When I started watching CrossFit’s documentary, Fittest On Earth: A Decade of Fitness, I thought two things:
- I’m a sloth and
- I’m going to be ridiculously bored watching athletes compete against each other.
I was wrong. I am a sloth, but I wasn’t bored with this documentary at all. This action-packed sports film was just that — filled with action. It was like watching Olympic athletes train for their moment, except this moment was the 2016 Reebok CrossFit Games. The CrossFit Games are a grueling five-day, 15-event test to find the fittest man and woman on Earth.
For those of you who don’t know what CrossFit is, it’s a fitness regimen developed by Greg Glassman over several decades. According to their website, Glassman, CrossFit’s Founder and CEO, was the first person in history to define fitness in a meaningful, measurable way: increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains. He then created a program specifically designed to improve fitness and health. These Games take that program to a whole new level.
Sara Sigmundsdottir lives and breathes the CrossFit Games and once said, “My mom told me I’m a deer, but I want to be a tiger.” Mat Fraser is an absolute beast, who didn’t want to go home second best. You’ll get to know the competitors and see how hard they work for this one competition.
At one point, someone is heard saying, “You don’t know how good you have to be just to suck at the Crossfit games.” It’s an incredible understatement. These athletes are in such incredible shape, all with the hope of being crowned the winner of one event. Sound familiar? (pssst – Olympics)
“Fittest on Earth: A Decade of Fitness” follows the dramatic story of these top athletes who qualified and competed and offers an inside look at what it takes to be among the world’s elite athletes, both in training and on the competition floor. The CrossFit Games challenge competitors to perform intense physical tasks, but the hardest part is sometimes mental. At one point, Tia-Clair Toomey is inside her own head, done with the competition and eager to have it over with. When another competitor requests a selfie with her, Toomey obliges, only to follow up with ‘you’re going to delete that once the competition is over.” The self-doubt and self-loathing is evident even in the fiercest and fittest of competitors.
What made this competition so interesting is that the athletes had no idea how they were competing. They trained for what they thought they would need, but minutes before the competition would be when they would find out what exactly they were going to be doing. The playing field is level when it’s a surprise and this competition was so much a surprise that the competitors were put on a plane at the beginning and brought to the destination — where the original CrossFit Games took place. The competition took several days and everyone handles the pressure differently. Which of these fierce competitors will rise to the top and earn the title of Fittest on Earth?
Fittest On Earth: A Decade of Fitness is out today, March 17th, in several local theater, as well as VOD, & On Demand everywhere.
I watch a lot of documentaries and this one is extremely well done. It’s not just talking heads. The music and the camera work are superior compared to other documentaries that I’ve seen and, if you want to be inspired or need motivation to get off the couch, this just might do it. The documentary is 116 minutes long and was directed by Heber Cannon, Marston Sawyers, Ian Wittenber, and Mariah Moore. I love behind-the-scenes documentaries like this and have watched The World’s Strongest Man competitions, and bodybuilding competitions since I was a little kid. This documentary kept me hooked in a ‘who’s gonna win’ kind of suspense. Definitely worth checking out.
IN THEATERS & ON DEMAND
March 17
STARRING:
Mat Fraser
Sara Sigmundsdottir
Katrin Davidsdottir
Tia-Clair Toomey
Ben Smith
Brent Fikowski
Patrick Vellner
Josh Bridges
Dave Castro
Pat Sherwood
Rory McKernan
Tommy Marquez
Sean Woodland
Justin Bergh
TRAILER:
PRE-ORDER LINKS:
iTunes US: http://apple.co/2jBguMG
iTunes Canada: http://apple.co/2kp6FpI
THEATRICAL MARKETS:
LA – Laemmle Monica
Boston – Apple Cinemas
Cleveland – Tower City
Seattle – Varsity
Atlanta – Plaza
Chicago – Facets Cinematheque
Phoenix – AMC Arizona Center
Dallas – AMC Mesquite
Houston – AMC Studio 30
Denver – AMC Westminster
Toronto – Kingsway Theatre
