It’s been called “the Aromas Effect.”
Back at the 2009 CrossFit Games, a host of athletes hit PRs in a deadlift ladder that followed hard on a brutal 7-kilometer trail run in the hills of The Ranch in Aromas, California. Lifting every 30 seconds, they had to work their way through bars ranging from 315 to 505 lb. for the men and 185 to 375 for the women.
According to established opinion at the time, PRs shouldn’t have happened: You’d expect very fatigued athletes to be well below PR numbers in that format. In fact, organizers planned it that way, assuming athletes would tap out between 70 and 85 percent of their 1-rep max.
Aside from the numerous PRs, 16 men finished the ladder and created a log jam at the top of the leaderboard. Many said they could have gone well above 505 lb.
Fast-forward about seven years and almost no one is surprised by PRs in ladders. Never mind that the max-snatch event in 2009 was won with lifts of 145 and 240 lb., while in 2016 athletes were asked to top out with doubles at 175/265 after 28 reps at lighter weight.
Kristin Holte was one who obliterated her training performances and her snatch PR. In practice, she wasn’t able to get past the 155-lb. bar under the time cap, but she advanced anyway off the clock and hit four snatches at her PR of 165. In Event 1 in Spain, Holte finished the ladder in a time of 10:24.65, setting a new PR along the way.
“For me, I get better the more reps I can do, and with the amazing crowd here, I just had to finish that one,” she said, touching upon two aspects of the Aromas effect.
Some athletes simply need to build up a bit of momentum as they lift, with the reps serving as an extended warm-up that serves to remove any nerves that would show up with the athlete alone on the platform. Similarly, it’s obvious that athletes feed off the crowd—and it’s a good one at the Caja Mágica, even on a Friday afternoon.
“I think the adrenaline helps you a lot. I think that’s the reason people are getting PRs,” said Sara Sigmundsdottir, who won the event in 6:21.52.
She was one who actually fell off her training performance—just under Kara Webb’s record of 5:29.82. The result was likely also attributable to adrenaline, this time too much of it.
“I went a little bit faster in the lighter weights, which I shouldn’t have done, but I failed one lift, so I had to wait a little bit so I wouldn’t fail it again. I did it in practice in 5:28, and I was like, ‘Ah, why was I 6-twenty-something now?’”
She added: “I was breathing so hard. I was like, ‘Uh-oh, I went too fast.’”
With a current snatch PR of 200, Sigmundsdottir said she’s sure she could have hit 205 today.
“I would get it, yeah. If a crowd would scream I would get it.”
Sigmundsdottir also hit on another aspect of the Aromas effect.
“We’ve been resting for like two days … and we’ve been just thinking about this week. We’ve been watching everybody else PRing and everything, so I think that helps a lot.”
Most athletes take a bit of time off before intense, multi-day competition, and that tapering allows for rested competitors to blow the doors off on game day. If they’ve been watching their peers around the world set records in the previous weeks, the fires are stoked further.
Annie Thorisdottir, second in 6:24.92, hit on the same notes as her rivals.
“I think it’s the adrenaline rush, and you don’t have time to think. You don’t have time to overthink it. All you can think about is just one cue, and for me on the final bar I was just thinking about dropping under the bar fast. You’re not thinking about, ‘Whoa, I need to set up. I need to get ready.’”
Thorisdottir’s current PR is 200.2 lb. (91 kg), and she was “pretty sure” she could have hit 202.4 (92 kg) if it was at the end of the ladder today. That’s a function of her training, she said.
“I think it’s called evolution,” she said. “Things change. I’m not telling Olympic weightlifters to do what we’re doing … but I do think that doing high reps but lighter weight where you’re just focusing on good form and good technique is going to make your Olympic weightlifting better.”
For the guys, fewer PRs were obvious, but it could be suggested that the Aromas effect also allows athletes to perform more quality reps closer to their 1-rep max.
Both Jonne Koski and Frederik Aegidius have snatch PRs of 275, and both finished the ladder, the former in 9:13.87 for ninth, and the latter in 8:46.48 for seventh. Both were working above 96 percent of their max after 28 reps, and both felt very confident stepping up to the last bar, even if Aegidius missed his first rep at 185 and one at 265, while Koski got stuck at 245 for a time.
For Aegidius, part of the Aromas effect is technical, at least with certain lifts: “I like to believe that my actually 1-rep-max snatch is about 300. I just can’t fucking hit it. So the 275 is not like a true number for what I‘m capable of, so I’m very, very good just below my 1-rep-max. I can do that very consistently.”
Aegidius said snatches over 255 get in his head even though he can overhead-squat almost 400 lb. But there’s nothing like a ladder and a clock to push fear out of the mind.
“In a competition environment, you have that one shot, you either hit it or you don’t, and you don’t get a second chance. … I think that allows people to let everything go, and that’s why we see all these incredible lifts even though people are under extreme fatigue.”
Luck, of course, also plays a part of the Aromas effect. Sometimes everything goes right and a PR is the result. But, as they say, you have to be good to be lucky. And perhaps luck could be called “grit” when athletes dig deep to rise above what was previously possible,
For his part, Koski isn’t exactly sure why ladders produce PRs, but his comments suggest the elite conditioning of the CrossFit athlete is in play.
“I don’t know the real reason for it, but it doesn’t feel that much heavier when you’re just a bit out of breath,” Koski said.
The Finn noted he wasn’t tired during the event, and even though he missed more than once at 245, he said the lifts felt easy but just weren’t in the right spot. The ability to recharge quickly—even for lifts between 85 and 90 percent of a 1-rep max—is a characteristic shared by most CrossFit athletes, and it’s no doubt earned with training that usually places a great deal of emphasis on multiple reps rather than just max singles.
Koski also pointed to mental strength as part of the Aromas effect. He had hit 265 less than 10 times in his life but wasn’t worried at the final bar. Tough minds are without doubt motivated by elite competition that drives doubt out of the arena. Winners want to win badly, and they direct all thoughts toward victory.
“You’ve got to feel confident. If you don’t feel confident, then it’s pretty sure you’re not going to hit it. It’s a mental battle,” he said.
Holte agrees, linking mental toughness back to smart training.
“CrossFitters, we train a lot. We can handle the volume. And also being a competitor, you have to perform when you get out there.”
Indeed, the victor’s shirts at regionals say “proven” for a reason. It doesn’t matter what you could have done; it matters what you did.
Overall, the Aromas effect is likely a combination of smart training and heated competition—both important aspects of CrossFit. The world’s fittest athletes are capable of amazing things, and competition simply gives them an opportunity to shine.
“You just get super powers,” Holte said with a smile.
