The CrossFit Open!
It’s that time of the year again! It’s time for the CrossFit Games Open! I firmly believe that everyone who trains using CrossFit should participate in the Open, whether you’re a competitive athlete, or someone just looking to begin their fitness journey. The Open can offer many benefits to everyone who participates and I think 2021 is the year to get involved.
A unique benefit of the Open is that no matter where you are on your fitness journey, participating in the Open will give you a good view of your strengths and weaknesses. This will allow you to better understand what you might need to focus on in the months ahead. This is powerful in keeping yourself motivated! Giving yourself a goal to work on based on your results from the Open is a great tool to have in your toolbox. After all, your gym may have been locked down, but your health and fitness goals didn’t disappear because of it! In fact, I would say that because of the pandemic, staying on top of your health is more important now than ever.
Typically for the Open, at Fortis we do “Friday Night Lights,” an intramural that sees many of our box fam come together and cheer each other on as we push our limits and test the boundaries of our current fitness. It really is a special time of year, one that sees the Fortis community come together at it’s strongest and loudest! Because of the pandemic, I have no idea what the Open will look like this year, though I know for sure it won’t be like previous years. I hate the fact that the pandemic is going to put a damper on the Open this year – but that’s exactly why I’m signing up. So many of us have had our lives turned upside down in many different ways. I refuse to allow this to be taken from me! CrossFit prepares us to adapt to the unknown, and I think we can all agree that 2020-21 has been pretty damn unknown. With this year’s Open offering many different options such as a “no equipment” option, they’ve really made it easy for anyone to get involved. So with that being said, if I have to complete the Open from my basement, then so be it. I want to be able to join together with my Fortis fam (even if it’s online) and the CrossFit community as a whole. I want to take on the Open as we always have, and come together as a community in support of one another!
The pandemic has taken away a lot from us – let’s not let it take our Open, too. Let the Open be that one thing you look forward to every week. You’ll get to read social media posts from around the world detailing everyone’s love and hatred for the workout, and you’ll get to be a part of it! You’ll take your post-wod sweat angel photo and be damn proud that you DID IT!
Here’s to the Open 2021. We rise together!💪👊
Coach Derek