I know that the CrossFit Open Registration technically opened over a week ago, but there is still plenty of time to take part in CrossFit’s public competition, which begins February 23rd. How do you know if you should compete? What are the workouts like? How do gyms make it more fun? These are all questions you can and should be asking.
What is the Open?
The CrossFit Open, or just “The Open” is CrossFit HQ’s annual competition to being determining who will be this year’s Fittest Man and Woman on Earth. I know, it seems a little grandiose but they’ve created a system that can actually judge this stuff, and people seem to dig it. I know I do.
The Open is stage one in this process. It lasts 5 weeks, with one workout posted each week. After the workout is posted, you have one week to complete it as many times as you want in order to get your best score. I’ll get into strategy on doing this and how/when to repeat a workout.
One thing. The Open tends to be really brutal. I just like to get that out of the way now, before it even starts. It is a test of volume ability more than anything else, and from what I’ve seen the workouts tend to be pretty horrific. Know this before you start. Get over it in your mind and get after it.
My Experience in The Open
I don’t have any. That’s right. I’ve never competed in the CrossFit Open. Why have I done this? To be honest, its because I’ve been intimidated by it. I know it is going to hurt, and I know that I’m not going to be Regional level athlete. In the past I’ve seen this as, “well, why compete when I already know I’m going to ‘lose’?” This is a terrible mentality. One that I’m not very proud of. Tomorrow and the rest of this week I’ll get into why I’ve felt this way, when I discovered that is against everything I want my box to stand for, and how I’m going to go into The Open for the first time with the right mindset. Stay tuned.
