CrossFit does something that is truly unique in the world of sports. Each year competitors around the world get the opportunity to compete in the CrossFit Open. The very best of those athletes will eventually move on to the CrossFit Games. It’s an open source platform where anyone from any walk of life can potentially have a shot at being the Fittest on Earth. You could say that about any other sport, as talent is truly the only measure of your worth in professional sports, but other sports have a closed source system based on recruitment unlike CrossFit.
Take baseball for example. Yes you have to be really good to play at the Major League level but you also have to be recruited by a school that believes you will develop into a special player in the future. Assuming that happens you sign to a school, and wager that it’s the right school as with the wrong school you might get overlooked by the scouts. Let’s say you get drafted, now you have to go through many levels of the minor league system where you might encounter the wrong coach or even get drafted to a team that prefers to import talent rather than develop it. Compare that to CrossFit where you are put head to head amongst the best in the world and only your work capacity matters. If you are truly good enough to be on the biggest stage, you will make it. I think that is really cool… And through the years new talent has emerged each year from the open.
For most of us though, the Open is special for other reasons. True most of us will never make it to the Games, but we still get to compete, once a week, for five weeks (three this year because of Covid), doing the same workouts as every other athlete around the world. It’s a time to bring the community together and celebrate what we do by grinding through some of the toughest workouts of the year. I love this time of year!
You can break the data down to see how well you stack up against your peers, including categories for Firefighters, Police, and first responders. You can see how fit you are compared to others in your age group, or from your state. And you don’t have to be the best folks. A few years ago I set a goal to finish in the top 50% of my age group, figuring if my fitness puts me in the top half of a very fit population I’m doing something right. This year CrossFit is also introducing scaling options for the Open which we haven’t seen in years past.
Coal Creek CrossFit will be doing each week of the Open on Friday nights! We need to be careful that we do not violate restrictions, but we will get as large of groups as possible to complete the workouts, help judge when you aren’t working out, and after, meet at the restaurant to celebrate what we just accomplished.
To register, go to games.crossfit.com and click “Sign Up” in the middle of the screen. If you don’t have an account already you will need to fill in some information and pay the $20 registration fee.
If I have any regrets about my time with CrossFit, it’s that I didn’t sign up and compete in the Open more than I did. Candidly, I held out because I didn’t really think CrossFit needed my buy in, but looking back it was well worth the nominal fee, and I think you will find it’s well worth the $20. It builds camaraderie in our community, as well as supporting a forum of athleticism that changes the dynamic of sports, and fitness. I hope you join us for this fun, and challenging competition; where the most important score is against your own best.
Preston
