What better way to kick off your New Year’s resolution than to get fit at Wodapalooza — one of the largest fitness festivals in the world with a focus on Crossfit competition.
The games take place Jan. 11-14 at Miami’s Bayfront Park and bring together thousands of athletes, spectators and fitness fanatics to celebrate fitness, community and life. And it’s all against the backdrop of Miami’s beautiful skyline.
Now in its 12th year, the event got its start in 2012 when Guido Trinidad and Steve Suarez wanted to run CrossFit classes at Bayfront Park in the summer of 2011. Instead, the park manager offered them the chance to turn it into a competition.
The first competition was a single-day event held on Feb. 4, 2012, with some preliminary events the day before. The first Wodapalooza had 145 participating athletes and 500 spectators. Last year, there were more than 1,800 athletes and 40,000 spectators, along with a $505,000 prize purse, one of the largest payouts for a CrossFit competition. Elite individuals can take home a first-place prize of $75,000.
Participants range in age from 13 to 60-plus.
The name “Wodapalooza” is the combination of “WOD” or CrossFit’s “Workout of the Day” with “palooza,” denoting a festival or large-scale event. And if you wondered what CrossFit is, the official definition is “constantly varied, functional movements that are executed at high intensity.” In English, that means participants engage in weightlifting, calisthenics, power lifting, running, rowing, biking — and it varies so you never get bored.
Visit wodapalooza.com