Every year, CrossFit kicks off the CrossFit Games Season with the Reebok CrossFit Open. Described as the largest and most egalitarian competition in the world, it is “open” to everyone. Over 5 weeks, CrossFit releases a new workout every Thursday night and participants have until Monday night to do the workout and submit a score on the Games.CrossFit.Com website. The top finishes then move on to the next step for qualifying for the CrossFit Games.
As we prepare for the Open to start at the end of February, many at Industrial Athletics ask, “If I have no hopes of going/don’t want to go to the CrossFit Games, why would I sign up for the Open. Here’s why:
A Test of Fitness/Goals
For those who do local competitions, there are constant tests of fitness. For those who do not compete, knowing whether you are actually getting fitter can be difficult. The Open provides us with a yearly test for our fitness. Are you better than you were last year? Did you achieve muscle ups that you couldn’t do last year?
The Open also provides us with a set of goals to achieve. Last fall we worked on 3 month goals and everyone has asked to do them again. The Open gives us goals. It gives our training purpose for 5 weeks. You have to be strategic about your work/rest every week, making sure you are getting enough sleep and keeping track of your nutrition.
It’s Scalable
Just like our regular class, the Open can be scaled. Last year, CrossFit introduced the Scaled Division. Every week, CrossFit releases the prescribed workout and a scaled version. You can perform and record the scaled version right next to someone doing the prescribed version.
The Community
We love our Community at Industrial Athletics. However, we are only a small community compared to the larger CrossFit Community. There is the local Pittsburgh Community, Pennsylvania Community, Mid East Community, United States Community, and the International Community. There are also sub Communities like the first responders and military.
The CrossFit Open gives you a chance to participate in almost all of the Communities. Every Friday, we program the Open for our Industrial Athetics Community. Everyone does the workout. You can then record your score on the Games.CrossFit.Com website to see how you stack up against all the other levels of CrossFit Community.
We encourage everyone to sign up. Let’s make this an exciting CrossFit Open Season at Industrial Athletics.
