I recently had the pleasure of interviewing via email and phone Steve Anderson, the CrossFit Games champ in the masters men 55-59 division. Steve is a TOTALLY AWESOME dude, one of the nicest guys I’ve talked to in the CrossFit community, which is saying a lot because the community is filled with really cool people. So, it’s a shame that he won’t be able to defend his title at the 2012 Games due to injury. Read my complete article on the CrossFit Games site. Steve has surgery schedule in April for a torn labrum and will be in rehab for many months after that.
If you haven’t heard Anderson’s story, it’s a remarkable one. He worked out purely at LA Fitness and was convinced by a friend to try some CrossFit WODs. This included WOD 11.1 of the CrossFit Open from last year, which he did at his house with his son doing the video. He killed it and was in 8th after he submitted his score. From there, he went to CrossFit Paragon in northeast Atlanta one day per week to do the Open WODs. Chace Wheaton, a trainer at Paragon, had to teach him the movements. When it was all said and done, Anderson had qualified for the Games by placing 7th overall in the Open.
From there, Anderson committed to hitting CrossFit Paragon everyday to train properly for the world’s biggest CrossFit event. A few months later, he crushed his competition and was crowned fittest man on Earth in his division.
To give a little background, Anderson is an experienced competitor and terrific athlete. He competed as a wrestler in college, did Olympic lifting for five years after that and qualified for US Nationals, and tried his hand at triathlon after that. He benched 425 lbs when he was 52 years old and his goal is a 300 lbs clean and jerk next year. Once you get to know him, it’s no surprise he’s the best of the best at CrossFit.
Anderson is out for 2012, but look for him to make a big comeback and gun for another title in 2013.
“It’s been a great journey,” said Anderson. “In one year I’ve learned so much. What a great sport.”
Here’s a video interview of Anderson that originally ran on the 2011 CrossFit Games site:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuaYp9GYAes[/youtube]