Our current strength cycle is coming to a close, ending the week of January 13th, with some opportunities to max out some lifts and get yourself a new baseline strength for the new year. Our next cycle we will be focused on prepping for and competing in the the CrossFit Open. The CrossFit Open is an international competition that happens yearly in February and March. It’s an opportunity for CrossFit athletes across the world to test out their skills by completing 5 different workouts. Each week CrossFit Games (games.crossfit.com) releases a workout, and you have just five days to complete it and submit your score. Read more about it at the CF games site.
We are spending the next 6 weeks in preparation for the open, and then throughout February and March we will complete the 5 workouts. Everyone is going to do it! Why? Because, fun. Not only will it be really enjoyable, it’s also a great opportunity to work on some important skills. The skills that it takes to compete in the open are sprint endurance, bodyweight strength and technical weightlifting strength. We have spent A LOT of time getting strong AF, now it’s time to apply some of that strength to some fast-burning metcons that challenge your strength under duress. Not to worry, you will have plenty of time to prep and feel very strong and capable before the open hits.
To complete the open workouts this year, you need to register to be part of a Solcana team. These teams are randomly chosen, and consist of 4 people. They will be random, but they will be coordinated with time of the day/week you tend to workout, so you can see your teammates often, and encourage them.
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- Teams will be made up of athletes of all skill levels and gender-identity (option to be on a WTF only team if you want!)
- Each week the workouts are divided into scaled, scaled + or Rx, but they are all equally weighted in terms of score
- Each week there is an individual prize to be had for the top scoring athlete
- At the end prizes will be awarded for top team, as well as a prize for the “spirit award”
- Once you register as part of a team, you cannot drop or be replaced
- Each team will have the chance to drop their lowest score each week in case of illness, absence, etc.
- You do not need to register on the official games.crossfit.com page, though you can if you want
- You do however, need to register below to be selected for a team
- If you can’t be part of a team, you can still complete the workouts on the given days
- Deadline to sign up for a team spot is Tuesday January 16th
- You can complete the Open WOD at any CrossFit gym in the world
It does not matter if you are “not good” at CrossFit, or “not strong enough”, or whatever other garbage thing you are telling yourself right now to avoid signing up. You CAN and WILL complete the open workouts at whatever level you are capable of. This is a chance for you to push yourself out of your comfort zone and commit to something now that is over a month away. If you’ve never done it before, talk to someone in the gym who has and they will tell you just how much fun it is!
Something new this year: on Friday nights from 5:30 – 7:30 pm we will be holding Friday Night Lights, where we will run several heats of the Open Workouts, and pack the gym with cheering people. If you want to take part in that, you can sign up on WODify to save a spot (there will likely be about 24-30 spots per week depending on the workout), and show up no later than 6:30 to participate. This will be only lightly-coached, so if you need some more technical instruction on one of the movements, consider coming to an earlier class, or pulling aside Coach Ryan while you are getting warmed up.
I highly encourage you to sign up now to be part of a team. You and your team are going to have a lot of fun picking your name, getting custom t-shirts, and pushing one another to be stronger, faster and better. Last year my team was called Squatters’ Rights, and I am already brainstorming team names for this year…
The schedule of workouts is:
18.1: Feb. 22 – 26
18.2: March 1 – 5
18.3: March 8 – 12
18.4: March 15 – 19
18.5: March 22 – 26
You will have the chance to complete these workouts ALL DAY Friday and at 11 am on Saturdays, or any time during open gym throughout the week. As long as the score is submitted to me by Sunday evening at 5 pm it will be accepted!