By Greg Ford
Sports Editor
It wasn’t long ago that Logan Collins was more focused on balls and strikes. After all, he was a four-year baseball player at Wylie High School, something he continued doing at Lon Morris College.
Today, though, the 23-year-old Collins in concentrating more on things like snatches, rope climbs, thrusters and handstand pushups. While those terms may be foreign to many, they are part of the language of crossfit training, a world into which Collins has become fully enveloped over the last few years.
His dedication to the sport — he took it up in March, 2013 — is such that he’s built himself up enough to compete this weekend in a regional competition at the Dallas Convention Center.
That’s a long way from Collins’ crossfit beginnings, which took place in a barn at his home.
“We saved up some money … I grabbed a bunch of stuff I liked,” he said. “I dragged out some mats and started trying to teach myself, watching videos, and trying to learn all this stuff. I kind of fell in love with it.”
Today, besides being a competitor, Collins also instructs would-be crossfitters at WTF Crossfit, showing them not only proper technique, but also encouraging and pushing them through workouts intended to leave one gasping for breath.
In fact, it took Collins a little while to build himself into a regional contender. This year, competing in the South Central Region, he finished 11th overall after completing a series of strenuous events. That earned him a spot at this weekend’s South Regional, which takes the top-20 competitors from the South Central region, the Southwest region and Latin America. He also was 11th overall out of all the competitors who qualified for the South Regional.
“My goal this year was to make it,” Collins said. “The first year I did it, I finished 114th in the region … This year, I finished 11th in the region and 140th worldwide. It was a pretty cool increase of fitness, for sure.”
The top-five competitors from the South Regional will attend the Crossfit Games in Carson, Calif, which Collins said usually takes place in late July.
At the South Regional, Collins will partake in three days worth of events, starting Friday with “Hero Day, ” which will have him and other competitors doing lifting-based workouts such as thrusters and snatches, as well as rope climbs, all of which will be done for time.
“Usually everything is done for time in the regional,” Collins said.
The second day will be endurance-based, which includes a mile run, jump rope double unders (swinging the rope twice under one jump), overhead squats (bar and weights held straight over the head while squatting), a 250-meter hand stand walk for time and maxing out on a snatch attempt (20-second time limit).
“My goal is (to finish in the) top 10,” Collins said. “I think that’s more than doable. I just hope I don’t (mess) up too much on the snatch, and get a good lift. They have been so pretty good events for me, so far.”
He added, “I’ll have to pace off the run, because if I (get a personal record) in the mile time, I probably will not be able to overhead squat near quick enough … However, during (most) events I plan on going as hard as a I can. If I hit that wall, I hit a wall. It’s my first competition, so I’ll live and learn.”
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