Why Iceland Women are Ridiculous CrossFitters

In case you haven't done so, go check out my recap of our visit to CrossFit Reykjavik and meeting Iceland Annie. If you have, read on.

from crossfit.com: Davidsdottir, Thorisdottir, and Helgadottir (l to r) all qualified for the CrossFit Games

A few months ago, an article came out about the Icelandic women and how they absolutely DOMINATED the Europe region during the Reebok CrossFit Open. (see "The Icelandic Advantage" by Jane Holgate) The top 3 women out of all of Europe are from Iceland: Annie Thorisdottir, Katrin Davidsdottir, and Thuridur Helgadottir swept the top spots. Hjordis Oskarsdottir followed closely in fifth. 


Guess what. During the European Regional Competition in May (yes, ALL of Europe was a region), the top three repeated: Annie first, Katrin second, and Thuridur third. Hjordis came in eighth. Astounding consistency and showing of fitness for a country the size of Ohio.


The above-mentioned article cites 3 main reasons why these Icelandic women dominate the scene: genes, mental fortitude, and culture. Emma Keen, a non-Icelandic athlete said in the article, "“I think their general attitude to their well-being is much more serious than in the UK where a lot of people's expendable income here is spent on alcohol and socializing and begrudge £30 gym membership,” Keen says. “The Icelandics think nothing of spending a lot of money to benefit their health.”


[Warning: this has absolutely no scientific steeping, but purely speculation and observation. So for you geeky scientists that need proof, you can look elsewhere.] I absolutely think culture has a lot to do with it. I saw evidence of it during our trip to Iceland.  Besides visiting CF Reykjavik and working out with their team going to regionals, here's why.


In one of the hotels we stayed in, we were flipping through channels and came across this Icelandic game show that pitted high schoolers against each other in fitness skills. Even though it was in Icelandic, seeing these young teenagers doing push ups, dips, max holds from a bar, and other movements was unlike anything that you'd see State-side. It was clearly a normal thing for these high schoolers to be involved with physical fitness in more than just a "40-minute-walk-around-the-track" PE class. Anywho, here are some screen shots of the events. 

obstacle course involving monkey bars, cargo nets, and other activities

lifting "stones" - looked like rubber balls filled with sand

this was the biggest difference between Iceland women and American women: max DEFICIT push ups

boys held their own in a max dips contest

max hang = mental fortitude

I did say why the Iceland women are ridiculous CrossFitters. Why not men? My theory is that while the teenage boys were in the competition, they were doing similar things that other males across the world do. In the US, it's socially acceptable for a guy to be doing dips, push ups, and pull ups. If you are a female and you do these things, then good on ya, but let's be clear you are probably above average in terms of strength. 


Do you think the US could ever get to this point? Would this even be something you would like to see? Working in education, I see gym classes being cut left and right to give more classroom time, so I think the attitude of Americans would have to change a great deal for fitness to play a bigger role. 

Visit to CrossFit Reykjavik and Iceland Annie

This is me finally catching up on some blog posts. 

While in Iceland, Ditty and I had a great time hiking and seeing a ton of natural beauty: waterfalls, mountains, volcanos, and landscapes from a picture book. (see the Flickr album in the post below) But it wouldn't have been a vacation without visiting a CrossFit box. And not just any box, but the one that Iceland Annie trains in, CrossFit Reykjavik. In case you didn't know "Iceland" Annie Thorisdottir, she won the 2011 CrossFit Games (and a cool $250,000) Annie also came in 2nd at the 2010 Games and 11th in the 2009 Games. 

in case you forgot your Inov-8s, you can buy them!

CrossFit Reykjavik had some seriously big space and equipment. They need it because we were told they had 800 members! The class structure was different to accommodate that many people. All day they run open gym, where you warm up in one room, do the workout in another, and cool down on the side. Workouts start every 10 minutes and there are coaches in each room to supervise each part. 

warm up room...the size of most boxes

plenty of equipment, that's for sure

cool down/mobility area

hot tub anyone? extra lifting shoes? laundry??

there were four full racks of Rogue bars...I wonder if Annie donated them from her quarter mil

a room full of road and tri bikes...for people to use for workouts??

Ditty and I warmed up and did the daily WOD which was: 

5 rounds for time of:

400m run

10 pull ups

30 box jumps, 60cm/50cm (24"/20")

10 pull ups

main workout room

I finished in a little over 20 minutes. After this gasser of a workout, we were told by the owner, Evert, that Annie would be arriving in an hour to train their Reykjavik team which placed 1st in the Europe region and 10th in the world. Evert said I was more than welcome to stay and train with them. After almost leaving to eat dinner, Ditty convinced me to stay and train with them. That's what wives are for, right?

Ditty on pull ups

Annie arrived and got us started right away. It was awesome to hear her speak Icelandic to the team and recognize some of the words simply because there wasn't a translation. We worked up to a heavy clean and jerk, focusing on form. They even had extra oly shoes for me! 

Annie warming us up...she didn't let us put the bar down for the whole time, ouch

After the C+J's, we did 2008 CF Games' final workout: 30 squat clean and jerks at 155# (105# for ladies). Between the daily WOD and not hydrating properly, I definitely felt those C+J's! 10:00 flat, just made it under the cap that Annie set. Afterwards we worked on some muscle ups, but I was so dehydrated that when I jumped up for the rings, my calves cramped up BAD. Oof. Time to stand off to the side and talk to Annie. 

workin' the jerk

Annie was really personable and easy to talk to. She mentioned that she is good friends with Rich Froning (men's winner of the 2011 Games) and frequently checks in to see how workouts are going. She also said she was hoping that Josh Bridges and Mikko Salo could sneak into the 2012 Games because Josh will be in the States for the birth of his new baby and Mikko should be healed from knee surgery earlier this year. (this is purely speculation and not based on anything so don't go spreading rumors) It was interesting to hear that she doesn't really talk to a lot of the girls, mostly because she gets along with guys better (most of the guys out there are nodding their heads wishing they were those guys). I won't give away all of her secrets, but it was very cool to talk with her.

finishing up the clean and jerks

I asked Annie about her training (she had just gotten back from Phoenix filming something for Reebok with Carl Paoli) and she said she's glad to have a break before Regionals and the Games. Although her training had not gone backwards, she said it also wasn't going forwards. While traveling, she's been able to maintain her strength and skills, but she's looking forward to spending time in Iceland progressing on everything. 

chatting it up with Annie

Ditty and I had a great time at CF Reykjavik and highly recommend anyone to drop in and do a workout. Evert and Hronn are awesome and very welcoming and if you get the chance to meet Annie, she is equally cool. 

a great time at CF Reykjavik with Evert and Annie!

Stay tuned for my next post, "Why Icelanders are Ridiculous Athletes"

Iceland Pictures - First Set

Here are some pictures I took in Iceland. I've only gone through about a third of my photos, so here is the first set. Enjoy!

4/26/12 UPDATE: I added another set of 50, even though this looks the same, they are there!

Updates: Regional Team and Iceland

CrossFit King of Prussia snuck into Regionals, tied for 29th and just making it into the top 30 teams to head to the Mid-Atlantic Regionals. I just found out that I made the team! I'm normally a pretty calm person, but this is really exciting to be part of something important to me a.k.a. representing the great community of CF KoP. This is our team's third time going to Regionals (first year they went to the Games!), but my first time on the team. Our owner, Aimee Lyons, is no longer on the fence and will be competing as an individual, so that will also be awesome to watch. Mid-Atlantic regionals will be held May 4-6th. Details can be found on the Games page. 

Also, to the three people who read this blog: I'll be in Iceland next week with Ditty, hopefully WODding with Iceland Annie and taking in all of the waterfalls, geysirs, and scenery, so if you don't see any postings, this is why! I'll put up some pics when I get back. Apparently it's a photographer's dream location with awesome lighting and crazy scenery. Forecast says it will be 60% rain almost every day, but we will make the best of it!