Keep Calm and Carry On Wodding. (A CrossFit Reality Check)

The CrossFit Open. This is a special time for CrossFitters the world over. For the CrossFit newbie, seeing everyone at the box in a frenzied state is quite befuddling and sometimes intimidating. For the CrossFit veteran, it is a chance to see how the last year's training has helped you get stronger and fitter, and gauge your progress against the rest of the world. For the uninitiated, the CrossFit Open is the first stage of an online qualifying process to the CrossFit Games. Top scores from the Open move on to a regional qualifier before the Final event which is The Games. Whether you are a beginner or an elite athlete, you go through 5 workouts, spread through 5 weeks around February to March.

This year's tag line from CrossFit HQ  "Where grassroots meets greatness: Compete with hundreds of thousands of athletes in five workouts over five weeks. Do it for fun, your affiliate family, fitness or to reach regionals and fight for a chance to make it to the CrossFit Games", aims to be as inclusive as possible regardless of fitness or skill level in your current fitness journey. HQ aims to make the Open as inclusive as possible with scaled workouts so that everyone from a beginner to a veteran CrossFitter can feel part of the community. The excitement and the buzz over these five weeks is indescribable. You have to be in it to really feel and understand the emotions that go with the workouts and the hoopla that come with everything from the announcement, to checking the leaderboard. We hope that each and every single one of you register and just enjoy the workouts.

On the flip side, once the Open starts, it can be quite intense. There are some of us that have recurring dreams/ #nightmares about certain workouts, and facing them again can be almost traumatic (don't be scared! we're mostly just being overly dramatic... ;D) 
Some of us are inherently competitive, and these five weeks will bring out all types of competitive fire from within. Whether you are aiming to make it to regionals, or to beat your nemesis in the box or even a competing box, you should always keep it real and not take this all too seriously. The main prize is that you get better every year and hope to see your placing keep rising as you keep joining the Open.

There are many reasons why we come to train and do CrossFit. For most, it can be as simple as wanting to look better, and feel stronger. That is why we do all the countless WODs day in and day out, 24/7, 365. We hope that you don't lose sight of that, whatever it may be, over the course of the Open and keep focus with your own training and reaching your own goals.


P.S. - If you are truly a Type A person and love to compete, we suggest staying away from the leaderboard. It is probably the most addictive thing you can do once the Open begins.

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