Almost two years ago, Josh Kelley, now a 15-year-old freshman at Savannah Christian Preparatory School, was looking for a new way to work out. An active teen who played several sports, he knew he needed to build strength, muscular endurance, and speed. He just didn’t particularly enjoy the standard workouts in which most young athletes engage.
Upon the advice of a family friend, he found CrossFit. One workout was all it took. Kelley was hooked.
CrossFit, which a gentleman named Greg Glassman started in 2000, describes itself as “constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity across broad modal and time domains.” Translation: lots of high-intensity exercises that incorporate body weight, gymnastics, and Olympic weight lifting movements. The workouts are varied, they are tough, and they work the entire body. “We do everything from squats to walking on our hands. We focus on form – your form has to be correct. If you do the workouts correctly, you will stay in shape for the rest of your life,” says Kelley.
Kelley joined CrossFit Hyperformance in Savannah. When he is participating in athletics at Savannah Christian, he does CrossFit for two to three hours per week. Out of season, he is there at least five hours per week. (Kelley plays football, basketball, and runs track at Savannah Christian, and this spring, he will also play lacrosse.) CrossFit has obvious benefits for Kelley’s chosen sports. He says he is bigger, stronger, and faster now than he used to be. He can take – and dish out – more punishment on the football field. On the basketball court, he can get in the paint with the big guys and hold his own. “It just helps with everything,” he says.
In addition to the obvious positive contributions CrossFit can make in sport, CrossFit is a sport unto itself. As Kelley was working out at Hyperformance, he learned of the CrossFit Games and its counterpart for teens, the Teen Gauntlet. The Gauntlet is a CrossFit competition for young adults ages 12-18. CrossFit hosted several different Gauntlet competitions throughout the world. And one would be held in Savannah.
Kelley signed up for the Gauntlet, which took place on Memorial Day weekend. Each Gauntlet, no matter where in the world it was held, operated under the same format. The Gauntlet consists of three different workouts. In workout one, athletes completed as many snatches as possible in three minutes with 45 pounds then did as many burpee bar jumpovers as possible in two minutes. The second workout consisted of strict pull-ups to failure, push-ups to failure, toes-to-bar to failure, standing broad jump, and a 100-meter shuttle run. About a half hour later, participants completed workout three: 55-pound thrusters then box jumps – one thruster/box jump in one minute, two in two minutes, three in three minutes, all the way up to 15 minutes (if possible).
Competing in the 14-16 age group, Kelley did 30 burpees in two minutes, 11 strict pull-ups, 37 push-ups, 16 toes-to-bar, a 98-inch broad jump, 18.57-second shuttle run, and he made it through 11 full rounds of the thrusters/box jumps. He made it to 10 in his 12th minute. Kelley won first in his age group in Savannah and nobody at any other Gauntlet in the world in the 14-16 age group did any better. Kelley, the top 15-year-old CrossFitter in the world, had just punched his ticket to the national championships in California at the end of July.
The national championships changed things up a bit. The competition still consisted of three workouts, but the exercises were different. In the first workout, competitors had nine minutes to do 50 burpees to a jump with a 10-pound plate, 25 burpee pull-ups, and burpee muscle-ups on gymnastics rings. After a 20-minute break, competitors had to do five reps of clean and jerks with 55 pounds followed by an 80-yard sprint. Competitors then took a three-hour break before completing the third workout, a series of ball shots with a 14-pound medicine ball followed by pull-ups. Round one was 30 shots and 21 pull-ups, round two was 20 and 15, round three was 10 and nine.
Kelley finished sixth at the national Teen Gauntlet. Now, more than ever, he is motivated to keep training and competing. “I have one more year in the junior varsity Teen Gauntlet. Then I move up to varsity. After that, it’s on to the CrossFit Games. I hope to get to the CrossFit Games one day,” he says.
Competing at the national level in CrossFit and balancing school work and athletics is no small feat. Kelley’s father, Doyle, himself an excellent athlete, is impressed by what his son has done. “The commitment and hard work it takes to do all of this is impressive. A [of] lot kids don’t want to work hard to better themselves. Josh has found something he enjoys. He’s experienced some success at it and he wants more,” says Doyle Kelley.
As with any exercise program, participants must be absolutely certain to use great form and remain injury-free. The goal of CrossFit, after all, is to stay active for years to come, not end up sitting at home watching TV while your bum shoulder or knee heals. Varying the workouts, keeping the weights low, strictly supervising all athletes, and using perfect technique will help young athletes establish a foundation of fitness that will last a lifetime. And that’s exactly what Josh Kelley is training to do.
Favorites:
• Subject: Math
• College team: Clemson
• Player: Sammy Watkins
• Pro team: Atlanta Falcons
• Professional athlete: Josh Bridges, professional CrossFitter
• Person to meet: Josh Bridges
• Sport you wish you could play: Hockey
• Place to travel: Back to California for the CrossFit Games
• Superpower: Unlimited endurance
• Inspiration: Rich Froning, three-time CrossFit Games champion
Freshman Focus/Coastal Georgia/December 2013
Josh Kelley
Savannah Christian Preparatory School
Savannah, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
Photos by: Tina Helmly Photography
