As CrossFit becomes more and more popular in the fitness realm, CWU is working to incorporate more of those people in the recreation center community and events.

“CrossFit is a type of work-out and/or community that has become more popular I would say in the past five to seven years,” Claire Cox, the marketing and health programming coordinator at CWU, said.  

The CWU Recreation Center has incorporated what is now called the “Iron Cat Games.”

Brian Harvey is a health programming intern at the Recreation Center. Cox is also involved in the Iron Cat Games as she oversees Harvey and all of the personal trainers and group fitness instructors for the Recreation Center. The games were a combination of the efforts of Harvey, Cox and Jordan Bishop who oversee intramurals and special events that the Recreation Center puts on.

“It’s a little bit more CrossFit like, it’s a bit of a niche community that we wanted to appeal to,” Cox said.

It is even more appealing because the competitors get exposed to the Cat Den, which is a room normally used for group classes and personal training sessions.

“This allows us to get the general population up there so we can expose them to what we have to offer,” Cox said.

“It’s gonna test their strength, endurance, see how fast they can get things done, and how many rounds they can complete,” Harvey said.

Harvey and Cox decided to set up an event that spanned once a week for a little over a month to find the strongest, endurance driven athletes out there. For every workout, there is a points system, and the number of points the competitor has will tell which place they are in. The points will then be averaged out at the end of the competition, and whoever has the highest number of points out of the men and women’s sections respectively will win prizes.

First place gets 100 points for each category, and the point system will decrease in value by five every place lower. Harvey and Cox decided to do the Iron Cat Games because they wanted to target students who are interested in CrossFit. The response for the Iron Cat Games from the CWU students was “slow at first” according to Harvey, but now more people seem to be interested in the event. Harvey is hopeful that if the Recreation Center were to hold the Iron Cat Games next year there would be more of a following.

“This is the first time so we don’t really know what to expect,” said Harvey.

Some of the workouts the students will be doing are box jumps, kettlebell swings, deadlifts, trx and circuit-type workouts that will be judged by time or rounds.

CrossFit is a  “combination of both High Intensity Interval Training training (HIIT), as well as strength training too, with some Olympic-type lifts and more complex body movements.”

What the competitors will expect is something similar to what would be seen at a CrossFit games event, but the difference is  that CWU’s personal trainers will be programming all of the workouts, giving them an opportunity to get a different kind of learning experience, as well as exposing different people to the Cat Den.

“It’s all high intensive,” Harvey said. “The faster you go, the harder you go, the more exertion you’re gonna have and you’re gonna get tired out quickly.”

They are hoping to see “the best of the best,” Harvey said.  

There will be a first, second and third place for both the men and women categories. The first place winners will decide which of the prizes they want and the second and third place winners will receive the remaining prizes. The prizes will be a duffel bag with the Iron Cat Games logo on it, a Hydro Flask and a gift card for the Wildcat Shop.