Wake up, have a little coffee, read some, and then by 7 a.m., it’s on to his garage gym, the Tuxedo Social Club. These days that’s the routine for CrossFit Games Head Judge Adrian Bozman.
It wasn’t always this way. Since 2007, Boz has been on the road as part of the CrossFit seminar staff, but recently he has transitioned to a more traditional in-office, 9-to-5-ish existence.
On top of his more consistent schedule, Boz switched from tracking his fitness mainly in a notebook (and one ill-fated attempt to keep a spreadsheet) to using Beyond the Whiteboard in April of 2017. While he used to transcribe every little detail of his sessions—including warm-ups, cool-downs and accessory work—today he just sticks to the basics: usually the CrossFit.com WOD and maybe a little supplemental lifting. He also tries to include other qualitative data, such as where he did the workout, with whom, whether he’s traveling, how he feels, and other factors. The extra details help him contextualize and remember the workout when looking back. You can see these entries on his Instagram (@apbozman), along with a picture he’s taken and the music he’s listening to.
Consistent = Fit
Boz’s first recorded workout on BTWB was a 20-minute AMRAP of dumbbell squat cleans, pull-ups and box jumps:
That effort translated to a 95 Fitness Level on BTWB, meaning Boz placed in the 95th percentile of people who did that WOD. That’s really good. Regionals athletes tend to live in the 93+ range, and in that workout, most Games athletes got around 7.5-8.5 rounds. Translation: Boz is really good at CrossFit. Sure, compared to CrossFit Games athletes he might come up a little short, but he could walk into most CrossFit gyms and whip almost everyone. In November 2017, he got a 3:05 Fran, Level 93, and was unhappy about it. In his workout notes, he expressed his disappointment that he didn’t get a sub-3 time.
Boz’s training notes are consistent and insightful, and they add depth and context to each post. See, for example, this entry from June 29, 2017:
That’s right. Boz got off the plane from Madison, went home, and then immediately did a workout. And not just any workout. He did a classic, notoriously difficult benchmark, Barbara.
Boz got an impressive time of 15 min. 46 sec., which is Level 97 on BTWB, on a day when the average human might have gone home and taken a nap. But it’s Boz’s drive that makes him special. The most impressive thing he did this year was, as simple as it sounds, be really consistent. He has regularly posted results five to six times a week and usually around the same time each day.
We caught up with Boz to get more insight into his training, and he agrees that consistency is a key element of his strength as an athlete.
BTWB: Have you felt consistent in your training recently?
Boz: Yes! I feel like I’ve been more consistent recently than in the last five or six years. When I was full-time Seminar Staff, we’d usually try and work out at lunchtime during the break or afterwards, or maybe not at all. Sometimes stuff would come up that would make it infeasible—spending extra time with seminar participants, grabbing dinner with friends or seeing a new city. When I was home I would just kind of let the work I had to do that day dictate when I worked out, and when I did, I often felt like I was neglecting something else. It hasn’t been since college days that I’ve been able to consistently start days with a workout, and I love it. I was in a good place training-wise going into the 2017 Open, and I feel even better about my training this year.
The Programming
Looking at his data, we noticed that he has been pretty varied, with maybe a little extra bench pressing and deadlifting thrown in, but we wanted to find out more.
BTWB: Is the recent extra bench and deadlift work incidental or by design?
Boz: Oh, it’s definitely by design, although the template is pretty loose. I follow the programming on CrossFit.com, and generally stick to a three-on/one-off schedule. Beyond that, I’ve added an alternating heavy upper body or lower body lift in each three-day cycle. I’m a relatively strong squatter and pretty good overhead from gymnastics. Benching and deads have gotten the most attention because they’re my weakest lifts, and I feel like if I don’t touch them consistently, I tend to really lose strength in them. I can PR a snatch or clean and jerk after a long time not training it regularly, but not a bench or deadlift. Volume is fairly loose too and is based on how I feel from my previous day’s training and what the volume in the WOD that day looks like.
Below are charts of his bench press and deadlift workouts over the past several months. Each red dot represents a set at a different rep/weight combo. The reps and weight for the best set of each workout are noted at the top.
Boz’s Bench Press Workouts
Boz’s Deadlift Workouts
Boz was pretty hyped about some other lifts as well. When we asked him about big PRs he set this year, he made sure to point out his overhead squat and clean.
Boz: Definitely a bunch of recent PRs. I overhead squatted 245 lb. for a triple and cleaned 280, which are pretty strong numbers for me, and definitely the most I’ve done in some time.
Benchmarks
BTWB: Of the recent benchmarks you’ve completed (Angie, Eva, Fran, Helen, Kelly), which do you think are your relative-strongest and weakest efforts?
Boz: I think Angie and Kelly I’ve been traditionally best at, and Helen is probably my worst.
Looks like Boz knew where he was weak(-er), but not necessarily where he was strongest. Using his Fitness Levels to compare the data showed Fran (93) and Eva (90) were his strongest performances, Angie (77) and Kelly (74) were in the middle, and Helen (69) indeed was the weakest of the five.
Boz: Ha! I think maybe traditionally I’ve been stronger with body-weight workouts, which is why I thought of Angie. Also, in the past I think I had done Kelly with the old box-jump standards. Last time I did it, I used the new Games standard and it was awful! This highlights one of the things I really like about tracking on BTWB: It keeps you current and focused on where your fitness is right now, not where it’s been over time. I’ve been CrossFitting for 14 years, so it’s really helpful to see that. From the beginning, my focus has always been on longevity. I was always less concerned with dominating a single workout than being able to do this stuff forever. I want to be the 65-year-old guy knocking out pull-ups and stuff!
Music, WOD, Instagram
As we mentioned before, Boz has a very recognizable posting format on Instagram. Typically he posts three pictures as a slideshow: a picture from his day (ranging from a plate of barbecue, to a wild mushroom, to his current facial hair setup), a picture of the album and song he was listening to during his workout and a screenshot of his entry in BTWB. Those three pictures do a great job of lending a little insight into his daily life, setting the musical mood for his workout, and then documenting how he did and how he felt about his effort.
BTWB: How’d you begin posting your workouts on Instagram in the picture + album + BTWB entry format?
Boz: Well, initially I had created an IG handle for the Tuxedo Social Club, my home gym, to post my workouts on. Somehow I got locked out of it, and I’ve never been able to figure out how to get back in, so I just started posting on my personal account. Before that, it had been pretty random stuff, mainly pictures of art and the music I was listening to at the time. I think I’ve disappointed a lot of people in the CrossFit community in the past who followed me hoping to see more fitness stuff and just seeing random music posts! I’m a music nerd, though. I went to college to study music, and there’s a lot of not-great music at most gyms, so I figure if I post the stuff I’m into, maybe someone else will dig it too.
Ro vs. Boz 2018
What started as a fun, informal post-announcement bro-down has taken on a life of its own. We’re relatively certain there are people out there who are more interested in how Ro and Boz stack up against each other than how the Games-level athletes did. There have been T-shirts made, and a WWE-style belt is now awarded to the overall winner—both sure signs that Ro vs. Boz is officially “a thing.” While Boz has gotten the best of Ro recently, it’s still the CrossFit Games Open. Anything is possible!
BTWB: How are you feeling going into the Open? Should people be lining up in Vegas to bet on you instead of Rory?
Boz: Oh hell yeah! You know, I think traditionally the Open favors me over Rory in that there’s less really heavy stuff, and Rory’s a lot bigger and stronger. The last few years have been pretty good to me, but lots of years he’s destroyed me. In fact, during Regionals, we do a competition for all of the staff after the day is done. We started it because it’s really easy once the Games season starts to eat poorly and skip workouts. I think one year I worked out one time in a couple-month span. So after the long days, we gather everyone together and have a little in-house competition. It’s based loosely on some of the Regionals events, and we keep a spreadsheet year over year. Rory always crushes me in it!
A Long-Term Approach
CrossFit means something different to each person on the first day he or she walks into an affiliate, and one year in, and five years in, and so on. As we try to build lifelong athletes, a long-term mindset, along with tools and practices that foster that mindset, is critical. Over a decade in, it’s clear that Boz is still learning, refining and thinking deeply about what he does each day.
BTWB: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from consistently tracking and getting real-time analysis and feedback?
Boz: Like I said, I think it’s really easy to create this image of who you are as an athlete and then never update it. You always have to update your concept of self. It’s really easy to think of myself as 2008 Bozman and not who I am today. That’s my favorite part of tracking more consistently and a big lesson in CrossFit overall: You’ve got to stay current.
This article was written by Noah Abbott, Moe Naqvi and other members of the Beyond the Whiteboard team. BTWB is the official CrossFit workout-tracking app. Log, plan and analyze WODs with friends at your CrossFit® box and around the world. All plans come with a 30-day free trial.
