There’s not much that Manny Arceneaux encounters that the veteran receiver doesn’t seem to master quickly. Recently however, the Louisiana native and CFL All-Star has taken up the sport of CrossFit and it’s been a humbling experience for the extremely fit and extremely competitive Arceneaux.
“Plain and simple, these folks are beasts,” admits Manny. “I mean I consider myself someone who puts in a lot of time at the gym, but the versatility and athleticism of these competitors is off the charts.”
CrossFit competitions combine unique tests of strength, stamina and athletic versatility in a variety of areas and with a range of equipment. Everything from barbells, dumbbells, and gymnastics equipment can be used in competition and sometimes athletes don’t even know all the elements of a particular event until a few hours beforehand, forcing them to train for a variety of possible tests.
It’s estimated that up to 140,000 people currently compete at some level of CrossFit with about a 50/50 split between male and female participants.
“I entered my first competiton kind of on a whim to be honest. The whole CrossFit thing was a bit of a mystery to me, but I felt I was athletic enough to compete.”
Arceneaux entered the Icebreaker Challenge in North Vancouver in mid-January and got off to a great start by placing first in the clean/jerk and second in the snatch portion of the weightlifting competition.
His confidence likely backslid a bit when he placed 21st, 22nd 25th in CrossFit-specific events such as Tri-Cycle, Deadly and Rahoi but rebounded to place third in Balls.
Tri-Cycle – timed exercise consisting of two chest-to-bar pull-ups, four toes-to-bar pull-ups, six pull-ups and 12 kettlebell snatches.
Deadly – three rounds of 10 deadlifts and 50 double-unders (skipping rope)
Rahoi – 12 box jumps, six thrusters and six overhead burpees – done as many times in a 12 minute span.
Balls – timed event consisting of 21, 15 and 9 reps each of weighted sit-ups, push-ups and throwing a 30-lb weighted ball at a target nine feet off the ground.
When the dust settled on the two-day event, Arceneaux had placed 11th among 30 competitors entered in the same category.
“I left there thinking, man these folks aint playin’, this is serious stuff, but I love competition so I’m working on a few of the other elements to help my overall performance moving forward.”
His training in Langley resulted in an invite by a team working out of Hybrid Athletics called Primal Perfomance to join them for the Okanagan Valley Throwdown, one of Western Canada’s largest CrossFit competitions of the year.
The addition of Arceneaux paid off for Primal Performance as the team finished second overall in the Competitive Division after the two-day event concluded.
The scariest part of the weekend might have been the drive up to Penticton noted the receiver as the sometimes treacherous Coquihalla Highway had plenty of packed snow and fog.
“It was a lot of fun competing, making new friends and meeting a lot of Lions fans,” beamed Arceneaux.
So is he hooked on CrossFit?
“Well I think it’s going to be a big part of my training, but probably not my next calling. It’s perfect for me because I can apply the training principles to my position on the field. Strength, endurance and burst are the key elements to playing receiver beyond the fundamentals of footwork and catching. You need to find every edge when it comes to competing.”
Who knows, that edge might be the difference on the next broken tackle, leaping catch or touchdown sprint.
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