Get The Party Started: Quad City CrossFit

July 19, 2013

Scott Todnem

“We’ve been mixing it up as much as possible … we’ve even been swimming. But mostly, we’re confident we’re in the best shape possible and hoping our athleticism has us ready for anything.” 


 

For the second consecutive year, Quad City CrossFit will be sending a team to the CrossFit Games. The team better known as QCCF Live Uncommon took second at the North Central Regional with 23 points.

To pull it off, the team stuck to their game plan throughout the weekend.

“We went in (to the Regional) with the mindset of getting top five in every (event), and we would be just fine,” Maddy Ruggeberg says.  

Her 34th-place finish in the Open in North Central led the women of Quad City and helped the team feel mentally prepped for the long Regional weekend.

“We were pretty confident since we practiced the events and compared them to other regions, but we also knew (North Central) is one of the toughest,” she says. 

“Through the Open, the Regional was our focus the entire time and it worked perfectly,” owner and teammate Josiah Lorentzen says. “Our QCCF family has been amazing as always and the support is unbelievable. Couldn’t do it without all of them.” 

Colin Cartee echoes these thoughts.

“We had about 70 people from our gym there, and each of them used their own money to come support us,” Cartee says. “It made us realize that we weren’t just representing the team, but the gym as a whole.” 

Community support wasn’t the only thing that helped the group from Davenport, Iowa perform well. They were also able to rely on their training.

“The Regional (Events) were pretty close to what we expected — heavy, fast and skill based, which is what we focused our training on,” Sinan Gocmen says. “There was definitely some pressure on the team to perform because there is no guarantee that you’ll automatically have a spot to the Games.”
 
Feeling prepared and well rounded was a key ingredient for the team's success.
 
“I thought the Regional (Events) were great,” Cartee says. “They forced each team to have limited weaknesses. Each member had to do an individual workout, where they had to get the work completed. Last year, you could get away with a female not doing any muscle-ups, but this year that was not the case.” 

Not the case at all for Quad City, who finished second in the Burpee Muscle-up Event.

Looking ahead to Carson, Calif., the group is thinking about what might be thrown at them. 

“Regionals tested if each member could move through a five- to seven-minute workout, but nothing longer,” Cartee says. “It also had no running and I think that’s a huge part of fitness.”

Because of this, Quad City workouts are planned for what could show up at the Games.

“We know they are going to throw something at us we haven’t seen,” Lorentzen predicts. “We’ve been mixing it up as much as possible … we’ve even been swimming. But mostly, we’re confident we’re in the best shape possible and hoping our athleticism has us ready for anything.” 

“Our programming has changed a little because we are doing individual workouts, but with a team twist on them,” Cartee says. “For example, we do a lot of workouts with some rest in the middle. We have also been doing longer workouts because that’s something we expect to see.” 

Finding motivation isn’t difficult for the team. Competing with each other every day and even texting their scores to each other is the norm. 

“Also, I personally watch Rocky movies before every workout,” Cartee jokes.
 
Gocmen puts it more plainly.

“When you know you’re training to compete at the highest level of CrossFit, that is motivating in and of itself,” he says. “It’s what you train for all year long as a competitive athlete, and to see all of your team’s hard work pay off is great.” 

Excited and grateful, the Quad City crew just wants to be ready. 

“I personally will be much calmer going into the Games ... I think I probably slept a total of 15 hours the entire weekend of Regionals,” Cartee says. “Calming my nerves to get a good night’s sleep is more important than any of my training.”
 
Ready for year two in Carson, the group is eager to prove themselves and make their fellow Quad City members proud.

“I’m pumped for California!” Ruggeberg says. “I’m ready to get this party started.”