The CrossFit Open Starts This Week! by William Albritton

The CrossFit Open has arrived! Many of you have trained a full year specifically for this event. Some of you train hard year-round to be generally prepared for what life throughs at you and want to test your fitness against the top athletes in the world. All of us planning to compete in the Open want to have some fun!

What is the CrossFit Open? It is a competition which puts you against over 100,000 other CrossFitter’s around the world. Each week for 5 weeks, one workout is released. You must complete the workout at a local affiliate. You will be judged then submit your score online. Your total placement in the world will be based on an a compilation of your performance in each of the 5 workouts.

The Open is designed so any person doing CrossFit can compete. The weights are typically not too heavy and the skill movements (muscle ups and handstand push ups) do not come into play for the beginner. I encourage EVERYONE to sign up by clicking here. If you do sign up, take some time to read more about the Open at the CrossFit Games page. The Open is not just for competitors, elite athletes or those looking to go to the Games. A huge number of you run 5ks but very few do it to win. Same thing with the Open. It’s a chance to have some fun with our community…and let’s face it, we all have at least a little competitiveness in us that wants to know how we stack up to others or where we were a year ago.

The Open workouts are released each Wednesday starting March 6. The Friday workout each week at CFA will be the Open WOD. If you would like to get judged, we encourage you to come out Friday evening at 5:30pm. If you were around last year, you will remember there was a huge group and great atmosphere to support those competing. In order to have your score validated, you must be judged. If you are unable to make it out Friday evening, you will have the opportunity to be judged during the regular class. Your score must be submitted by Sunday at 5pm.

The first Open WOD will be released this Wednesday at 7pm. Join us at Spirits at around 6pm for food, drinks (unless you plan to have a good score!) and the unveiling of WOD 13.1!

The last workout of the Open will be done on April 6. That day and night, CFA will host a crawfish boil with live music. It is sure to be a blast so make plans to be there! (more details coming soon)