Competing at the One and All Games 2022 with my amazing team

Day one of the One and All Games

Event one and two demos

The weekend of the One and All Games started off with beautiful weather, lots of food, and a briefing for the first two events. The first event was 30 worm ground to overhead. Event number two was in male/female pairs, one pair works to a one rep max snatch, and the other pair work up to a one rep max clean and jerk.

Event three demo

Event three was also demoed which was a fun obstacle run with sandbags. Going under the low bars and jumping over the high bars and wall.

Our plans for event one and two of the One and All Games

My team and I discussed what we wanted to do for event two, and our thoughts for event one. Our first thoughts were to complete 5 reps at a time with a touch and go movement on the worm. However, when we watched others, and Steve recommended dropping the worm after each rep, we decided to do that instead.

Did we finish event one?

It worked out for us, because we managed to finish the first event with seconds to spare, and at one point, I didn’t think we were going to make it. It seemed like an almost endless amount of reps, but as soon as our judge said “five more reps”, we hauled ass and dug deep to push ourselves past our limits. When we finished all the reps, we were surprised and amazed. It was a great team effort!

Event two of the One and All Games

The second event didn’t go too well. I agreed to the clean and jerk while my male partner did the snatch. I thought for sure I could get around 70kg, but after doing 60kg, I couldn’t find the 10kg plates. I panicked and picked up the 15kg plates instead which was a monumental mistake. I couldn’t clean the weight, and when I attempted it again with the tens, I already wrecked my body and couldn’t clean that either. The weight was 80kg with the tens and 90kg with the fifteens.

We struggled with that event, and came out of it with bruised egos, but it was still fun, and there was a lot to learn from this one.

Event three, as mentioned, was a fun obstacle course. It was short and fast-paced, and required teamwork for members who struggle to get over the wooden wall. It consisted of going under a low bar, going over a high bar, then climbing over a wooden wall. We then turn a corner, but this time going over a wooden wall, over a high bar and under a low bar. We finished at a decent pace, and we were happy with our run. However, it was hard to see where we paced against others because only two teams were on at any one time.

That was it for the first day. We decided to hang out at a local beach and have a barbecue and beers. It was nice to socialise with my fellow CrossFitters, because we rarely do it.

Day two of the One and All Games

We started the day two of the One and All Games with another two demos. The first event of the day (event four) was… one person rows for three minutes while the other three work through an AMRAP of 40 kettlebell swings, 30 shoulder to overhead, 20 burpee box overs and 10 sandbag lifts. After three minutes, the person on the row jumps off and switches with another team member which repeats after another three minutes until the time runs out at twelve minutes. To switch between the row, we had to jump over another wooden wall going on and coming off the row.

How did we do on event four of the One and All Games?

We did pretty well on this event, but it could have been better. The reason for this is because I got confused and thought the final countdown was for switching people on the rowing machine. However, it was the countdown to the finish. This means I could have helped toward the end if I didn’t focus on trying to switch a team member for the row and worked on the AMRAP instead.

Event five of The One and All Games was a long and windy road

This was a super tough workout. It consisted of a group 1-mile run where everyone in the group had to hold a rope. After each 800m run, a member of the group would drop off and begin working on the chipper. Each member drops off each 800m round until everyone is on the second half and working on the chipper wherever that might be.

The chipper half consists of 200 double unders, 150 wall balls, 50 synchro toes to bar and an AMRAP of synchro muscle-ups.

We had to decide the order in which we drop off from the run. I hate running, and enjoy double-unders, so I decided to drop off first. Then Sam, then Jodie, and finally Ange joins us for the rest of the workout.

I managed to work on a large chunk of the double-unders, and Sam came to join me and help finish them off which gave me a few needed breaks. We then moved onto the wall balls where Jodie joins in to help chip through.

So far so good, but then it came to the toes to bar which none of us were good at, and to make it worse, we had to have two people perform the movement at the same time. If at any point it was out of sync, then it’s a no rep. And boy did we get a ton of no reps. We took it in turns to perform this movement until one of us struggled.

Ange came from her final round, and was able to join in with the toes to bar, but her level was similar to ours. It was then a case of dipping in and out where we can and trying to get as many reps as possible. We never made it to the muscle-ups, but even if we did, we would have never got a single rep.

We were exhausted by this point, but it was an incredible effort, and we all did amazing and pushed as hard as we could. All round, it was a fantastic team effort!

Event six demo of the One and All Games

Event five was 4 individual shuttle sprints. One person has to finish their run before the next member goes. When everyone finishes the run, then the team start on fifteen synchro burpees over worm, two partner carries lengths, twelve synchro burpees over worm, team worm carry, nine synchro burpees and finish. There was no time cap which meant every team had to finish.

The struggle was real

We started off really well with the shuttle run and burpees, but we got a few no-reps on the synchro burpees which slowed us down. The partner carry was fun as I was the one being carried, and the worm carry felt heavy. Like extremely heavy at this point. My legs didn’t want to move, but I forced them into walking and then we slowly jogged to the end.

It’s funny because on the way back, I looked to my left to see all the other teams in our heat had finished, and we still had nine burpees to finish. It was insane because the teams that finished came over to support and cheer us on which pushed us to finish. At the end, we fist-bumped the other team members, and could feel the love and support. The atmosphere and community spirit is absolutely insane!

Final event at the One and All Games

After everyone had finished event six, we were demoed the final event of the One and All Games. It consisted of 21-15-9 work thrusters, but after each set, we had to complete a 100m lunge, and then synchro pull-ups in the same sets as the worm thrusters.

After checking out the demo from One and All Games, we felt a little deflated. We were thinking we’d be lucky to even finish the first 21 on the thruster. Let alone getting passed the lunges and onto the pull-ups.

When it came to our heat, we walked up to the worm and gave a few attempts on the thruster. It was tough. Like the toughest movement we’ve ever had to do with the worm. It was a beast.

Then we decided how we are going to attempt the thrusters. We worked out who was on which section of the worm, and who was going to shout what so we could stay in sync with one another.

The worm was dropped multiple times, and we felt frustrated with ourselves, but we kept pushing forward. It was hot, and we were sweating and exhausted. Surprisingly, we finished the 21 reps of worm thrusters and moved onto the worm lunges.

We had to make sure we stayed in sync to stay balanced. We would start with the right leg forward, then the left leg and so on. Every time the worm was dropped, we would restart and go back to bringing the right leg forward. This way we didn’t need to remember which leg we used previously.

We kept each other in check, and when one of us felt the frustration, the rest of us would say “it’s okay”. “We’ve got this”. And other positive words to help push us forward.

After many attempts, we got to the 100m mark and dropped the worm. It was a great feeling because we knew it would be the last time we’d see that beast. It was time to move onto the synchro pull-ups. We weren’t great at them, but we chipped through them as much as possible. It was great to see our judge support us and give us a handful of reps that were definitely not syncro. However, we had another judge come to inspect and we unfortunately received a few no reps which might have been okay if she wasn’t there.

It would have made no difference on our placement at the One and All Games, and it would have probably helped give us a little push to do more.

Where did we place in the One and All Games?

The One and All Games was an amazing experience, and we enjoyed the whole weekend. We came last, but we weren’t there to place high in the ranks. We entered simply to take part as a team and enjoy the whole experience. It was great to see a range of athlete ranges, and it was even more awesome to give and get support from everyone there.

We’d love to go again next year, but the One and All Games are unfortunately sold out for next year which is crazy. Maybe we can grab a ticket if someone pulls out, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Update: One and All Games have release more tickets. We’ll hopefully be going next year! 🤞

This is certainly not the last time we’ll be at the One and All Games. The One and All Games was fun, challenging and exciting!

Want to see more of my CrossFit journey? Take a look at the CrossFit category! Keep and eye out for the One and All Games next year!