The CrossFit benchmark workout Helen was first programmed on June 22, 2003. Though the workout wasn’t yet named, the phrase, “You’ll see this workout again” appeared in parentheses, alluding to the eventual benchmark status of the triplet of running, kettlebell swings, and pull-ups. The fastest time on record was 9:25, put up by the “original firebreather,” Greg Amundson. A few months later, Amundson retested the workout and shaved a minute off his time, finishing in 8:25.
The triplet was dubbed “Helen” on Nov. 5, 2003, when it was posted on CrossFit.com along with a quote from Helen Keller: “We can do anything we want as long as we stick to it long enough.”
Helen at the Games
As an original benchmark workout, Helen is great for measuring your current level of fitness and assessing your progress when you revisit it. It’s also highly scalable — to be more difficult or more manageable — and this year, a version of it is programmed across the individual, age-group, and adaptive divisions at the CrossFit Games.
Rebecca Voigt Miller, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, and Stacie Tovar during Helen at the 2010 CrossFit Games
A classic expression of CrossFit, Helen combines gymnastics, weightlifting, and monostructural movements and demands a high level of capacity and skill. It’s not enough to just be fast, or strong, or an expert at controlling your own body weight. You’ve got to have it all. That’s the fitness CrossFit develops and tests for.
On Tuesday, the age-group and adaptive athletes took on a classic version of Helen. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Helen at the Games. In 2010, Games athletes took on Pyramid Double Helen, a brutal twist on the already challenging triplet that included a much higher volume of running, kettlebell swings, and pull-ups.
Age-Group and Adaptive Athletes Tackle Helen
The age-group and adaptive divisions kicked off the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games in Madison, Wisconsin, and completed Helen in the third and final test of Day 1. Age-group athletes were challenged with the classic test as written, while modified versions were programmed for the adaptive divisions with a SkiErg in place of the run for Lower- and Multi-Extremity athletes.
Casey Acree during Helen at the 2023 CrossFit Games
Four athletes in this year’s competition also completed Pyramid Double Helen in 2010: Stacie Tovar, Samantha Briggs, Rebecca Voigt Miller, and Cheryl Brost. Notably, each woman finished in the top five in their divisions — Brost won the test in the 50-54 division. In the age-group divisions, the top finishers in the Men’s and Women’s 35-49 divisions beat Amundson’s original best. The top time of the day was 6:13, put up by 20-year-old James Brown in the Multi-Extremity division.
On the adaptive side, top times ranged from 6 to 9 minutes. Athletes across all three adaptive divisions performed pull-ups in the test, with many utilizing special equipment to hoist themselves over the bar on each rep and some opting to remove prosthetic limbs and hop on one leg for the final sprint to the finish line.
In true CrossFit fashion, the stimulus of Helen was maintained across various ages and ability levels, making for an effective test of fitness on Day 2 of the 2023 CrossFit Games.
Athletes Tackle Helen at CrossFit Games