When you walk into Tamalpais CrossFit in San Rafael, California, you’ll likely catch a glimpse of a man with bright white hair climbing a rope, throwing a heavy barbell over his head, and repping out pull-ups on the rig.
Although his fitness abilities radiate youth, Clarke Holland is 71 years old.
For most of his 40s and 50s, Holland was a competitive distance runner, frequently running 10K races and half marathons. In 2010, he was told he needed upper-body strength to improve his times, and he walked into Tamalpais CrossFit in May of that year.
What kept him returning to that gym each day was the fact that the ages of the members were mainly skewed toward 30 and older. Holland didn’t feel as though he needed to keep up with the younger crowd of athletes. He was pushed at a pace that met his goals.
“That really helped me feel like I wasn’t so weak,” Holland said. “If I had to join a gym where everyone was 35 and under, I would have felt really out of place.”
After just nine months, the first CrossFit Games Open was announced, and 30 to 40 members jumped at the chance to join in on the fun, including Holland. Unknowingly, at the age of 59, he had jump-started his successful competitive CrossFit career.
During the 2011 CrossFit Open, Holland could barely string together a double-under and was ecstatic to clean and jerk 135 lb in Open Workout 11.3.
“I never thought I’d be able to do that, and that was just huge for me at that time,” he said.
Holland placed 47th in the Men’s 55-59 division.
The coaches at Tamalpais CrossFit saw an exceptional athlete before their eyes and persuaded Holland to continue competing in CrossFit. Just one year later, in 2012, Holland took second in the Men’s 60+ division and was invited to compete at his first CrossFit Games.
“The difference between the Open and the Games was huge in terms of how hard it was,” Holland said. “I learned how weak I was, comparatively speaking.”
But that only fueled Holland more. Taking on Tamalpais CrossFit owner Mechelle Mifsud (CF-L2) as his coach and ramping up his training, he continued to get stronger, appearing at the CrossFit Games for six consecutive years in the 60+ division.
In 2017 at the age of 65, Holland hit the peak of his fitness and athletic performance. He could now clean and jerk 170 lb, flip upside down and do handstand push-ups, and even string together large sets of double-unders. He finished the worldwide Open in 21st and took 13th at the Games that year.
Clarke Holland at the 2012 CrossFit Games
But Holland knew he was growing old for his division, already six years older than some of his competitors heading into the 2018 season. Rope climbs began to aggravate his joints, he wasn’t hitting his 1-rep maxes anymore, and he wasn’t able to keep up with the rigorous training schedule of two sessions per day.
“When we age, we lose fitness capacity. That loss is compounded if we do not train. But if we do train hard and intelligently, we can abate that loss even if we can’t eliminate it completely,” Lon Kilgore said in the 2016 CrossFit Journal article “Aging, Performance and Health.”
Although Holland’s fitness was exceptional in comparison to most 60-70-year-olds, his body couldn’t keep up with the expectations of his younger self. To reduce the risk of injury, Holland and coach Mifsud began to modify his training to work with his current abilities. Mifsud emphasized the importance of creating a strong foundation and mastering the technique of the CrossFit movements first. Only then would intensity be added in. By monitoring how Holland’s body reacted to the training, she would scale back the intensity when needed to keep him healthy.
This also meant scaling back his training to one session a day, focusing on mobility before a workout. Holland said he would show up to the gym about 45 minutes to an hour before class to stretch and mobilize, take class, then work on some competition-specific skills after class.
“I don’t get hurt,” Holland said. “That is what has helped me stay competitive.”
Clarke Holland at the 2014 CrossFit Games
Although Holland was still training as a competitive CrossFit athlete after the 2017 Games, he couldn’t match the fitness capacity of his younger competitors and wasn’t able to qualify for the Games for the next three years.
But in 2021, the 65+ division was introduced to the CrossFit Games season.
Holland never gave up on his training, and now 69, his fitness level was high enough to be competitive again in this new division. He finished the 2021 CrossFit Open in ninth worldwide, took 11th in the Age-Group Online Qualifier, and secured his seventh ticket to the CrossFit Games after a three-year hiatus.
At the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games, Holland took one of his best placements, sixth — just three spots away from the podium. In 2022, Holland finished out his season in 25th in the Age-Group Semifinal.
Clarke Holland at the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games | Photo by Meg Ellery
This year, Holland continues to soar up the leaderboard even though he is once again at the tail end of his division. He took 37th in the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games Open and 22nd in the Age-Group Quarterfinal. At the age of 71, six years older than the youngest in the division, he is still able to do chest-to-bar pull-ups, toes-to-bars, strict handstand push-ups, and more.
He will be joining the top 30 men in the world in the 65+ division in the Age-Group Semifinal this weekend. If Holland finishes in the top 10, he will qualify for his eighth CrossFit Games.
Over the last 12 years, Holland has seen the beginning of his CrossFit journey at 58, reached his peak at 65, and still continues to prove his fitness amongst the fittest in the world in his 70s. And Holland said he plans to continue competing as long as his body allows, staying focused on where his body is at and scaling back on movements that could increase the risk for injury.
“Age should not be a barrier for doing what we’re doing,” Holland said. “We (at CrossFit Tamalpais) focus on movement. Once you can move, you can do anything.”
The 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games Age-Group Semifinal is an online competition from April 28-30. The top 10 men and the top 10 women from each age division will qualify for the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games in Madison, Wisconsin.
Cover Image: Clarke Holland at the 2013 CrossFit Games