Norwegian Throwdown 2024

The second stop of our summer brings us to Oslo, Norway,  a place we visited last year, but did not cover any competitions from. This year, that changes, as we have two Throwdown Events on the calendar. First up of those two is the Norwegian Throwdown which is set to take place this weekend in Oslo.

Where: Furuset Forum Oslo, Norway

When: Saturday July 6 and Sunday July 7

Who: about 250 teams of 2 in Rx, Intermediate, and Open divisions

How to Watch: Rx divisions (men, women, and mixed) will be streamed on BFriendly Fitness YouTube channel

Norwegian Throwdown  is one of  five competitions in Norway and Sweden being run this year by Roger Gillros. He is the primary mastermind behind them and joined us to talk about running profitable competitions on a Friendly Conversation this past February.

Each of the five competitions takes on a unique feel. The Norwegian Throwdown this year is a teams of two competition inside a hockey arena in Oslo called Furuset Forum. It’s a two day competition with six scored events (3 per day).

“Open” Division

Although by the end of the competition there will be three divisions. To begin with on Saturday teams could register either as “Rx” or “Open”. Following the three events on Saturday, the “open” division will be split into two groups: intermediate and scaled. 

Programming

The first event is being programmed by former fittest man in Norway, Nicolay Billaudel. The remaining five events were a collaboration between Roger, and me (Brian Friend). 

Knowing that two of the divisions would be split after the first day of competition, it was important to make sure the first day of competition touched on enough important elements of fitness to have a meaningful split for Sunday. 

Without knowing the entire workout from Billaudel (only that it would primarily be in the aerobic domain) the following two workouts on day one were intentionally selected for athletes to get a touch point on both gymnastics and weightlifting. While event 2 (see below) has other elements besides gymnastics, the gymnastics density in this workout, for this demographic of athlete, should serve as the primary separator. 

All athletes will close out Saturday with the chance to get their hands on a heavy barbell, their last chance for some to fight for a spot in that intermediate division. 

Saturday Workouts

Workout 1 : TBA

Workout 2

2 rounds of 

30 wall ball (9/6 kg)

15 synchro pull ups

30 deadlifts (75/55 kg)

into….

2 rounds

24 wall balls

12 synchro c2b

24 deadlifts

into…

2 rounds

18 wall ball

9 synchro bar muscle up

18 deadlifts

*split wall balls and DLs anyway

**Athletes will advance a box down the

floor towards the finish line after each rd

15:00 Cap

Workout 3

Athlete A: Finds heavy complex of: 

3 hang cleans + 1 s2oh

*Athlete B must wait for A to 

finish before starting to find his

max attempt

Athlete B: Finds heavy complex of:

3 front squats + 1 s2oh

*all lifting from the floor

Sunday

The second day of competition will split the Open division into Intermediate and Scaled teams for three more workouts. 

First up on day two teams will have some rope climbs and synchro dumbbell work. Then they’ll have a sprint workout on the concept 2 ergs. And finally some box jump overs and handstand work in a fun final. 

Workout 4  

3 rounds of 3:00 work / 1:00 rest 

Buy in every round with: 

7/5 rope climbs (shared anyway)

Then work through: 

2 rounds of

40 synchro single arm db s2oh

20 synchro single arm thrusters

10 synchro single arm devils press

22.5/15 kg

*pick up with the dumbbells where you

left off, move forward after each 

completed movement in each round

Workout 5

EMOM for total meters

0-1: Athlete 1 Rows

1-2: Athlete 2 Skis

2-3: Athlete 3 Skis

3-4: Athlete 2 Rows

4-5: Athlete 1 Rows

5-6: Athlete 2 Skis

Workout 6: Final

For Time:

40 box jump overs (76/51 cm)

40 hspu

60 meters hs walking

40 hspu

40 box jump overs 

split anyway

*HS walking in unbroken 5 meter sections

9:00 Cap

Streaming

Last year I had the chance to attend and compete at one of Roger’s events in Halmstad, Sweden. This year, I’m excited to have the chance to stream a portion of it for people outside of the traditional Scandinavian market to watch. 

Saturday’s events will start at 9:25, 13:00, and 17:15 local time in Norway. Sunday times are TBD at this point. 

All streams can be watched live, or after the fact, on the BFriendly Fitness YouTube channel.