"When I first started CrossFit in 2010, it was mainly for fun, but it was in 2012 that I decided to be competitive. So where I am now, it was not by chance. I knew exactly where I needed to be."
“I have envisioned this moment many times,” Eric Carmody said.
Carmody has finally accomplished his longtime goal of qualifying for the CrossFit Games. He’ll make making his first appearance this month in the StubHub Center after qualifying out of the Asia Region.
Carmody quietly but confidently worked his way up the Leaderboard at the regional in Seoul, South Korea. He grabbed a hold of Asia’s attention with a confusing yet electrifying victory, right up to the final second of Event 7, which earned him the title of Asia’s Fittest Man.
Finishing in the top two spots in four out of seven events, Carmody ended the weekend tied at 46 points with Phil Hesketh—he won in the tiebreaker—and 2 points ahead of defending champion Michael Mogard.
“I still get excited thinking back about Event 7, looking back at the videos,” Carmody said. “I knew I had to win, so when Mogard walked past me as I was on the bar, I realized I had to come through somehow. In those final seconds, I wish I had known immediately whether I was first or not. I put a lot into what I do, and have envisioned being (on the podium) many times.”
The former college football player started competing in CrossFit in 2012. Living in the South East Region at the time, he finished the regional that year in 15th place. Winning the regional was a surprise for many, but not for Carmody.
“When I first started CrossFit in 2010, it was mainly for fun, but it was in 2012 I decided to be competitive,” he said. “So to be where I am now, it was not by chance. I knew exactly where I needed to be.”
“The biggest difference between this year and last year has been my skills practice,” Carmody continued. “At regionals you can pretty much guess the movements, so I put a lot of time into more gymnastics-based work. Essentially, all the hard work was done last year, way before regionals prep began. I practiced the workouts when they announced them, but my scores were pretty much the same almost every time I did them.”
In addition to his focus on practicing gymnastics skills, Carmody has also dropped some weight to help him move quicker through the movements.
“I've lost about 20 lb. since last year's regionals,” he said. “I think Event 3 is a good testimony to the work I put in during the offseason. Pistols and muscle-ups were much slower movements for me last year, but this year that was one of my better events.”
“The 30 burpee muscle-ups from the year before showed I had a huge weakness and I would practice muscle-ups four to five times a week,” he added of his training regimen. “At times, I would do up to 200 muscle-ups a day. Getting better pretty much started the week after the 2013 regionals.”
Since moving to Seoul nine months ago, Carmody has had the task of revamping the training and coaching methodologies for the 2,500-member-strong network at all six branches of Reebok CrossFit Sentinel.
Fortunately for Carmody, his new workplace understands his current situation and the need for training time.
“Both CrossFit Impulse and Reebok CrossFit Sentinel have been very good about not giving me too much work to interfere with my training,” he explained. “They both want to see me do very well.”
Carmody’s win has brought a sense of unity amongst the CrossFit community in Seoul, something Nathan Atkins, manager at Reebok CrossFit Sentinel proudly explained.
“We have six boxes in Korea now and all of us take great pride that one of ours will be representing Asia in the Games,” Atkins said. “But it’s not just the Sentinel boxes that are riding high from this. The great thing about the community in Korea is that all of the local affiliates are proud that a coach and athlete from our part of the region will represent Asia. Eric is becoming a bit of a CrossFit superstar here.”
It also seems Carmody’s success at the Asia Regional is helping to reach beyond the CrossFit community, with Atkins hoping the mindset toward fitness and health in South Korea can be redirected by Asia’s Fittest Man.
“Eric has done great things for the fitness industry here. Korea is typically a country that determines good health by how skinny your jeans are,” Atkins admitted. “He has already started to make a dent in this by promoting CrossFit and appearing in a two-page spread and photo shoot with Men's Health Korea. When he returns, the plan is to have him help boost the coaching and athletic talent across all of Korea, as well as promote CrossFit.”
The community support in Seoul is evident through continued encouragement, even though he is now 7,000 miles away, training in the U.S. until the Games begin.
“We are lucky that we are backed by a number of great investors who have taken care of a majority of Eric's expenses such as flights and accommodation,” Atkins said. “We understand that competing and training at this level is very stressful, so they are very willing to take as much of the burden as they can.”
Since the victory, Asia’s champion has returned back to his hometown in Huntsville, Alabama, to a hero’s welcome.
“Everyone at the box back home was so excited and supportive; whether I came back with the title or not didn’t matter, but my mom was completely stoked when I won,” Carmody said. “She doesn’t know much about CrossFit, but boy will she be surprised by the number of people turning up in Carson.”
Currently, Carmody can be seen back at original box, CrossFit Impulse, under the close eye of his coach, Jeff Barnett.
“I feel that I have so many more people to train with back in the States,” he said. “In Seoul we are super busy at Sentinel and it’s hard to be able to train all day, but back in Alabama, I have plenty of time and can stay out of people’s way. I also have the option to work out with a ton of other athletes here.”
