Article by Andréa Cecil
"I paced it. I did everything right."
After a 4th place finish in the second event of Day 1 at the South West Regional, the iconic Chris Spealler said the workout was “what I’ve been training for.”
It began with a 2000-meter row, followed by 50 alternating one-legged squats and ending with 30 225-lb. hang cleans.
That meant Spealler had to clean 72 pounds above his bodyweight of 153 pounds.
“I couldn’t give it anything more,” he said minutes after finishing the workout with a time of 16:10. “I paced it. I did everything right.”
Shortly after the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games, Spealler began focusing on strength, paring down his met-cons and doing more bodybuilding and powerlifting.
He managed to add 8 pounds since last year’s Games.
Had he not been adhering to such a regime or to Ben Bergeron’s coaching, things might have gone differently, according to Spealler.
“I don’t think I would have finished that,” he says.
Bergeron, co-owner and head coach at CrossFit New England, said his programming for Spealler targeted strength.
“For Chris, what kept him off the podium (at last year’s Games) was heavier weights and higher loads. We attacked that really, really hard,” Bergeron said at the end of Day 1 from Massachusetts.
As his coach, Bergeron reviewed video of Spealler’s workouts, tailoring the programming based on Spealler’s rest intervals. In other words, “how fast he was recovering and (getting) back on the bar,” Bergeron says.
“He’s a good athlete. He can lift 225 lb.,” he explained. “It’s how quickly (he) can get through it.”
And then in the last two months or so, Spealler’s training focused on “(trying) to get his met-cons back,” said Bergeron, coach of the world’s fittest affiliate.
It’s safe to say the methodology worked.
Spealler crushed the day’s first workout, Diane, with a time of 1:52. The only notable rest—which amounted to maybe one second—came in the midst of the final set of nine handstand push-ups.
The next-fastest time was Cody Jamison at 2:18.
The increased bodyweight and Bergeron’s program absolutely made a difference, Spealler said afterward.
Nonetheless, two days remain of the Regional. And the workouts aren’t geared toward “an athlete Chris’ size,” Bergeron said of the 5-foot-5 Spealler.
“I’m still very confident that the training we did will pan out, that he’ll do very well,” he said, adding, “I’m nervous about it, for sure.”
As the day ended, Spealler said he would rest, maybe take an ice bath, and address his busted callous beneath the pinky of his right hand that left his hand bloodied.
He said the remainder of the competition would be tough.
Day 2 will bring 10 100-lb. one-arm dumbbell snatches, as well as 50 135-lb. back squats.
“I’m ready,” Spealler repeated after the day’s first workout. “Things that used to scare me or intimidate me don’t anymore. I paid my dues.”
