Train Heavy, Fight Light

July 14, 2014

Candice Case

“We have a better team this year. ... Everyone is excited to go to the Games and the goal is always to do our best, but this year we want to place top three. Our experience as a team will help us maintain our composure and confidence and minimize any new jitters.” ~Brian Quinlan

CrossFit Explode is headed to California for its third consecutive Games appearance and its second consecutive year as the top-ranked team from the Mid Atlantic Region.

After finishing the Games in 27th place in 2012 and 15th in 2013, Explode has set its sights set on a podium finish.

The Team

CrossFit Explode certainly has the experience to make it to the Games podium. Brian Quinlan, Cody Loeffler, Emily Pale, Lauren Krygowski and Meghan Calpin are all returning members from the 2013 Games team.

New teammate Oliver Yost is a former individual regional competitor, as is Quinlan, Loeffler and Pale. Explode Owner and team captain Quinlan also competed at the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games as an individual.

Quinlan feels the team’s experience and confidence will give it an advantage.

“We have a better team this year,” he said. “We just keep getting better in competitions. Everyone is excited to go to the Games and the goal is always to do our best, but this year we want to place top three. Our experience as a team will help us maintain our composure and confidence and minimize any new jitters.”

2014 Regionals

Explode’s motto is “Train Heavy, Fight Light” and this philosophy helped it finish first at regionals. Yost explained Quinlan programs workouts with heavier weights and at a higher skill level so when the team is competing, they don’t struggle with the workload.

“This really helped us at regionals,” Yost said. “In the last event, the overhead squats felt light for us. In the workout with heavy thrusters, a lot of the teams had women struggling with the weight, but ours were fine with it. At our gym, we’ll do Isabel (30 snatches for time) with 225 lb.”

Explode dominated the regional weekend with a top-five finish for all events. In addition to handling the heavier weights, Explode’s strategies were effective. Quinlan said he knew the importance of catering toward everyone’s strengths and weaknesses and placing individuals in a position to perform their best. Those efforts kept Explode in the top spot throughout the weekend.

2014 Games

Preparing for this year’s Games has been the priority for Explode since the end of May. Like many teams, the team is challenged to find the time to work out together. Quinlan, Loeffler and Pale work full time at Explode, but Krygowski and Calpin have jobs outside of the gym. Yost is enrolled in the University of Delaware’s physical therapy program. All are committed to the team and to the team goal so they get the work in however possible.

The team follows Quinlan’s programming and completes the workouts during the week individually or in small groups, and spends Saturday and Sunday doing six-person team workouts consisting of odd stuff.

“Recently, we did a team Grace with 600-lb. tire,” Yost said.

Explode teammates know odd-object events have made an appearance at past Games and they want to be prepared.

“Last year, the Worm was horrible,” Quinlan laughed. “It was difficult to measure our work capacity with it.”

Quinlan said preparing for regionals was more specific regarding the movements and he was careful with the volume leading up to the competition.

“If you ramp up too quickly, it leads to a lot of wear and tear,” he explained.

In anticipation of the Games, Quinlan has now ramped up the volume and they are having fun.

“It’s cool to switch (the training) up and we’re working more as a team,” he said. “It’s fun, but we’re putting in the hard work now. The stuff we do at the Games is stuff we’d do on a vacation.”

While the Games might not be everyone’s idea of a vacation, the team members are anxious to get to California and see the results of their training. Yost is looking forward to movements in his wheelhouse, such as high-skill gymnastic moves and max lifts, but has been preparing for longer endurance workouts.

“I know there will be a long endurance workout, like the marathon row from last year or an open water swim, and I’ve been working on those,” Yost said. “I want to do my best obviously and contribute to the team.”

Team Focus

In the CrossFit community, Explode is known for its humbleness. While confident in their individual abilities and competitiveness, teammates focus on the team, their community and working together toward a common goal.

When Quinlan competed at the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games, he said he felt selfish in his preparation while he had a business to operate, family obligations and a team training for the Games.  Since then, he has concentrated his efforts on the Explode team and membership.

“Explode has an atmosphere I’ve never experienced before,” Yost explained. “The whole gym reflects Brian Quinlan. I can’t say enough good things about Explode. I’m lucky to be a part of it … it’s really remarkable.”