It is this time of the year again, where coaches and gyms keep going on and on about this “Open” thing! Let’s talk about why they do that and what does the open really mean.
In 2007, The Crossfit Games were born, it was a Sign-up, friendly competition at a backyard in Aromas, California. Fast forward a few years later, as the event grew bigger and attracted international attention (Cue Annie thorrisdottir’s first muscle up picture), Crossfit HQ decided to structure a qualification process for the games and a seasonal structure to claim an annual “Fittest” Man, Woman and Team on the planet for each year.
In 2011, The first Open was born. A 5-weeks long online competition that spreads worldwide across all the Crossfit affiliates. Back then, it was a singular version of the workout, if you can’t do it, well too bad.
A few years later, as Crossfit grew exponentially, especially outside of the U.S., they transformed the open into a fitness festival rather than “merely a qualifier”. It became a celebration and an annual festivity in each affiliate, with each affiliate taking pride in their numbers of participation and highlighting their athletes. Therefore, Crossfit HQ started having divisions like Scaled and Foundations, to be more inviting to affiliate members who are intimidated by certain movements or certain weights.
Over the years, the open became the annual test for each crossfitter where they measure their own progress in a friendly competition against their friends and community, as well as frenemies all around the world, whether they share a profession, or a geographical location or a certain common trait such as #NewMom or #Student or any Hashtag you could think of that unites a group of people across the world.
Most affiliates nowadays do the open as an annual celebration, including Friday night lights, where athletes from all the sessions meet Friday afternoon, they get to know one another, they bring their friends and family to cheer them on and it’s usually themed each week where some colors, costumes or a genre of dressing is required for gym morale, memories and camaraderie. It’s really quite the Crossfitter’s christmas!
Now, how to approach the open is going to depend on one of 2 athletes:
Crossfit Veteran / Competitive Athlete: You’re an outcome oriented athlete who is all about what your placement is on the leaderboard. My advice to you is to shoot for a realistic placement on the leaderboard, but also set milestones regarding performance to measure your progress. Sit with your coach, before each workout set a realistic goal for you, based on your progress and performance all year and aim for that goal. Doing that, I can almost guarantee you will automatically end up in a surprisingly better leaderboard placement compared to years before.
First time doing the open / don’t care about the competing aspect: You’re an experience oriented athlete. If you’ve done this before, you probably do it for the nice T-shirt or for the themes or for your friends. Honestly, I personally love this approach. Why, you ask? The pressure is completely off, the effort is sent in per workout and the spirit and atmosphere will push you beyond your expectations. So my advice to you, is to also sit with your coach and set a goal beforehand, take the warm-up seriously and enjoy the experience per week and per workout.
To sum up, my advice, if you haven’t noticed, is the same for everybody..
1. Talk to your coach
2. Set realistic goals
3. Enjoy the Open for the celebration it is
4. The leaderboard does not define you, set performance based goals, as well
To everybody I say, Happy Open!
-Love, Coach M.
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