The 2020 Open is Coming!

“My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.”
 — Michael Jordan
Beginning on Thursday, October 10th (just 7 short weeks away), the 2020 CrossFit Open is going down!  If this will be your first Open, let’s first lay down the groundwork:  The CrossFit Open is an online CrossFit competition that is open to anyone and everyone!  It consists of five workouts, released once per week on Thursday and to be completed by the following Monday.  Each workout will test your fitness in different ways, and in the end you will have a comprehensive snapshot of your current fitness level, and how you stack up against others in your age group, your ability level (Rx or Scaled), and everyone in the world!  There are hundreds of thousands of athletes that enter the Open.  Up until this past spring, the Open took place in March each year.  This next one is being labeled the “2020 Open” because it will kick off the next season of CrossFit competition, which culminates in The CrossFit Games in July 2020.
I encourage everyone to compete in the Open – it’s fun to do with your friends in the gym (especially on Friday night where it turns into a bit of a party), and it’s an awesome way to check in on an annual basis on your current fitness level.  If this is your first time, this will be your baseline.  If you did it last spring or in previous years, are you more fit now?
I also want to give you plenty of “heads up” that the Open is coming, because there is work to do if we know we’re going to be tested.  Do you remember what didn’t go so well for you in the last Open?  Or again if this is your first whack at it, can you think of one movement that you hope will not be in the Open, because it represents a hole in your game?  Guess what… it will be.  But you still have time now to work on it!  Make a 7-week plan now to carve out 15 minutes in the gym, twice per week before or after workouts or at Open Gym, to have dedicated practice time on that skill.  If you can’t come up with a plan that you like, ask a coach!  This is what we love to do as coaches — help you individually to achieve your goals.  That’s the reason we get so amped up when someone gets their first pull-up or PR’s their Filthy Fifty time because they got a lot more efficient at double-unders!
Let’s make the rest of this summer our focused prep time for the upcoming CrossFit Open.  We want to know that when the test comes, we’ve done everything we can to prepare.
See you in the gym!
Ryan