This weekend marks the start of the 2016 Crossfit Open and because I’m kind of crazy, I SIGNED UP!
What the Heck is the Open?
I hadn’t even heard of the Crossfit Games until I stumbled upon it on YouTube, so when I thought of the Crossfit Open I thought of this:
So when I found out my Crossfit gym would be participating in the Open and they were encouraging me to signup, my reaction was something like this:
All the people in the games have rippling muscles, can do a million pull ups, and wear super tight stretchy pants. I have / can do none of those things.
Luckily, my gym was able to explain that the Crossfit Open is intended for everyone to participate in. There are people who are competing at high levels and trying to qualify for regionals and ultimately the Crossfit Games, but there are also a large majority of people who are just trying to really push themselves and see how far they can go.
So if I’m not that buff, how do I participate in the Open?
Every week of the Open a workout is released on Thursday and you have until the following Monday to post your score. If you were competing to qualify for regionals you would need to do the workouts Rx (as prescribed) but if you don’t care about regionals, like me, they also post scaled versions of the exercises. I am going to try as much as I can to do Rx but I know for a fact I will need to scale most of the workouts.
How is my score recorded?
The Crossfit Open website details how to submit a video of your workout if you are not able to complete the workout at a Crossfit Affiliate gym. I am lucky because my Crossfit gym, Crossfit BPM, is hosting a “Friday Night Lights” activity the Friday after the Open announcements. It will be a lot of fun to see how everyone does in the workout and I think having gym buddies around screaming at you to push is definitely motivating.
Here’s a video of Crossfit BPM’s 15.1 workout last year:
I’m excited to see how I’ll do in the Open. My goal is to beat at least 2 grandmas. I think I can do it 🙂
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