CrossFit competitor steps up his game

Dakota Rager is no stranger to a hard workout. The 24-year-old from Cadiz, Ohio, practically grew up in a gym.

His father owns a fitness center, and Rager spent a good portion of his childhood there, learning how to lift heavy weights and build muscle mass. This proved helpful for the sports he enjoyed as a youth: boxing, wrestling, baseball and football.

But about three years ago his father recorded TV coverage of the CrossFit Games and showed it to Rager, who had just become an engineer diver with the Army. He wasn’t sure if his son would like the rigorous training. Turns out Rager loved it — so much, in fact, that he’s become a dedicated competitor and on Saturday will participate in the Hawai’i VA Games, in which athletes compete in CrossFit-like events.

Since their inception the games have raised more than $75,000 for various local nonprofits. About 84 teams — or more than 330 athletes — are expected to compete.

CrossFit is a strength and conditioning fitness program that thrives on workout diversity. It incorporates high-intensity interval training, Olympic weightlifting, plyometrics and other aerobic exercises. It started in 2000 and now boasts more than 10,000 affiliated gyms around the world, with 43 in Hawaii.

"It looked really hard, and it was definitely something I thought I might try," Rager said.

Rager’s initial experience with CrossFit was in Virginia, where he was living with his wife, Ashley. They both joined a gym five minutes from their home.

"I loved it because it was different every day," said Rager, a sergeant stationed at Hickam Air Force Base. "I was so used to the bodybuilding type of workout, where you do the same thing over and over again. With CrossFit the workouts were always changing so it was never the same thing."

Because CrossFit workouts call for exercises that are often done as quickly as possible or within a time limit, Rager was able to condense his workout to 10 minutes from 90 minutes and still get similar results.

Then he was reminded of the CrossFit Games. All of a sudden, his workouts had a greater purpose.

Held every summer since 2007, the competition brings athletes from around the world to compete in workouts they learn about only hours beforehand. The workouts are comprised of a broad range of functional movements, such as quickly moving large loads across long distances.

When Rager moved to Oahu a little more than two years ago, he joined CrossFit 808 in Kalihi and six weeks later entered his first CrossFit competition. He trained seriously the next year but was deployed to Southeast Asia before he could compete. This year he finished in 13th place during a regional qualifying event in California.

These competitions have fueled Rager’s motivation to stay fit.

"Now I have a purpose for my workouts," Rager said. "Before, I’d just go to the gym and sweat and be sore the next day with no measurable purpose. I wouldn’t push as hard because I didn’t have a goal. Now I have a goal to attain, and I feel myself working harder."

Rager, who gained 30 pounds of muscle since he started, has seen the physical benefits of this workout, too. His improved strength and stamina have helped in his physically demanding job, which consists of various underwater construction projects, such as welding and using hydraulic tools, doing hydrographic surveys and conducting search and recovery missions.

"Being underwater is extremely taxing and tiring, so the stronger you are, the better you are," he said. "I’m in much better shape now than I’ve ever been."