The CrossFit games open
An annual CrossFit event designed to test your fitness and see how you stack up worldwide or just within your box. Normally starting in february it has become a method to qualify for the CrossFit games as either a top contender or number 1 in their country. Formerly known as a method to qualify for the regionals it is a brutal test to show your fitness in a wide spectrum.
Each week Dave Castro will announce a workout (usually within a 15-20 min time domain) and participating athletes have 4 days to submit a score. Afterwards you will be ranked within your country / region / worldwide, whatever settings you have set up to show the leaderboard.
Should you sign up?
Speaking for myself I always came up with an excuse not to sign up, either feeling not fit enough or just lack of time (excuses excuses) after seeing the workout I would always be hyped up and hit it anyway. So last year I decided to sign up (for both opens that year) and was pleasantly surprised how much fun it was. Seeing how you stack up against other CrossFitters within your country can be a great motivator. Each workout is designed to test a specific part of your fitness be it skills/strength or work capacity. Friendly rivalries with box friends make this a fun event to test yourself and benchmark your stats.
What movements to expect
If you want to prepare yourself in the coming months (the open starts in february 2021) brush up your gymnastics skills and weightlifting skills. These following movements will most likely appear:
- Toes to bar
- Double unders
- Chest to bar pull ups
- Thrusters
- Bar and / or ring muscle ups
Over 9 years and about 51 open workouts in that time period these movements have always showed up at least once every year. Being proficient in double unders is a must so if that skill is still bothering you I suggest practising it the coming months. In those 9 years we have seen the following movement pop up about 90% of the time
- Snatch
- Clean
- Deadlifts
- Wallballs
- burpees
As you can see being strong with a barbell will help out tremendously, this will always be tested under fatigue.
The 2 most important wod schemes to focus on will be couplets and triplets which were tested 41 times out of the 51 workouts.
Have fun and progress
Just have fun with it and try to Rx most of the movements, the open is designed in a way to push you past your limits and get Pr’s while celebrating those with your fellow box mates. Every year thousands of athletes get their first muscle up in the open workout or get their first heavy lift because the open requires them to do so. If you take the training seriously you will see yourself progressing each year, climbing the worldwide leaderboard indicating your growth in fitness.
Rob Scharff
CrossFit coach/athlete
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