Now that the CrossFit Open is over, I’d like to reflect on why I actually decided to do the Open from a hindsight perspective, so here are my 10 reasons why I did the CrossFit Open.
1. I have been doing CrossFit on and off since the Fall of 2012 and while I have had my issues with consistencies and injuries, I finally feel like I have a solid grasp on a lot of the movements and wanted to see where I am.
2. I finally have the opportunity to. During last year’s Open I paid attention but wasn't able to do it. There Isn’t space or equipment necessary to do it at school, but now that I’m interning at CrossFit DoneRight I’m finally able to do it.
3. I saw incredible achievements. I witnessed people getting their first muscle up, first chest-to-bar pull up (I was really hoping that’d be me, maybe next year), and one person pulled their 1RM deadlift for multiple reps during 14.3. The coolest thing of all was when I was on spring break visiting a gym out in LA, I witnessed a 16 year old do 10 unbroken muscle ups during 14.4. The open just makes people work that much harder to where they can do things they never thought possible.
4. I can compete with everyone. I may not be the fastest/strongest/fittest person but I was able to compete right along with the best athletes in the world. It is a cool thing to know that I’m doing the exact same workout as Rich Froning, Jason Khalipa, Dan Bailey and more.
5. It is a great way to track my progress. While this may be the first year I've done the Open, I know exactly where I placed and next year when I do it, I can see if I have progressed based on my placing. While it is only one way of tracking progress, it is a fun way of doing so in a competition setting that you don’t get everyday.
6. I am one of 209,585 people to sign up for the Open and that is just really awesome. Plus, with all those people, I was able to see where I stood up, and after 5 weeks, turns out I’m the 67,574 fittest person in the world. That’s top ⅓ in the world and I’ll take that any day.
7. You have to push yourself to do something that you may not think possible or that you wouldn't otherwise try. For the average person, they wouldn't have thought they’d be able to do a lot of these workouts as prescribed or they wouldn't for whatever reason. For example, for me if I were doing 14.2 as a regular workout, I wouldn't have programmed it as chest-to-bar pull ups because I don’t have them, I would have done regular pull ups so I could move farther in the workout and get a better metabolic effect from the workout. Instead I had to really push myself to go after those pull ups. Granted, I didn't get any (Jay said he would have given me a couple, but I didn't actually feel them hit my chest) but I still was forced to work as hard as I possibly could.
8. It’s your chance to experience a completely unbiased programming. In some programming, you’re able to hide your weaknesses. In the Open, there is no hiding at all, and once your weaknesses are exposed you are forced to work on them to become fitter.
9. It displays the epitome of the CrossFit community. In a regular workout, people are working hard and cheering for each other. During the Open though, you are going as hard as possible and people are screaming at you to get you to do as much as your body can handle. Regular workouts are a great display of community, but the Open is on a whole different level.
10. While it may seem cheesy, I simply just wanted to. It is fun, and only costs $20. It is the only real chance that I get to do a competition and it is really fun.
I loved doing the Open. If you did the Open, I hope you enjoyed it, and if not, I highly suggest you do it next year because you will not regret it at all.
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