“I’m trying to get better at the ‘CrossFitty’ stuff.”
When Amanda Goodman moved from the North East Region to the South West Region, the women’s competition got a little tougher.
From Event 1 on, Goodman held the first-place spot on the Leaderboard and never let go, solidifying her second trip to the CrossFit Games.
Goodman started CrossFit in 2012 and competed at regionals that year on a team. While there, she watched the individual competition and realized that’s where she wanted to be.
In 2013, Goodman place second at the North East Regional and finished in 35th place at the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games, winning the Clean & Jerk Ladder event.
“Immediately after watching everybody (at the 2012 regional) … I knew I wanted to do it for myself,” Goodman said. “And then I went to the CrossFit Games that year and watched Jenny Davis. She came out of my gym, and I watched her compete and ever since then I just knew that I wanted to be a part of it on the individual side.”
Goodman grew up a gymnast and competed in gymnastics at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. When college was over, so was gymnastics. Feeling a void, she found CrossFit and was immediately hooked.
“I was drawn to CrossFit,” she said, “the fact that it was a challenge. … You constantly get better, but as you get better the skills get harder, and CrossFit reminded me of that. The better you get, the harder the skills you have to learn, especially given what we’ve seen in the last couple years. They introduce a new skill every year, which a couple years ago seemed almost impossible.”
Though Goodman is unaffiliated, her program designer, James FitzGerald, lives in Arizona and is the reason for her relocation into the South West Region.
“After the Games in 2013, we had a conversation about me moving forward and focusing more on my training,” she explained. “The opportunity to move and train directly underneath (FitzGerald) for my athletic career seemed like the best possible decision, and so I just picked up and moved out.”
Since then, Goodman has focused on overall improvement.
“I’m trying to get better at the ‘CrossFitty’ stuff,” she said. “A lot of people laugh when I say that, but coming from a gymnastics background, moving for long periods of time is actually very difficult for me. I can move weight fast and quick, but to be able to move light and heavy weights for a long time at that same speed has absolutely been a difficulty, so that’s what I’ve been focused on. That muscular endurance and just breathing over time.”
The payoff has been apparent. She earned two first places, three third places, a fourth place and an eighth place at the regional. She finished the weekend at the top of the podium with just 23 points.
Goodman said she is excited to return to the Games. But her goal this year is to just give it her all and gain more experience. She hopes to be a perennial Games competitor.
“There (are) definitely goals of the podium,” she said. “Never counting myself out, but do I think it’s going to be this year? I wouldn’t bet money on it, but if it happens, fantastic. It would be a dream come true. But a lot of those podium finishers are very seasoned, and so I do understand that if it takes me a couple more years, I’m OK.”
She added: “But … the goal is the podium in the future.”
