2019 CrossFit Open Is Here!

WHAT IS THE CROSSFIT OPEN?

By: Sam Stuart

In short, The Open is a series of in house community WOD’s that just happen to be performed by the world. The Open lasts for five weeks and consists of five workouts. It is open to anyone and is comprised of varying experience level, and Rx divisions. The workouts are announced online each Thursday and athletes have until Monday to complete the workout at their CrossFit affiliate and submit their scores online. It is the first qualifying stage of the CrossFit Games.

The Games are broken down into these stages:

  • The Open – Initial 5-week stage of competition, anyone can compete. Top athletes in each country and in the world move to The Games.
  • Sanctionals – A new stage for this year. If you win a CrossFit sanctioned event you automatically qualify for The Games
  • The Games – Final 4-day competition. Winner in each category is named “Fittest on Earth”.

WHY DO THE CROSSFIT OPEN? I HAVE NO INTENTION OF COMPETING LIKE THAT.

IT’S FUN: Every Friday night we have heats for everyone to complete the workouts. The atmosphere builds excitement and positive energy so that we all can thrive and feel good about ourselves. Even people who don’t sign up for a heat come to cheer everyone on!

MOTIVATION: The Open always gives that extra push and determination to accomplish something new. I always surprise myself with what I’m able to pull off during the open that I typically wouldn’t in a regular workout. Each year I find out that I am more capable and physically stronger than I think. It’s so inspiring to see others push past their limits and accomplish things they never imagined.

DATA: The open gives you a complete record of your past performances. I struggled to get one chest to bar pull-up in my first open. If I repeat that same workout now, I know without a doubt, I would absolutely crush my old score. I didn’t even understand the point of documenting my score at the time, but I am so glad I have it to remind myself of how far I’ve come. Even if you cannot do the exact prescribed weight of any or most of the Open workouts, you will surprise yourself with what you are able to accomplish. You don’t need to break any records or advance past the CrossFit Open to feel proud of yourself. That’s not what this is about for 99.999% of the people that sign up. Over the past three years I’ve placed 18,216th,  14,460th, and last year I was 4,947th worldwide. There is something so empowering about seeing your consistent hard work and progress reflected in actual data.

COMMUNITY BUILDING: It immediately bonds us because we’re all throwing ourselves out of our comfort zones and sharing in each other’s struggles and successes. As a result we transform and grow individually and as a community. You will be inspired and uplifted by everyone’s positivity and determination. The Open also builds integrity, humility, and empathy – just a few of 410’s core values.

OTHER NOTES: We do the workout with a big group on Friday night but you have from Friday-Monday to complete the workout. So, don’t skip signing up because of this. Also, The Open is different than a typical class workout. But we have our awesome coaches ready to help make this as rewarding an experience as it can be.

Next step is to go to games.crossfit.com and get signed up!