Every year The Open comes around, I'm always tempted to make the same excuses: "My body hurts." “I don’t want to do thrusters ever again in my life.”“I already beat Hroch in The Open once, I’m good now.”And yet every year, without fail, I come limping back for more. Buckle up and prepare for way too many GIFs as I tell you why I’m #InTheOpen:
First things first (shoutout to Iggy Iz): The Open is a great competition. Participating in the open allows you to embrace whatever level of competitive spirit you possess. If you’re Hroch, that means being first in the gym, and never speaking of that L he took a couple of years ago.. Or if you’re Makayla Garrison (aka the nicest/most encouraging person among us), it’s a fun way to see where you stack up against everyone else in our gym family. But actually, I’m convinced we all want to beat our competition all the time but maybe we don’t vocalize it. Just me? No?
The CrossFit Open will bring you together under an umbrella of suffering unlike anything else.. You might be wondering why I’m telling you this… but if you are an active member of the CrossFit community then you already willingly inflict pain upon yourself all for the greater good of #Gainz — or maybe for some other cardio-related reason that I’ll never understand. . But it’s the persevering through each Open WOD that bonds you among peers -- and is the reason why we keep coming back to the box in the first place -- because it’s terrible and we’re weird.
Also, I guarantee you will surprise yourself in some way. In the 5 years I’ve been around crossfit I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen someone accomplish something during The Open they thought they would never be able to do. Maybe now is the time to get your first muscle up, or maybe it’s your first time to try RX wallballs with the heavy ball -- wherever you fall on the scale, The Open is the time to push yourself on movements and reap the benefits of all the work you’ve been putting in.
And we’ve said this before, but The Open presents itself the opportunity to really show you how much you suck. And it’s great. Maybe you’re like me, and anything endurance-related is your biggest weakness. Or maybe your endurance is great, but you struggle with squats because your mobility game is not so strong. No matter how fit you think you are, The Open will expose your weaknesses. But instead of shying away from the stuff that sucks, embrace it! Use The Open as a time to improve and achieve.
Just remember, all of these movements are for functional fitness.
All to be said, I registered for the 2018 CrossFit Open -- marking my 6th time to compete, to rejoice in suffering, to work my weaknesses. Will I get to passive aggressively wish I was beating you?