In a sport with an average athlete age of 24, two-time CrossFit Games Masters (40-44) champion Shawn Ramirez has conquered the most grueling fitness tests without ever being sidelined by injury. The Kill Cliff–sponsored athlete trains five days a week: two to three days to improve strength, speed, and flexibility; a day for gymnastics; a weightlifting day with cleans, jerks, snatches or squats; and a conditioning day with sled pushes, rowing, or running. His rest days are anything but. Ramirez swims a mile, does a 10K row, or rides an Assault AirBike.
“Always giving your body something different keeps training fun,” Ramirez says. “A bored body equals no results.” A father to three sons, Ramirez’s main motivation to three-peat at the 2016 CrossFit Games is to set an example. “I need to win for my third son,” Ramirez says. “In 2014, my oldest trained with me, and last year my second one did. Now, my youngest is running by my side.”
For Ramirez, staying game requires listening to his body. He does track work instead of running on hard surfaces, and for box jumps he steps down instead of jumping off. “You can’t listen when the body talks, you have to listen to when it whispers.” Ramirez follows a classic clean diet: six meals daily with carbs, protein, and fat. Breakfast is an oatmeal, berries, almond milk, whey protein, and spirulina smoothie.
Can you handle a day in his shoes? Try his customized WOD below.
Use 185 pounds for men, 120 pounds for women. Do all reps per set then do next move. Perform for time. Scale down if necessary: 135 pounds for men/95 for women.
