A BETTER CROSSFIT RANKING SYSTEM

By Jake - January 11, 2017

Cross t has been a sport for over a decade, with it gaining massive popularity in only the last
few years.  As a relatively new sport, it still lacks some of the features of more mature sports,
such as basketball, football, etc.  One of these glaring de ciencies, is the lack of a valid
ranking system.  Keep reading to discover the ve levels for cross t athletes, that cover
everyone from the newest beginner to the ttest on earth.  

These levels are developed based o of my years of experience with cross t athletes, and
some statistical analysis of their strength, endurance, and skill levels.  These levels are set for
the same percentile across various domains.  For example the intermediate standards are
roughly 50th percentile, with higher levels at higher percentiles.  I’ve also included a rough
time frame to achieve these levels, but of course some will be faster, and others slower.  Do
not take these standards as limits, only as milestones along your path to tness.

If you want to see exactly how to gure this for yourself, you can skip to the slides at the end.

CROSSFIT BEGINNER STANDARDS

Beginners should strive for consistently in all things.  They need to learn the basic
movements, and be able to perform them safely every time.  This phase will likely take up to
6 months, but of course, some will move through this phase very rapidly, depending on their
previous experiences, both in and out of the gym.
 Crossfit Beginner Standards

CROSSFIT INTERMEDIATE STANDARDS

These standards are where the vast majority of cross tters will be at any given time.  Some
will stay here inde nitely, happy with this level of tness, and others might be able to satisfy
the majority of these tness goals the rst time they step foot into the gym.  Either way, this
level is much tter than the average gym goer you’ll see at Gold’s or even worse Planet
Fitness.

Crossfit Ranking System Intermediate

CROSSFIT ADVANCED STANDARDS

The advanced standard will generally take 2+ years to accomplish.  When I say two plus years,
I don’t mean I did an intro class two years ago and worked out for a summer, then stopped
during the winter.  I mean two consistent years of day in and day out hard work
It will require signi cant strength levels and conditioning.  Based on my previous experience,
this is the level that most cross tters start to participate in local competitions, at the non-
scaled level, mainly in part because they can execute all common movements found at these
competitions, including the dreaded muscle up.

Crossfit Ranking System Advanced

CROSSFIT ELITE STANDARDS

This standard is probably not achievable by everyone.  This will require a fair amount of
natural ability, and dare I say a good draw in the genetic lottery.  These are the folks that walk
into the gym and can deadlift your PR on the rst day.  I know, I know, they should be shot,
but don’t do it, lawyers are expensive.

The biggest di erence  between this level, and the advanced level is the strength standards.
This increase in strength allows their WOD times to drop dramatically.

Generally speaking, until the weight in a WOD is 40% of your 1 rep max or under, it’s more
bene cial to be stronger than better conditioned.  If you then couple that increase in strength
with continued improvement in stamina, well you’ve got an elite athlete.  These are the folks
that are winning local competitions, and have aspirations of going to regionals or the games.
 Crossfit Ranking System Elite

CROSSFIT INTERNATIONAL ELITE STANDARDS 

This is the highest level of achievement.  This is for games and regional level athletes.  
Statistically speaking only the top fraction of the 99th percentile will reach this level of
development, and this will take at least 3 + years of consistent work to get there.

These athletes will most likely have extensive training backgrounds in college or semi pro
athletics, but even with this background it will probably take them several years of consistent
cross t work to reach this highest level in this cross t ranking system.

A good example of this, is a female regionals athlete, Oxana Slivenko a silver medalist weight
lifter, who has not yet made it to the Games.  She is incredibly strong.  There is a video of her
in a Russian training hall, preparing for the olympics, where she squats 440lbs for a double.
 So we can see that years of hard work and incredible talent in other sports don’t mean your
are going to be the next ttest person on earth, without tons of dedicated work on cross t.

 
 Crossfit Ranking System International Elite

HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR CROSSFIT LEVEL 

Now that we’ve seen examples for a 195 lb male from beginner to international elite, lets take
a look at how to calculate your individual level for both males and females.  The lift numbers
are based o of multiples of your bodyweight, with the other standards set at certain
percentiles.  Check out the following to see how to calculate your level.

Crossfit Standards Beginner Data

Crossfit Standards Intermediate Data

Crossfit Advanced Standards Data

Crossfit Elite Standards Data

 Crossfit International Elite Standards Data

You’ll notice that I’ve included the female numbers for the lifts and the other standards.
 These standards are are not normed, they are based o of user reported data in each area.
 So I didn’t take male standards and just reduced them by some arbitrary number.  They are
calculated o of the same percentile levels as the men, only using a female data set.

REVIEW 

I created this ranking system because I think cross t needs this type of tool.  It gives people
concrete goals to shoot for, and it gives them a reasonable picture of where they currently
stand.  It also forces folks to be realistic with their strengths and weaknesses.

If you can hit all the strength numbers on a certain level, but not the wod numbers, well you
now know where you should be putting the bulk of your e ort, if being the best cross tter
you can be is your goal.  Lastly, I’d like to emphasize that no one, including me, knows how far
you can progress on this cross t ranking system.  So get out there and nd out for yourself.

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Jake
 F O LLO W U S O N I N STAG RA M @JAK E . JAC K S O N 1

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