A Day With Ben Smith

Call it "CrossFit cul-de-sac," unofficially. It's where Ben Smith, his brother, his cousin and his friends work out: his parents' house in Chesapeake, Va.
The 22-year-old Smith won this year's Mid Atlantic Regional after finishing third at last year's Reebok CrossFit Games.
This day revolves around three workouts, where Smith takes the lead training his family and friends.
"I think working out with anybody is going to push you to work out harder," he says. "I don't think you need somebody who's in front of you beating you all the time. You should be able to push yourself if you really want it that bad."
Smith recently graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. With no job yet, his focus is on winning the Games this year.
"For the next month, I'm going to give everything I got and train every single day, all day," he says. "When it comes time for the Games, I'm going to do my best and see how things go."
18min 17sec

[@tannerrood2980]

I don't think there is a better example of a humble, down to earth athlete. Ben is a great role model and a hard worker! Go Ben!

[@maxfit68906]

Although I like Matt Fraser, Ben Smith deserves to be the champion. Long time coming.

[@Brandon-ol1fv]

Wow, I lived in Cheshire Forest for six years and always wondered what these kids were doing working out outside. Now I'm doing crossfit and it all makes sense.

[@heavEhitta77]

Every time I watch these CrossFit videos, I get inspired to do my very best during my WODs. I'm super overweight but these videos help me a ton. Thank you for putting these up.

[@PPetropulos]

I had the pleasure of going to school and living down the street from Ben at ODU truly an awesome and motivated person. I feel honored to call him a friend. Keep working hard Ben! Pete

[@davewerner1785]

This video is really awesome. I didn't know that much about Ben other than he's usually near the top of the Games leaderboard and he's usually winning his Region. Seems like a very genuine, nice, and humble guy. He is absolutely deserving of the title Fittest on Earth and has earned it. It amazes me that he has accomplished all this just doing CrossFit in front of his house and not at an affialte box. Congrats Ben! Looking forward to watching you defend your title next year!

[@RobertRedway]

All this proves is you don't need to pay for a damn box membership. Cross-training can be done anywhere. Congrats, Smith

[@jonas_-1682]

and how can i learn the exercises like clean or jerk?

[@TheJulianBear]

+Jonas _- KZbin, a mirror and barbell.

[@stinkybutt02able]

+Jonas _- look it up

[@forteastro6996]

+Jonas _- get a coach. its Olympic lifts.

[@AshevilleChiropractic]

I graduated in 1978 in that very field. I worked out there all the time. You guys keep it up.

[@justinsaggus5593]

needs to be more vids on ben smith, such a great guy and humble althlete

[@shanemiller3]

Love getting to know Ben more. CFHQ please do more of these videos. I'm now a Ben Smith fan and I'm in Mid-A Reg so I'll be rooting for Mr. Smith to bring the championship to VA!

[@navsquid32]

The neighbors "felt the house shake" from Ben dropping a barbell on concrete 40 feet away? Damn suburban soccer moms. Afraid of their own shadows.

[@beefsausage3620]

he seems humble and nice enough he deserves to win

[@GamerPro460]

Ben-Brock-Alec. Great video. Proud to be part of your family. Hard work does pay off!! Tim Brady Family.

[@naoquerotercanal]

nice to watch this nowadays. all hail the champ!!

[@xsixdicex]

Call Me Maybe IS the best workout song! Love these boys.

[@MrTrevorsaurusrex]

so stoked to watch this, bout time you give him his piece! such a beast!

[@DaleMony]

Awesome, Ben, good to see how you guys have grown up! Keep up the great work

[@cherylfloryance8159]

Brittany, you remind me so much of myself (mother) and daughter. Enjoy your days on earth. You are an inspiration to all of us that know our days are numbered.

[@simthibeault]

he is now tied with spealler for my favorite crossfit athelete! great work !

[@CuriousCraig2]

Ben's so chill and down-to-earth.

[@Dimanaydyuk]

He's my world history teachers' nephew. Talks about him all the time. He has potential. Good for him!

[@theory4SG]

Absolutely amazing video. A true super-hero family. Congrats, keep up the training!

[@coltonbrostuen730]

she sounds like a keeper "I just focus on him like if he needs food"

[@DaGeR260]

this what she can tell us. other things not your business.

[@spenndoolie]

nice to see a crossfitter not exploding through PED's

[@xGaviJax]

This fridge won't survive one more year with his cousin's snatches :D

[@rhidiandavies1991]

Right there with you mate, hard to push yourself when there's no one pushing right next to you. I'm moving to the city in a couple months though, where I'll have access to more than a couple CF box's, hopefully that'll accelerate my training. Best of luck to you man, like Pat Sherwood said - you can be a bad-ass working out in your garage and come out of nowhere to win the games.

[@whiteknight8]

They need to play Call Me Maybe at the games for Ben Smith. That is hysterical!

[@tigergreg8]

Ben better marry this girlfriend. Dang, she seems like an awesome person.

[@tigergreg8]

Ethan Motley (Clap) (Clap) (Clap)

[@Hurl3yboy312]

What an awesome guy! I see him opening a crossfit gym soon.

[@rostislavgramskopf4648]

Bravo, Ben. Bravo, Bens family.

[@dan0074]

great job! i also do crossfit on my own, at the globo gym i go, or at the park, or at home. We do it with my bro as well, best of luck in the games!!

[@DreNizzo]

Not to mention the opportunity to go all out towards training to win the games after graduating. Can't do that once he was to get a 9-5. ... Glad he opened up his own gym

[@Kmg0]

It is, it's how I live my life. Best life ever!

[@hanuom]

this is exactly how I train , my parents always scream at me saying you will break the house one day , I made a big hole just by putting weights into it but at least now I have some body to look up to :-D which means I am not crazy

[@tylerstromberg1316]

What an intelligent argument. Thank you for your insight

[@TheSick83]

3 yrs from now we will see who the serious ones are

[@mariafinner7421]

Very motivational :)

[@originaljungle]

most telling part of the video was ben not working out in a crossfit box, reminds me of mikko salo, dosen't matter where you train or what equipment you have or have not, its about the effort you put in....fancy gym/crossfit box dosen't make the man, the man makes the man

[@Kirbylover489]

Go for it, you're already growing up pal

[@Kuroi555]

great family and friends

[@reckfulbaker9131]

You get the right angles into any kind of bodyweight exercise...you'll get strength....Maybe not traditional pushups...but handstand push ups....wall walks....levers....theres a lot of calisthenic/gymnastic movements that people just dont know about.

[@alecilstrup]

Alec is a cool name... Seems like a cool guy too ;)

[@sixfootfourwarrior]

this video contains the lightest farmers carry you will ever see

[@patrickstarks6576]

To "you tube booooooo": a CrossFit "box" is what we call a CrossFit gym

[@TheImdamannn]

Repping Chesapeake!

[@TrueRay17]

This guy is one cool dude

[@MartinMarsiBooks]

0:55 Did you call the dog Saber Tooth? LOL

[@Nicholas108108]

Can't imagine having a better big Brother

[@913NUPE]

Good kids parents should be proud!

[@neworleansguy10]

Yes sir; nice work if you can get it. With looks and a bod like that, my guess is that Ben is probably set for life.

[@JD83000]

This video starts off like an episode of the fucking Waltons

[@SolaFide53]

Wow, his girlfriend seems like such a humble, caring and utterly awesome person...

[@mescnick]

nice, man

[@KobraKai2]

a beautiful house too

[@aassssdddddify]

edward nortan is in the games? :)

[@dwightclark5527]

That's living!!

[@anodyne420]

being serious, you got your whole life ahead, train easy, get in shape, be healthy, dont throw it away young into a wheelchair

[@felix1862]

Good lad!

[@JosephDAndrea0121]

After paying for College most probably. Not hating really just saying enjoy it. I just started crossfit and juggling a full time job college and a family with crossfit is a challenge.

[@yanglinluo]

Does anyone know if it's recommended to drop bumper plates on to concrete? Or do I have to get mat? If so what mat ? Appreciated

[@OldSaltMedia]

Ben Smith is Superman

[@bladewright6142]

the champ

[@paulseok]

he's been sponsored by rogue for a while so that stuff is all free

[@3SoccerPlayer3]

So weird seeing my city on here o.O

[@colinskate]

Great role model

[@Darkshadow715]

This guy is pretty great. He's prob. in a tie with Matt and Cherie Chan for my fav crossfitters. I'm also a fan of dan bailey, I just wish he hadn't had so many no-reps this year. That brought him way down.

[@artisco]

Seriously though, how do they afford all that equipment...

[@Fultzy02]

He said they would pick up little at a time

[@DavidMcKercher]

Rich kids with rich parents. Its called being born into it...How else can you train 24/7 and not have a job?

[@bladewright6142]

David McKercher but they would have had to work hard to be in that position to provide that opportunitie

[@DavidMcKercher]

uh huh. Bootstraps and all that.

[@jprenderg]

pisketti the vid was posted 3 years ago. no problem with stating that his family is loaded. look at the neighborhood they live in. its obvious.

[@00Turbocharged00]

i just started crossfit and i am having trouble being able to snatch are there any movements that help alot?

[@SocratesCardeno]

I wanna be like Ben Smith when I grow up.

[@TobinNPNG]

is the WOD really all Crossfit people do? Seems very minimal, I've never tried it.. but my workouts I have 17 different exercises including the heavy compound movements, 3 days of lifting 3 days of practice, running (whatever I wanna do basically)

[@rocket141]

The jealousy and envy in the comment section is disgusting. Read the description before you embarrass yourself. Also stop complaining and work your ass off to live this good.

[@wodaemang]

especially good ole been smiths dad

[@stevecalabrese9685]

Where do you pick up your equipment?

[@ryanneubert3487]

comma before sir

[@colea4707]

Yep, just sitiing here drinking my Dr.Pepper

[@livelifegalaxy]

Holy smokes, even his mum wears a Reebok.

[@donedeal00051]

Where did the tire come from?

[@aaronchristianson1488]

i too did cindy for 10 minutes before i did crossfit...then fed that bitch pancakes

[@ectorperez8586]

What is the excercise sidney?

[@320tman]

ohh. so once hell freezes over.

[@massivemmafan]

awww i want a group like that to crossfit with. #lonelygaragecrossfitter

[@GODISPOWER777]

I see that Ben's brother got AC joins surgery.

[@murphdawgg11]

dream life...

[@Jerry8yomomma]

can somebody explain what crossfitting is?

[@MrBSJxploderz]

my name is Ben Smith WIN

[@antisportisti]

Hi, have you considered "Musclegends" (look on Google)? On their website you will find a smart free video featuring how to start building noteworthy muscle mass fast. This made it easier for James to break through his body building stagnation and then build up cut muscle with no fat very quickly. Hopefully it helps you too...

[@codydummer1615]

Hi there, have you tried out "Belly Fat Quencher" (do a Google search for it)? On their website you can watch a practical free video. This made it easier for Tamara to burn her tummy fat. Hopefully it works for you also.

[@Snatcher84]

@10:32 Is that Steve Stifler???

[@DanceClubChaos]

Why does he bounce the bar at the top of his clean? @17:25

[@thejorddougie]

My life

[@JoeLoBro]

I have a question for people actually doing crossfit.. do you ever go to the gym and lift weights like bicep curl etc??

[@xGaviJax]

Jay Fisher You don't need to isolate any muscles when you do complex movements like snatches, clean and jerk, dips, push ups etc. So absoluletely no. If I lift weight it's always complex movements (back/front squat, C&J, Snatch, DL)

[@Latissimus65]

Jay Fisher There's no reason why you can't do that in addition to your CF-esque functional lifting. It doesn't have to be all one way or all the other.

[@joshoohaah757]

Jay Fisher Bicep curls kind of fly in the face of Crossfit/functional training. Biceps are really a muscle you won't find yourself using outside of the Bicep curls. That's why they're considered the "Glam" muscle. Big biceps aren't a measure of strenth.

[@utwarreng]

Jay Fisher It's never something that's programmed at our gym, but I'll do them sometimes in addition to my regular workouts at my CrossFit gym

[@slibbs2869]

I will usually do my crossfit workout then run the rack for bicep curls meaning start at a weight you feel is heavy for 10 reps do that and decrease by 5 pounds and repeat until the weight is tiny. Then I'll do some combination of abs and triceps like push-ups or skull crushers with a 35 pounder. Then I'll make another crossfit workout that focuses on most of the same muscles that I had worked earlier that day. In that time that you have done everything else the muscles have gotten a little active recovery time pretty much. So if it's a leg day I try to take everything out of the legs. That's my goal everyday if I have the time to do it.

[@GamerPro460]

Ben-Brock-Alec

[@5Behemoth5]

What shoes is he wearing?

[@carlopog93]

it looks like a fuckin' perfect family with lots money

[@DanceClubChaos]

Also 17:53

[@nipplemaster4muscle]

I want to do wicked things to Brock Brady. WICKED things....

[@ifoxrider]

what's kind of town is that 1970s??

[@CaptainKing48]

You know it girlfriend.

[@heat4yoass]

crossfit is a short term thing. In the long run, it's going to fuck you up.

[@fulgently]

He has a big house and after that they should have some KFC!