By: Lauren Lax 

 

Ryan Hignell

 

Wodapalooza Miami attracts many of the top athletes from across the country to come out and test how their personal training has been paying off since the Games’ season. 

 

Happening Martin Luther King Jr. weekend (January 16-18th), on the brink of the annual CrossFit Open, competitors are challenged with three jam-packed days of workouts that test all levels of fitness. 

 

While the registration for the Scaled and Master’s divisions opens on November 1st, the RX and Elite divisions are now set, following October’s three-week qualifier. 

 

22-year-old Ryan Hignell of the NorCal Region, is still pinching himself that his training has paid off this past year—he came in first during the Qualifier, solidifying his spot within the Elite Men’s division for his second year in a row. 

 

“Last year, I took 5th place overall. I finished inside the top 7 on every workout except the swim (I guess almost drowning puts you behind the pack! I was one of the last to finish). So, this year,  I was pretty surprised to finish the Qualifier in first. When I first looked, I thought it was a mistake. I was just shocked. I had to redo the power snatch, toes to bar and row, burpee workout the day after I asked my girlfriend to marry me in Utah. I live in California with 190 ft of elevation and I redid the workout in Salt Lake City at 4,500 ft. I was hurting for two days after. I thought I had the flu,” Hignell said. 

 

Hignell is no stranger to tough workouts though. He has been a CrossFit athlete, now, for six years, and opened his own box in Chico, California, North Rim CrossFit. He finished 11th overall in the NorCal Region during the CrossFit Open the past two years, as well as competed in the Regional during 2012 and 2013 (he sat out during 2014 due to family circumstances). Prior to the sport of fitness, Hignell said he was always working out and incorporated a lot of gymnastics and functional body-weight movements into his training. Over the past year, he said he’s focused primarily on strength.

 

“I have had a coach ever since before I went to the 2012 NorCal Regional. I qualified and was just following CrossFit.com at the time. My coach (Max El-Hag) and I have just been working on getting me stronger this last year. Two years ago at Regionals I weighed 162 lbs. Now I weigh around 185 lbs. This summer I did my first weightlifting meet and I won 1st out of about 50+ people in my weight class. I usually work out 6-7x a week. One or two double days a week. But not too much volume,” Hignell said.

 

A typical day of training may look like:

 

Conditioning

 

AM

A. Squat clean; build to a max in 12 min

+

20 min amrap:

10 front squat 205#

5 muscle ups

10 GHD sit ups

5 parallete hspu (9" depth)

 

PM

5 min max reps power snatch 135#

4 min max calories airydne

3 min max reps CTB pull ups

2 min max calorie airydne

1 min max reps double unders

 

 

Strength

 

AM

A. Deadlift @31x1; 4-5x5; rest 2:30 (same load across)

B. Snatch pulls 5x5; rest 2 min

C. Push press @51x2; 2-3x6; rest 2:30

D. Free standing handstand hold practice 15 min

 

PM

6 sets:

15 unbroken KBS 2 pood

Prowler push 20 seconds @100% (heavy)

 

 

Hignell’s current sights are set on performing well at Wodapalooza. 

 

“I hope to do even better than last year. Most of all, I am excited for the level of competition—and meeting new people. If anything, one of the best parts of this community is making new friends,” Hignell said.