CrossFit Benchmark Workout Grace at the CrossFit Games

Sarah Howard is a mother, United States Air Force Band flutist, and CrossFit Level 2 Trainer at Trial Built CrossFit () in Vacaville, California. While attending the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games in Madison, Wisconsin — a present to herself in celebration of her 45th birthday — she completed the benchmark workout Grace () during a class led by CrossFit Seminar Staff trainers. “There’s this point — it’s around 20 reps — where your mind is frozen and you start to think about how bad it hurts,” she says of the 30 clean and jerks at 95 lb (which she finished in 1:18). “And I’ve learned over time to take that pain and turn it into something positive that I’m striving for in my life.” Howard started CrossFit in 2013, two years after her mother died of colon cancer, sending Howard into a deep depression. CrossFit brought her out. “It makes me feel powerful,” she says. CrossFit is the world’s leading platform for improving health and performance. In the 20 years since its founding, CrossFit has grown from a garage gym in Santa Cruz, California, into the world’s most effective program for improving health and performance through nutrition and exercise. CrossFit is the world’s leading provider of accredited performance-based training courses and certifications and has more than 125,000 credentialed coaches across the world. The program can be modified to welcome people of all ages and abilities and millions of people have already experienced CrossFit’s transformational benefits in more than 13,000 affiliated gyms across 158 countries. CrossFit also directs the CrossFit Games season, beginning with the annual CrossFit Open, through which athletes at every level compete worldwide, and culminating in the CrossFit Games, where top athletes compete for the title of Fittest on Earth®. Learn more about CrossFit: Find a CrossFit affiliate near you: Find CrossFit Courses Near You: View workouts: Learn more about the CrossFit Games: OR