Dear CrossFit, How Much Does Every Rep Count?

Dear CrossFit,

We hear it all the time, “every rep counts.”  Well, how much does every rep count?  In 13.1, getting one rep at the next higher snatch weight counted for thousands of places.  In 13.2, each rep counted incrementally.  In 13.3, getting one dub counted for hundreds of places and getting one muscle up counted for thousands of places.  How much did getting one more rep (other than a higher weight or muscle up) matter in the middle of the pack (where I currently reside?).  Here’s some data from a middle of hte pack competitor.

13.1, got 115 reps, good for 330th place in demographic (out of 1360), 116 reps would have moved athlete from 330th to 307th, 23 places.

13.2, got 169 reps, good for 1015th place, 170 reps would have moved athlete to 997th, 18 places.

13.3, got 144 reps, good for 849th place, 145 would have moved athlete to 831st, 18 places.

Overall, the athlete is 680th out of 1345 competitors with 2194 points.  One more rep in each event would have produced 2135 points, moving the athlete to 669th.  Here’s the rub, 680th is not in the top half, 669th is!  So every rep really does count, and for this athlete three more reps would make the difference between top 50% and bottom 50%.

Here’s another athlete.

13.1 164 reps = 28th, 165 reps = 23rd

13.2 332 reps = 2nd, 333 reps = still 2nd

13.3 240 reps = 80th, 241 reps = 40th

overall, 130 points = 28th, 65 points = 8th.

For this athlete, one muscle up and one more snatch are the difference between 8th and 28th overall.

So, what all this means is, every rep really does count, and some reps (one snatch at heavier weight, one dub, one muscle up) count the most.

I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be.