Four Years; Four CrossFit Opens

Four years; four different stories.

Each year that registered for the Open, I have had different goals:

2016: I was definitely about my ranking. I Rxed all the workouts and carefully watched the leaderboard in my box and on the games site. I didn’t get my first bar muscle ups in 16.3 like everyone else and that shook my confidence. But I ended up in the top 10 in my state for my age group.

2017: My goal was place in a higher percentile. I Rxed each workout again but still didn’t get any bar muscle ups. I was a little less competitive and tried to have a little more fun. I did get chest to bar pull-ups. So that was goal that I could check off.

2018: I almost didn’t do the Open. After sustaining a concussion and neck sprain in December 2017, I wasn’t even cleared to workout until the week that the Open started. I could not lift heavy weights and doing most movements on the rig was not on the table. So I scaled all the workouts and did my best. It was a lot less pressure on me and I enjoyed the workouts a lot more.

2019: I haven’t been a member of an affiliate since August 2018. So my engine was a bit rusty. That made then decision very easy when it was time to do the workouts. I scaled them all. Most of the workouts had higher skill gymnastic movements that I can’t do anyway. I just showed up and had fun.

The thing about the Open is that it is a snapshot of your fitness in a moment in time. It doesn’t say who your are as a person nor does it cast judgement on your life and how you “should” be spending your time. I see too many people resting their self esteem and self worth on the numbers on the leaderboard. I’m here to tell you to STOP THAT!

My friend Shirin (@wholeheartedcoaching) says that “joy is our birthright” and that we need to “embrace our lives exactly as they are right now”. That means that you can stop beating yourself up if your rank on the leaderboard isn’t where you had hoped. It’s really ok.