Jared Cantrell decided to redo 13.1, and climbed from 174 to 190 reps.
When Jared Cantrell picked up the bar for Open Workout 13.1, it was his second snatch workout of the day. He completed 174 reps moments after the workout was announced.
“I was excited,” the 29-year-old says.Excited, maybe. Satisfied? Hardly.
Once he saw the scores start to fill the Central East Leaderboard, Cantrell decided he needed to do the workout again. To make it to the 2013 Central East Regional, he knows that he’ll need to squeeze out every rep, and cut every second, he can.
But, in his mind, the CrossFit Games team isn’t the only one keeping score.
“I believe doing your best ultimately brings glory to God,” he says. “I think God is pleased when his children do what they were designed to do, and do it well.”
His faith has directed his life. For the last four years, he has worked as a missionary counseling drug addicts in Costa Rica. During his time as a missionary, he worked on his fitness and even took fourth place at the 2011 Latin America Regional. In 2012, he moved back to Indianapolis, Ind., following what he interpreted as God’s call for him to serve in the United States again. Now, he’s shooting for the Games.
He was surprised by how fast the 17 minutes flew by.
“My first set (of snatches) at 165 lb. was a set of four, and felt really light,” he says. “That was a confidence booster. I don’t typically do met-cons over 12 minutes, so it was good to know that 17 minutes can still feel like five.”
To keep pace, he paid attention to his breathing and the pounding of his heart, rather than the clock.
“For me, it’s about keeping my heart rate at a certain level,” he says. “I speed up or slow down based on breathing or heart rate.”
Competing “by feel” is born out of his experiences in the gym, and with his faith.
When Cantrell is not competing, he’s preaching at Oak Baptist Church in Indianapolis. He says the right perspective is more important than a game plan.
“We were just studying about how (God) sent the spies in to (conquer) Canaan (in Numbers),” he says. “Some of the spies came back and said, ‘There are giants in the land, we’ll never be able to conquer it.’ But others came back and said, ‘The Lord has given us this land, let’s take it.’ Just like all the spies saw the same thing, everyone across the world is seeing the same workout, but the outlook determines the outcome.”
When he went into his second attempt at 13.1, he had the goal of breaking into the 210-lb. snatches.
His strategy to get there?
“Go faster.”
As the clock ticked down to the 17-minute time cap for the second time, he finished the 10 burpees, but didn’t complete a snatch at 210.
While he didn’t reach his goal, he improved. His original score would have put him in 38th. Today, he’s in 12th.