With the holidays behind us, we will be continuing our focus on the upcoming CrossFit Open, now launching full-steam into our Open Prep cycle.
For those of you new to CrossFit, the Open is a chance to push yourself more than you would in an ordinary class, to define your strengths and weaknesses, to set new goals, to learn new skills, and to be held to the same standards and share the same experiences as some of the best athletes around the world. There are no qualifiers to participate–it is truly an open competition. And it’s a great way to build community with your fellow gym-mates.
The Open is designed to be accessible to all ability levels. Each workout is programmed with an “RX” or prescribed series of movements as well as a scaled option. You are free to choose which option is best for you each week; if you can do all movements as prescribed for one workout, but don’t have the necessary strength or skill to “RX” another WOD, you are always able to perform the scaled option and still be included in the competition.
Registration for the Open begins Jan. 11th, and we highly recommend you sign up and join in on the action! Even if it’s not your thing, however, we think you’ll get a lot out of this cycle in terms of improving your overall fitness.
The CrossFit Open is heavily biased towards conditioning, so you have probably noticed a ramping up of conditioning over the past couple of months. Expect that trend to continue in the weeks ahead, leading up to the start date of the competition (Feb. 22nd). Expect overall lower volume of our barbell strength work, so that you can have more in the tank for hitting the metcons. Additionally, our skill work will focus on improving the more difficult gymnastics skills such as muscle-ups, handstand push-ups, pistols, and the like. We will also keep refining the olympic lifts and improving the ability to cycle the barbell.
As part of the preparation for the Open, we will be temporarily replacing the Saturday 10am Community Class with a practice CrossFit Open workout. These have been extremely popular in the past, and they are a lot of fun! To get comfortable with the rules of the competition, we will have participants judge one another and hold each other to the appropriate standards. If you don’t plan on doing the Open, you’re still welcome to attend–it’s always a killer workout! As a note, these classes WILL have challenging movements, so please do not bring anyone new to CrossFit to attend this class. The 8am and 9am Saturday classes will remain community WODs, so those are the best times to bring someone new to try out the gym.
As we approach the start of the 2018 CrossFit Games Season, we’re excited for a strong showing from TeamGRCF in the Northern California rankings, as well as a big turnout from the community! If you have any questions about the Open or have any hesitations, reach out to a coach. We hope you’ll join us!
