The Open is upon us…it's a time for competition, for challenging yourself, and for learning what needs improvement. With that being said, some people are unhappy with the first two workouts that have come out…
It's really aobut competing with yourself. If you think you are going to the games, either you are a freakish athlete that I don't know about or a bit delusional. At the end of the day less than 1% of the athletes in the Open go to the CrossFit Games. This is about bettering yourself. Comparing your scores from 2011 to 2012 to 2013 to 2014 and beyond. If you get a 0 on 14.1, great, next year get 1 or more!
You think those that got zero double unders don't have a fire lit under their ass now? Of course they do!
Did you not expect Double Unders?
Did you earn them? Did you put the time in to develop them? I saw many atheltes all year long after class grab their rope and practice…were you one of them?
How many of you spent 10 minutes last week working on your Doubles? Normally you would have saw double unders and immediately scaled, this time, you challenged yourself to do a movement and for many of you it rewarded you with your first double under or more!
Normally the athlete has the option of going RX or choosing a path of lesser resistance by scaling. The Open doesn't allow this and because of that we challenge ourselves.
As far as cost of the open. In this day and age where people regularly pay $50 to run a 5k, or $100 to be yelled out through an overnight obstacle course, $20 is nothing for 5 weeks of competition and entertainment. How many of you turn your computer on at 8pm every Thursday to see the announcment? Think about it all week? Discuss it with your buddies? Strategize? Hit it numerous times? $20 is well worth all of this excitement.
14.1 is the same exact workout as 11.1. Are we really going to argue there is no precedent set here?
The beauty of it all is, you don't have to do it. It's your choice!
I love the attitudes of some of our Albany CrossFit athletes. "I'm going to get my first ______" vs. what I'm seeing online, "I don't have _____." Positive attitude goes a long way. I saw so many first double unders last week and no doubt we will see some first chest to bars this week.
These first two Open workouts have 4 of the most basic fundamental CrossFit movements. Double Unders, Power Snatches, Overhead Squats, and Pull-ups. If you didn't let your athletes know there were potential these might come up in the Open, that's on you.
The Open is for everyone…just because you aren't crushing it, or doing as well as you wanted to, doesn't mean it's not for you. It just means you need to improve. Try not to confuse being for everyone with being easy.
Let's not forget there are 3 more announcements. Who's to say, we still won't see 7 minutes of burpees!?
Oh, and arguing the merits of single unders vs. double unders…the reason they are better? Balance, Accuracy, Agility, Coordination, Speed, Endurance, and Stamina, off the top of my head.
To quote one of my favorite movies, "If it were easy everyone would do it, it's the hard that makes it so great."
We are CrossFitters, it doesn't get any easier and we wouldn't want it to.
Still unsure? Watch this – Kevin Ogar: Road To Recovery – video [ipod] [mov] [HD mov]