Hey everyone! Tommy Marquez here with some more Masters coverage
leading up to the Games. Last year, the inclusion of the 35-39 division meant that
some former Individual athletes now had the opportunity to make a seamless transition
over to the Masters competition. Kyle Kasperbauer seized that opportunity
and became the very first Men's champion in the 35-39 division. He's back this year.
He was 1st in the Online Qualifier and now he joins me via Skype.
Kyle, thank you so much for chatting with me today.
Yeah, you bet! Thanks for having me.
So you're an O.G. of the sport. You've been around since the dusty hills of Aromas.
Looking at your preparation now for the Games, how is that kind of training and prep for
the top level of the sport changed over the years?
Well I think one of the big things is
just overall volume, right off the bat. In 2009 it was a completely different sport.
I would like to say that everything's changed, whether from the standpoint of
the amount of intensity throughout the day, the amount of volume throughout the day, the weights
in the workouts have gone through the roof.
The length of the workouts, the emphasis of recovery after you workout, before you workout,
and the days when you're not in the gym.
It's definitely gone a long ways since the dusty hills in Aromas.
And along the way you've been very successful. You're the only athlete to finish on the podium
for the Team competition, the Individual, and the Masters competition.
Looking back at those three years, what would you say is the common thread for you
in being able to be successful across all three divisions?
Well I think there's a couple things with that, but a big part of it is
is continually practicing the seasons. Making CrossFit–if we're going to make CrossFit a sport
and you're going to use CrossFit as a sport versus longevity–which it does a great job of–
is staying within the season.
So you've got in-season, then you've got post-season, off-season, and pre-season.
And just practicing that within the sport
to where when you're in-season, you're in it 100%
and you're staying on task with that, every single day, every single week,
throughout the months. Then when the season is over, like after the Games, you get out of it
for a little bit. You refresh yourself mentally. Refresh yourself physically.
And then once you get done with that, that's a couple weeks or a couple months
you get back in it and you start your off-season preparation. Your strength
and hitting those weaknesses that you missed before.
One of the tricks with CrossFit is that there's actually almost three mini seasons
within a very long six month season from January to August.
Open being one of those, then Regionals, then Games.
The Open–it's almost more stressful, mentally than it is physically just because
it's five weeks long. You get a workout announced that week, you have four days to compete,
or complete it. If you have to re-do the workout, you do it. And then you're
almost prepping for a little bit of recovery after that workout and into one training day and
boom right into the next Open workout.
That's a little mini season within that. Then after the Open, you take a quick break
whether that's two or three days or a week, and the same thing after that week is a prep for Regionals.
Then after Regionals, a small break and then off to Games prep.
That's a big part of it for me: Utilizing the seasons and listening to my body.
-And so now you've had your first experience in the Masters competition last year,
winning the 35-39 division. What was one of your biggest takeaways or things you learned
from your first trip as a Master to the Games?
One of those is that it is a very competitive division.
I didn't know what to expect, going into it. I didn't know
last year I knew three or four people that I was competing against
and then the rest, I had no idea who they were.
Immediately, right off the bat, first event
I quickly realized that it's a very competitive division
The great thing was that every single person I was competing against had a very similar story:
They were a dad with a couple kids and looking to do this CrossFit thing and
compete at it and see where it goes.
So that was very cool, to get to know those competitors because they're all great guys
and it was really fun.
It also was an eye-opener to the fact that
it was confirming to me that the approach that we took from
2017 prep for that Games and the success that I saw in 2017 confirmed that the approach
and the strategy was on point.
I want to try to continue that for 2018.
As a member of the affiliate community and one of the people at the forefront of
helping spread CrossFit, I know you got some cool stuff coming down the pipe for you guys
in the next coming months. Do you care to share that?
We're very excited. We had an opportunity that we took advantage of. We're
building a brand new building from the ground up. We own the land, we own the building
and we're making a space for the member, for the community
and also for the coaches as well.
Because the community is members, coaches, and kids.
We're very excited about that. That should be finished–brand new building finished–12,000 square feet.
We're very excited about that.
Should be finished in a couple months at the most.
Pending construction, you know how that goes.
Kyle, thank you so much for joining me today. Thanks for taking the time to chat.
We'll see you in Madison. We wish you best of luck along the way.
Thank you, Tommy. Thanks for having me.
You can catch Kyle and the rest of the Mens 35-39 division throwing down at the Games
in about a month. Crazy that it's here already.
If you haven't, tickets are still available to get you guys to the Games. If you need lodging
please go check out crossfithotels.com
that'll help point you in the right direction to get all of your accommodation needs.
We'll have some continued coverage leading up to the Games. You can get it all at
games.crossfit.com