What is The CrossFit Open? And why should I do it?

It is time again for the CrossFit Open. T-minus a month a half. Many of you have heard about it but don’t know about it. So here is some basic info, and why it is so important to Nevermore, and why we think you should do it!

The What:

The CrossFit Open happens once a year. It is a 5 week event, with 5 total workouts. There is one workout announced every Thursday, and you have until Monday evening to complete the workout and submit your score online (very easy). After all 5 workouts are done, the top 40 athletes in every region go to regionals, and the top 3 in regionals go to the CrossFit Games.

The Where:

You can perform the workout at Nevermore. In fact- we will program it every Friday!

The When:

It starts February 22nd and lasts 5 weeks. Also- as I just mentioned we program it every Friday!

The Why:

Before we get into the Why, you might be saying “I’m not going to make it to the CrossFit games so why would I do this?” Well, me neither, but here’s how this really works-

If you decide to register, you will be put in a draft. We will have 4 teams, 4 captains. These captains will not be coaches, or based on performance, they will be picked based off of who we think embodies Nevermore, and who would prove to be a good captain. You will be drafted. This will be a competition. WAIT, before you say “I just started CrossFit” or “I suck” or whatever self-deprecating thing you want to say about yourself, WAIT. You will get points for different things, LIKE simply completing the workout, for team spirit, for best costumes, etc.

Each week, CrossFit games Director, Dave Castro, has some awful hairdo and some weird outfit, he goes live on a Thursday night. He announces to the world what this workout will be. At least the RX version. Then typically 2 games athletes perform the workout head to head. Then we all have from that Thursday night to Monday evening to do the workout at our gym. In the comfort of our own home (the gym). We already program it for the daily WOD on Fridays. We have a YUUUGE get together Friday nights to do it as a group.  Once you complete the workout, you can either enter your score, or plan to re-do before Monday night. We will go through this process with you. We all get together Friday nights, if you can, to do the WOD. You can always do it Friday morning or afternoon and come back to support your team! These Friday nights (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS) are a huge community gathering, where we support each other and come together as one gym! You can do the workout then, or even some time over the weekend. Then you post your score online, and wait for the next workout!

 

So the Why:

Here are some simple reasons why

  1. The workout will already be programmed every Friday for 5 weeks
  2. Everyone else is doing it
  3. There’s a scaled version
  4. You can compare yourself to those in your age group, and gender brackets
  5. Hundreds of THOUSANDS of people over the world do it! How COOL!
  6. You get over 3 days to complete the workout!
  7. If you need help, about a 100 of us have already done this, we are here for you!
  8. It will be fun!
  9. Lots of fun
  10. Did I mention fun?
  11. See #2.
  12. I can guarantee you will get to know at least 1 person from the gym you didn’t know before.
  13. You will be glad you did it.
  14. You will likely suffer from serious FOMO if you don’t.
  15. It’s a chance to have some friendly competition
  16. You will get another way to push yourself!
  17. You have nothing else better to do
  18. See if you’re better than your friend in Arizona who does CrossFit
  19. Prove to yourself that you can do it.
  20. Go outside your comfort zone.

One of my favorite things that should be added to the list but is too long to bullet- every year someone does something they never thought they were capable of. They PR their snatch and then do that weight 5 more times (happened to me in my first open), first double under, first toes to bar, first muscle up! Or even their first Open! When this happens, and you have 40 or 50 people around you cheering you on, celebrating your achievement with you, the energy and excitement is palpable. Maybe this year you will be one of those to experience this awesome feeling!

Enough of me rambling- talk to us! Coaches, athletes, whomever who has done this so far. Ask them why you should do it! This is actually do-able for ANYONE in the gym- from the person who scales every movement, to the people who Rx every movement.

This is truly a chance for our community to grow, and have some freaking fun! Push yourself to do something different and get to know some others. We have 16 people ALREADY signed up!

Clink the link below to sign up. It is $20. Then make sure you put Nevermore CrossFit as your affiliate!

 

https://games.crossfit.com/