Rush Club 005: Dan Pela Vs. Sam Dancer

Aug 10, 2015 by Kati Breazeal

A natural athlete, Dan Pela has seemingly done it all. After playing football, baseball, and wrestling in high school, Pela walked on to the Northern Arizona University football team as a defensive lineman. He soon proved himself to be a valuable asset on the field, and earned a full ride scholarship as a three year starter.

A year and a half post graduation, Pela found himself wanting to get back in the competitive realm, and quickly discovered his talent in CrossFit.

Dan recently took to the Rush Club Stage where he competed against, and blew past, William Wood in a workout of burpees, cleans, and deadlifts. His win at RC004 granted him the opportunity to compete for the men’s heavyweight title on August 15, with only one man standing in his way, defending champ Sam Dancer.

We caught up with Dan to see how he’s preparing to take on the champ at Rush Club 005:

Only a few months ago, you made your debut at Rush Club 004, how’d it go?

My rush club debut was a really fun experience. I had been to all the previous Rush Club events starting from 001 on and it's such a fun atmosphere. I was nervous going into it but once the workout started I settled in and had fun with it.

What was your preparation/training like leading up to the competition?

My coach, Scott Porter, created a program designed specifically to improve the movements I would be doing in the workout. Training 5, sometimes 6 days a week for the month leading up to it.

What was the workout you competed? Did it play to your strengths?

15 bar facing burpees

15 hang power cleans 225#

15 bar facing burpees

15 front squats 275#

15 bar facing burpees

15 deadlifts 365#

It was a pretty brutal workout overall. The burpees get you breathing pretty heavy then you have to control that breathing to hit the heavy weights at each of the movements. I have pretty decent numbers with my lifts so I worked hard to improve my efficiency at the movements leading up to the event.

You blew past William Wood, finishing over a minute before he did. Going into the workout, did you know you’d finish with such a dominating win?

I did not know I would finish that much faster than him. The first time I attempted the workout, 4 weeks out, I finished almost 2 minutes past the time cap. I tried it again 2 weeks out and finished around 30 seconds under the cap. At the event, I finished more Han a minute under the cap. It felt good to see the improvement at the workout in such a short time. I went head to head with Billy in the finals of a local competition in September 2014 and he edged me out to take the top of the podium so it felt pretty good to get him on that one.

What was your experience like being crowned RC004 Champion in Celebrity Theater in front of so many fans?

It was a great feeling to have my hand raised after winning. It was acknowledgement that my hard work paid off. The crowd was awesome and made it so much fun to compete.

You’ll be competing against Sam Dancer in the title match up, are there any nerves knowing you’ll be going head to head with a Games’ athlete?

I know Sam is an incredible competitor and great person. I've watched him compete on a lot of big stages that I have yet to reach, so it is a bit daunting go against an athlete of his caliber. I know I've worked to put forth my best effort at 005 so I'm looking forward to the challenge of going against someone like him.

Your challenge this time includes deadliest, thrusters, pistols, power cleans, and shoulder to overheads, how are you feeling about the workout? What are your thoughts on the programming?

I like the workout idea for this one. Pistols are a tough movement for heavier guys to do so that's a big part of the challenge. The weights programmed on those movements are manageable and I love that there's some rest built in to the workout, us big guys like rest. Ultimately, I think it will come down to who can keep moving through the last segment of the workout and cycle the pistols fast and efficiently.

What have you been doing in preparation to compete against Sam?

I've been doing a lot of the same as I did for 004. Working the specific movements that are in the workout and trying to mimic the time domain and short rest to all our work capacity type training.

Are you going to win Rush Club 005?

I'll just say I've worked hard to get ready for it and I'm really looking forward to showing what I'm capable of.

You will be able to watch Dan and Sam go head to head August 15, LIVE on FloElite.com!

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