Is There a Bias in the Open against Tall Athletes?

[newbeginnings331]

TLDR: Not so much, just against anything not average.

Some exercises clearly favor shorter athlete. For instance, burpees. 12.1 was 7 min of burpees. Those 6'2" and over score about 10% less than those under 6'2". On the other hand, some favor the tall. For instance, rowing. 15.5 was 27-21-15-9 of calorie row and thrusters. The best scores were for those who were 6'3".

12.1

15.5

Looking at the 21 Open workout from 2012 to 2015, 9 appear to favor the tall, 8 favor the short, and 4 favor the center. That's a pretty good distribution of bias. This is for Rx Males, non-scaled, non-masters only.

The question was asked on how the scores looked for the 6'2" and taller crowd. Here's a table of the average scores for those 21 workouts for the tall (>=6'2"), the rest (

 

[thebaconincident]

@newbeginnings331 Ahhhh, so it's my height that prevented me from qualifying for Regionals! I was way off this whole time, I thought I was just really mediocre at CrossFit.

 

[picnic_00]

@newbeginnings331 Dude, you don't need any of those statistics. It's science 101 - taller people have further distance to travel. Take it from me, I am 6'6, and have been doing crossfit for almost 5 years.

Being tall is advantageous for the following "crossfit activities:"

1.) Wall-balls
2.) Rowing
3.) Short sprints (if you know how to keep an open stride)
4.) Box jumps

Outside of that, the shorter athletes have an advantage for everything else. The few far and between times we do "Karen" at my gym, I am so sick of hearing the shorter athletes complain that I can finish in 5:20-5:45.

 

[amaian]

@picnic_00 I like being tall for rope climbs too. But yeah, that's about all 4-5 of the 100 movements that it's nice.

 

[kelster]

@amaian at a local comp, athletes had to rope climb 8ft (or was it 10ft, I can't really remember) for 7 reps or so. One of the tall athletes asked if he was allowed to jump and touch? They said yes. Everyone kinda laughed about it but he went ahead and just jumped and touched...

 

[katstamper]

@kelster That is why rope climb reps should be defined by the feet clearing a tape mark on the rope. It balances out the movement for tall and short people.

 

[kelster]

@katstamper He finished last.

 

[katstamper]

@kelster In the rope climb?

 

[kelster]

@katstamper the wod. he finished the rope first but couldnt keep up with the rest afterwards

 

[katstamper]

@kelster Ah, got it. Still would be fairer to everyone to have to clear the feet despite him coming in last. He clearly wasn't adhering to the spirit of the movement.

 

[shelraepc]

@katstamper What is the spirit of the movement for the rope climb? Its touch the target on the top of the rope. Take a look at rope climbs in regionals and what not... its a leap to get as high as possible then climb. I'd say its within the spirit of the movement, especially since most tall people are boned on other movements.

 

[katstamper]

@shelraepc

What is the spirit of the movement for the rope climb? Its touch the target on the top of the rope.

That's the objective, not the spirit. Jumping up and tapping the top of the rope works completely different muscle groups than what rope climbing is intended to work, just look up what muscle groups rope climbing benefits. Jumping to tap the top of the rope isn't going to do any appreciable work to improve grip strength or upper body. Substituting jumps for rope climbs is a loophole due to the rope being so short. Do people take a jump at the start? Sure, just like people take a running start at a long jump but that doesn't make it the principle movement.

Are you a coach at OPEX or something?

 

[guitarguy12]

@picnic_00 Box jumps favor taller athletes

 

[picnic_00]

@guitarguy12 Ah yes, forgot about those

 

[kitcar]

@picnic_00 Even for WB you have a long way to squat.

 

[picnic_00]

@kitcar Yes, but I also have long arms - so it's quite easy to fly through WB's

 

[kitcar]

@picnic_00 We occasionally do no squat WBs, that's when I feel like I'm winning at life

 

[novihartanti]

@kitcar No leg or hip explosion at all?

 

[fulltimer99]

@novihartanti you don't need the full squat for the explosion. A quarter squat will provide plenty of that (think of a Jerk)

 

[novihartanti]

@fulltimer99 I was trying to understand the limitation so I could program it. If it was arms only or with legs.