My First Open: 14.1

March 3, 2014

Hilary Achauer

Brenton Demko never intended to do CrossFit. He was just the driver. It was the summer of 2013, and Demko’s son needed a training program before heading to Boston College in the fall to play hockey.…

"I'm going to do whatever is humanly possible to keep going in this thing."

Photos courtesy of Alicia Anthony
 

What is it like to experience the CrossFit Games Open for the first time, after less than a year of doing CrossFit?

This ongoing series will follow 45-year-old Brenton Demko of San Diego, Calif.—who was inactive for almost four years before starting CrossFit this summer—as he completes each workout of the 2014 Open.

14.1

Brenton Demko never intended to do CrossFit. He was just the driver.

It was the summer of 2013, and Demko’s son needed a training program before heading to Boston College in the fall to play hockey. The boy had never bothered to get his driver’s license, so it fell on Demko to take his son to the gym. 

Demko was just the driver—until he stepped foot into CrossFit 858 in San Diego. There must have been part of Demko that knew once he entered the gym he wouldn’t be able to leave without breaking a sweat. 
 
“I was going to have to be driving him to the gym anyway, so I thought, ‘Maybe I should try this,’” Demko said. 
 
The former collegiate rugby player hadn’t worked out in four years. He’d had reconstructive knee surgery in March of 2013. And there was something else.
 
“A little over three years ago I made an extraordinarily bad decision,” Demko said. “I hopped on a motorcycle when I was drunk and crashed. So the last three years have been rehab from that. I’m very lucky that I didn’t die.” 
 
Demko went through spinal decompression, rehab on his back, a meniscus surgery, and then complete reconstructive surgery on his knee. 
 
“I was reaching a point in my life, after three and a half to four years of being inactive, it was taking a mental toll on me,” he said.
 
So Demko started CrossFit. 
 
“When I started I couldn’t do a pull-up. I struggled to jump six inches,” he said. “Now I can do pull-ups and toes-to-bars. It’s extraordinarily rewarding.” 
 
Mark Lin, owner of CrossFit 858, saw the progress Demko had made since the summer and encouraged him to sign up for the 2014 Open. Demko was hesitant, but he had just participated in an in-house competition at CrossFit 858, so he felt he was ready to try the Open. 
 
Then the Tuesday before 14.1 was announced, Demko injured his calf while running in a workout. Demko’s hamstring tendons were removed during his knee surgery, and he thinks that contributed to his injury. He held out hope that maybe the movements in 14.1 wouldn’t be too taxing on his calf. 
 
Demko was hanging out at home on Thursday night when the workout was announced.
 
“I watched the whole announcement—whoever those two guys were that they had (doing the workout),” Demko said. “I was a little disheartened, because I’ve never done double-unders before. That coupled with the fact I had injured my calf … I was not overly confident to say the least.”
 
What Demko lacked in confidence he made up for in competitive spirit. 
 
“I’m an uber-competitive person,” he said. “Like, hyper competitive.” 
 
Lin told him he just had to get one rep, but that’s not Demko’s style. 
 
“One is not acceptable,” Demko said. 
 
Demko did the workout on Saturday, with a group of CrossFit 858 members. His friend David Levey offered to judge, and Lin was on hand to coach Demko through the 10 minutes of double-unders and snatches. 
 
Lin told Demko to focus straight ahead and do one double-under at a time. He told him not to get frustrated, even when he had to stop and unwrap his calf, a process that involved taking off his knee brace first.
 
But slowly, one double-under at a time, Demko accumulated reps. Despite his injured calf, and despite never before doing double-unders, Demko ended up with a score of 59: 1 round plus 14 double-unders. 
 
“It was frustrating, but I’m happy I did the power snatches unbroken,” Demko said. 
 
The Open did not start out well for Demko: first an injury, and then he was confronted with a movement he had previously avoided. Notwithstanding the rocky start, he is not giving up. 
 
When asked if he was going to continue with the weekly Open workouts, Demko was adamant. 
 
“I’m going to do whatever is humanly possible to keep going in this thing,” he said. 
 
“They’d have to damn near cut my leg off for me not to do at least one rep of whatever is next.” 
 
He’ll find out what that is on Thursday.