CrossFit Hero: CHAD

This Hero wod was pushed by Dave Castro and quickly became popular in the CrossFit scene.

When does the CrossFit WOD Chad arise?

Chad was first published on December 15, 2018 and it was done by the director of the Games back then, Dave Castro.

On his Instagram account he explained:

"A few weeks ago we lost an American hero. A friend of mine with whom I worked when I was in the navy.At his funeral, his wife told me that Chad used to make 100 step ups for time loaded with a 20kg backpack and using a 50 cm boxas training for the ascent to the Mount Aconcagua in Argentina. This mountain is considered the highest in South America.

Tonight I did this training with James Hobart, Adrian Bozman and Jimi Letchford. We did it in celebration of his life and in honor of his memory. If you're thinking about doing something this weekend, I encourage you to keep Chad in mind to do it."

Chad is one of the most popular heroes

As explained by the Dave Castro in a statement made after its publication, he himself did not expect his claim to have such an impact. He saw how the week after sharing Chad's story, hundreds of people were doing the training in his honor.

Castro stated that he had sadly lost more friends with whom he shared his profession, but that the nature of the death was suicide made it harder to overcome.

Castro himself commented that after so many years of service these people in this profession have seen and done things that most people do not have to do. And that is a burden that these people carry with them and that the rest of us cannot understand.

One reason why many people were probably encouraged to do this WOD is for the simplicity of the same. It does not mean that it is not hardall heroes are extremely tough physically and mentally.

Chad is accessible because it does not require great skills, neither gymnastics nor weightlifting... all you need is a box, a weight and the focus on the WOD alone. And that surely was a determining factor in turning this hero into a WOD that so many crossfitters have done.

History of Chad Michael Wilkinson

U.S. military officer Chad Michael Wilkinson died Oct. 29, 2018, in Virginia Beach. while he was still active and after 22 years of service.

According to the Navy SEAL Foundation's official website, 43-year-old Chad caused his own death by committing suicide.

Dave Castro shared years in the military with Michael. In addition, he met his wife Sara Wilkinson who became a coach of CrossFit level 4. Sara is the owner of CrossFit Odyssey in Virginia Beach, where Chad was assigned.

The Hero Chad wod

1000 steps ups for time

box 50 cm high
ballast:
👨🏻45 lb / 20 kg
🧑🏻35 lb / 16 kg

Adaptations

The wod is designed to be finished in about 30 minutes of time cap, so it is necessary to adapt it to your fitness level.

• Same number of repetitions with adaptations at altitude.
• Adaptations in the ballast weight. The RX version requires a backpack, many crossfitters use the RX version. weighted vest of 6 or 10 kg.
• Reduction of repetitions to 3/4 or 1/2 as needed.

And above all, remember that it doesn't matter "how much" you have to adapt it. Again, this is about community across borders, languages and generations. We are a strong community, and this WOD is just one more demonstration of what we are all capable of doing together.

Tips

It is technically, an easy wod, there will be fatigue, but no high heart rate, no extreme fatigue.

In order not to lengthen the WOD, choose a number of repetitions and always do the series in this way.

For example: 50 repetitions, break to write them down 30 seconds maximumI continue with 50 more repetitions. Total 20 rounds.

It's not a WOD to think about, just to execute the plan. If you leave it to chance and only go by your feelings, you will inevitably take more breaks than you need.

Post Chad

In my experience the the muscle part that suffered the most were the calf muscles. The effort of climbing up to the box was fine, it seems that the fact of tiptoeing back to the ground 1000 times, not so much.

I suffered fibrillar micro-tears that I could see in the form of small bruises. The heroes are to commemorate the effort of the military, and of course with this wod I had a week of pain on my calves.

I also had some discomfort in the hip flexors but it doesn't compare to the pain on the calves.