3 Reasons You Should Do The CrossFit Open, and 3 Reasons Why Many People Choose Not To
This time of year, there’s only 1 thing on most competitive CrossFitters and affiliate owners minds: THE CROSSFIT OPEN.
If you aren’t sure what the CrossFit Open is, it’s the first qualifying stage for The CrossFit Games. The top athletes in each region move on to Regionals, and the top athletes from Regionals move on to the CrossFit Games. It’s pretty fun to watch your favorite athletes go through the process, and see who comes out on top!
There are a multitude of reasons why we think you should sign up and do the open… but there are also many reasons why people choose not to do the open. Let’s take a look at some of these.
3 Reasons You SHOULD Do The CrossFit Open
1) Compete and Push Yourself Harder Than You Ever Have
There’s something odd and edgy about the CrossFit Open. You know that feeling you’re about to get when we do a benchmark workout like Fran or Helen? You get antsy and nervous. Your adrenaline starts pumping. All you can think about is that feeling of your lungs in your throat after a hard workout… because you know it is a test.
The Open is a lot like that… except X10.
Each open workout is like Fran on steroids. You know you’re competing against everyone in the box, the region, the country, THE WORLD. There’s an uncertainty and uneasy feeling because you’ve never done this workout before. Or worse, you HAVE done this workout before and know what it felt like (Dave Castro often repeats past open workouts in order to measure the communities level of fitness). But here’s the good that comes out of this feeling – damn you go HARD. You do more reps than you ever thought possible. You hang onto the bar for a few more reps. You get your first muscle up. You PR your clean and jerk. YOU. GO. HARD. And guess what? You come out on the other side a better, and more fit person because of it. This escalated level of competition that we get 5 weeks out of the year isn’t easily replicated every Monday through Friday, which is what makes this time of year so special. It’s really, really, REALLY fun.
2) It’s FUN
Kind of going off what I just finished at… the open is really, really, REALLY fun. The excitement for a new workout every week, seeing your friends push hard, watching your coaches throw down, and looking at where you stack up each week is really cool. It’s the fitness world’s version of March Madness. This will be the first CrossFit Open we do at CrossFit Yellow Rose, and we couldn’t be more excited about seeing our members push their limits and achieve success. Each Friday we will do the workouts, and share in some fun community support! It’s going to be a great time, and a healthy way to end the week!
3) It Doesn’t Matter How Fit You Are, You Can Do This
Yep, you can do this. That’s our tagline at CFYR, and it’s true. You can do this. The open (like every other CrossFit workout) is scalable for any and all ability level. They even have a scaled division and scaled workouts. You can RX the workouts you can, but if something comes up that you are still working on, you can scale the workout and still compete! The feeling of accomplishment you have after each workout knowing you gave it your 100% effort is all we really care about. This will be good for you, and it will make fitness fun!
So those are our 3 Reasons why we think you should do the open, and now we can talk about why some people choose NOT to do the open.
1) I don’t see the point in competing or paying $20
It’s true. It costs $20 to register for the CrossFit Open. Some people just really don’t want to pay that… but let’s look at the value of that $20.
- You will get your own CrossFit Games profile. On this profile, your open scores will be recorded EVERY year. You can go back and look at these each year and measure your fitness! We already keep your scores at CFYR, but these scores will be visible and viewable to the whole world. You truly get to see where you stack up!
- You’ve got skin in the game. This is going to hold you accountable to yourself. You’ve paid your $20… so now it’s time to get your money’s worth! This is going to cause you to push harder and get even better workouts.
- Time vs. Investment. It’s $20 total for 5 workouts. Each workout + warm up + prep + cool down is going to get you and hour at least worth of each workout. That’s $4 a workout. That’s cheap!
2) I can’t RX the workouts
That’s cool! You know who else can’t RX all the workouts? A LOT of people. But the Open isn’t about RXing the workouts (unless you’re trying to get to Regionals…). The Open is about digging deep, and seeing what you’re made of. Not only seeing what you’re made of, but giving you some concrete data on where you need to improve (fun fact – I need to improve my overhead squat endurance! Thank you, 15.2). The Open now has a fantastic scaled division where you can compete at an appropriate level. It’s a LOT of fun. Trust us.
3) It’s Scary
Damn right it’s scary. It’s scary because it’s challenging. You know what else is scary? Public speaking, telling your boss you deserve a raise, being a leader, starting a new venture. There’s a lot of things in life that are scary, but it’s how we approach, start, and most importantly, FINISH these things that really allow us to grow as individuals. The old saying “what doesn’t challenge you doesn’t change you” is around for a reason… although my personal preference would be “what doesn’t challenge you doesn’t induce growth.” We should ALWAYS be trying to challenge ourselves and grow. Who knows, maybe doing the Open will get you a raise at work.
We’ll be doing the Open workouts every Friday of the open season this year. It’s going to be a LOT of fun (I think I’ve said that a few times in this piece…) If you want more info on it, or just want to get some advice, feel free to reach out to me or any of the other coaches! We’re always here to help you, push you, encourage you, and help spur on your growth as an individual.
-Clark Hibbs
