don’t want to let each other down. We genuinely enjoy kicking our asses, and thank God we have so much fun doing it.”
Ryan was a competitive rugby player and recently gave up that passion to train for CrossFit full time. Positivity is another passion for Ryan, and she believes in spreading the vibes.
“Jess and I always joke that since I am an Aries, I always find the good in things that may otherwise seem terrible at the time,” Ryan said. “I don't believe in wasting energy on being negative.”
Ryan also has great barbell strength with a 365-lb. deadlift, 205-lb. overhead squat, 290-lb. back squat and 190-lb. clean and jerk. Her rowing is also impressive with a time of 1:38 for 500 m.
Just like Ryan, Emily Buckley also vowed to herself at the 2012 North East Regional she would return to Canton, Massachusetts, as a competitor. Buckley had only been doing CrossFit for a few weeks when she made that promise.
“I kept my promise for this team,” Buckley said. “We’re like a family. I want to know what they're doing every second of the day, and I miss them on rest days. Seeing the amount of effort they put in makes me train harder.”
Cirbus describes Buckley as having an “unbreakable spirit.”
“Emily is our little pit bull,” Cirbus said.
At 5-foot-1 and 115 lb., Buckley is looking forward to showing off the skills her bigger adversaries don’t possess.
“I'm hoping to see strict muscle-ups and legless rope climbs,” Buckley said. “But I’m not looking forward to any barbell movement for reps heavier than my 1-rep max.”
Buckley’s teammate, Ariel Fernandez, won’t mind repping out a heavy barbell. With a 300-lb. clean, 440-lb. back squat, 300-lb. overhead squat and 520-lb. deadlift, this full-time coach at CrossFit Virtuosity and CrossFit Glendale is a huge asset to his team. Fernandez also has a 2:31 Fran, 1:49 Grace and a 1:51 Isabel.
“Honestly, how many teams can say that they ‘get’ each other?” Fernandez asked. “Our time spent training and hanging together is really what has created this amazing squad.”
Fernandez cites Cirbus’ addition to the team as another pivotal factor in Virtuosity’s success.
“Steve is the reason why we work so well together,” Fernandez said. “He's reassured us that we are as good as any team we are competing against. He kept our head in the game during the Open, especially after our subpar performance the first week.”
Fernandez refers to his team’s 70th place on Open Workout 14.1 as a tough way to open the season.
“After the first week of the Open, I told my team to make a statement,” Cirbus said. “That became our mantra for the rest of the Open.”
Fernandez and the team have a different mantra preparing for the Games.
“This is as much of a mental game as it is a physical,” Fernandez said. “We practice a mindset where we are without mind. It’s called Mushin, and it literally means, ‘no mind.’”
Mushin is a concept used by highly trained martial artists. It is a mental state into which they are said to enter during combat, and they also practice during everyday activities. The theory maintains that a mind not fixed or occupied by thought or emotion is open to everything.
“Our minds we can control,” Fernandez said. “The events that Dave Castro will program we cannot.”
