Why We Are Happy The Open Is Over & What We Do Next

Congratulations to all of the CrossFit athletes who survived the 2016 Open. I hope everyone enjoyed the experience (though painful) and improved over previous years.

As an athlete and coach, I am overjoyed to say the Open is over. Hopefully some of you had the opportunity to read my previous blog post “The Open Is Upon Us”. If so, take note of my first caption “We aren’t all going to the Games”.

“For 0.1% of all CrossFitters the Open is to find the top 20 athletes in each region worldwide allowing them to move onto the next qualifier… Regionals. For these athletes, the open is nothing more than an average day of training; however, for an everyday CrossFitter, these workouts bring on nerves, anxiety, and of course too many pre workout bathroom sessions. Far too many times I saw this happen, but we need to relax, smile, and have a good time. This is supposed to be fun so we need to enjoy the moment”.

Now that the Open is over, I’d like to talk about what I witnessed during this 5-week period. I witnessed members completely disregard proper movement and technique, all for the sake of an RX score. Knowing they can move better than this makes it this difficult to watch. As an athlete and competitor I understand the want to go RX and see what you can do against the big dogs, but if a 65lbs thruster is 85% of your max then you clearly haven’t thought this through. Therefore, meeting with a coach would be very useful. Your coach knows how you move and what would be most beneficial for you as an athlete. They keep you safe and ensure you are having a great time doing it. Besides, the open is all about having fun and enjoying the experience.

The key point I’m trying to make is we aren’t going to the games, so why throw away every aspect of technique and increase the chance of injury for the sake of two letters “RX”. Know yourself as a person and athlete. Proper form and technique will trump everything else. I would rather see a member crush a scaled workout and move well doing so. Even if it takes a few years before you jump to the RX category I promise it will be worth the wait.

This brings me to my second point… Don’t give up or get discouraged.

The Open is difficult, it’s a test, but now that it’s over, we have a full year to sit down and figure out our plan for next year or perhaps a weakness we discovered during the Open. Talk to your coach and set up a time to sit down and discuss goals. We are here to help. We want nothing more than to see you successful and continue to grow.

Look into the following aspects of fitness to see what you need to improve on.

1. Nutrition
2. Mobility
3. Strength
4. Aerobic/Anaerobic Conditioning
5. Skills (ex muscle ups, toes to bar etc.)
6. Life outside of the gym (sleep, stress, etc.)

Fitness is a never ending process that takes time and hard work. Keep working towards your goals and never give up. Only 11 more months until the 2017 season begins. Time to prepare.

Kyle Kostynski B.Sc. Kinesiology
Coach & Personal Trainer
Biometrics Strength & Conditioning