CrossFit’s always intrigued me. While it’s not my particular brand of tea when it comes to fitness (it always seemed a little too intense, and I much prefer traditional weightlifting), I’ve always enjoyed watching it whether on television or live.
What particularly draws me to CrossFit (aside from the incredible physiques) is the community aspect; I’ve never seen a sport where the community was so involved to such an extent. Sure, it’s competitive but where else can you find a sport where the competitors openly cheer each other to finish the workout?
Dare I say, nowhere else!
A few weeks ago I got to shoot a video of the 2015 Hawaii VA Games for the Star-Advertiser, an annual event in which the state’s CrossFit affiliates come together to compete in for a great cause. The event was held at the Stan Sheriff Center and seemed to be a great opportunity to get Hawaii’s CrossFit community all under one roof and all for a good cause.
In typical CrossFit Games fashion, teams competed in a series of WODS (workouts) that included barbell snatches, barbell lunges and muscle ups. But where the CrossFit Games took place over the course of a few days and focused on crowning the ‘Fittest Man’ and ‘Fittest Woman’ on Earth, the VA Games took place in only one day, and seemed much more focused on community than competition.
It really was an incredible sight to watch and I suggest anyone who’s remotely into fitness to at least check it out.
The shoot lasted for only a few hours and consisted mostly of me filming the athletes on the floor working out but I did speak to a few of them during the break and it was really intriguing to hear about how they view CrossFit in Hawaii and where they hope to see the VA Games go in the future.
Unfortunately I couldn’t stay for the whole event but when I did leave, I found myself thinking, “Yeah. maybe I can give this a try.”
For more on the Hawaii VA games, read my article here.
Steven Tonthat 