CrossFit Open registration

Nick | 01/27/2014 | 6

Registration for the CrossFit Open is now… well, open.  We’ve been talking about the Open more and more recently, but here’s a description straight from the horses mouth:

The 2014 season begins with the worldwide Open competition. Everyone in the world is invited to compete in five workouts over five weeks, posting their scores online in real time. Last year, almost 140,000 athletes competed in the Open.

Every Open workout needs to be validated to count. Competitors will have two options to validate their performances. They can work out at a local affiliate, where they will be judged in person, or they can submit video evidence of their performance to the entire community. There is no limit to the number of attempts an athlete can make, provided the score is submitted prior to the close of each week.

Competitors will be ranked both worldwide and by region. The fittest 48 men, 48 women, and 30 teams from each region will earn invitations to one of 17 Regionals. This is the first chance athletes will have in 2014 to establish their international standings.

The CrossFit Games stand alone as the ultimate test of fitness. No test, regardless of its lofty claims, can grant legitimate title to the best without first providing access to all. The Open is a truly “open” competition. Anyone from anywhere can participate.

After the Open, the fittest from each of 17 regions around the world move on to the next phase of the season—Regionals. Athletes and spectators will gather in masses to watch CrossFit competition in a live format. Under the critical eye of Level 1 judges and in front of hundreds of cheering spectators, each region’s best athletes will battle for a few precious Games-qualifying spots.

Now, to be perfectly clear, those that will move on to regionals and then the games have dedicated a significant portion of their recent lives to training for these competitions.  It’s hard to qualify.  That being said, there is so much to be gained by participating in the Open, even if you don’t feel your skills are up to snuff.

The Open is incredibly accessible.  More importantly, the environment of friendly competition it creates can be a very useful training stimulus and is something that is hard to replicate entirely in the class setting.  So if you’re on the fence or just curious, read all about it at http://games.crossfit.com/ and come to your coaches with any questions you might have.  And chat with your fellow members as well.  There are more than a few of them out there who found out a lot about themselves through participating.

STR:
Power Clean + 4 Front Racked lunge steps per side
5 working sets of this complex

WOD:
5 rounds
25′ sandbag walking lunge
25′ reverse bear crawl sandbag drag
8 pull ups
8 pushups

*athletes can sub 4 MU for the pullups and pushups