Top 7 Reasons to sign up for the Crossfit Games Open

EIE CHALLENGE WEEK 6:  Test your fitness and sign up for the Crossfit Games Open!  Our goal is to have 250 members sign up and represent PCF!  The first workout will be released this Thursday and will be performed as a gym on Friday.  You’ll be doing it anyways so there really isn’t a reason NOT to sign up.

 Just do it!

Weekly Programming Links:  Group Class, Venice Barbell Club, Track Night

Monday, February 24, 2014

Prehab

Keg Drill
Overhead Band Distraction
Hip Extension with Band
Posterior Chain Flossing with Band

Warmup

30 sec Plank Hold
10 Air Squats, last rep hold 15 sec
5 Fire Hydrants, each side/direction
5 Inchworms
5 Fire Hydrants, each side/direction
10 Air Squats, last rep hold 15 sec
30 sec Handstand Hold

Classic Strength

4X5 Back Squats – Heavy as possible – 60 sec rest
4X Max effort Handstand hold against wall- 60 sec rest

Notes: Alternate between movements. For BS focus on quick up and down without pause. For Handstand, use a spotter if needed for kick up and focus on tight midline and staying rigid from your fingers to your toes! Stick to designated rest!

Advanced Strength

4X5 Back Squats @ 85% – 90 sec rest
4X ME Kipping HSPU (Deficit if possible 6/4”) – 90 sec rest

Notes: For the BS focus on quick up and down with out pause every set, 90 sec rest. For HSPU focus on getting a big hip drive and locking out with your feet against the wall. Try to stick to designated rest!

Conditioning

9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Deadlifts (225/155)
Box Jumps (24/20”)
-15 min cap-

Notes: Focus on getting a tight midline, flat back and weight into your heels while doing DL’s.

Cool Down

Pike Stretch, accumulate 1 min
Plow Stretch, accumulate 1 min
Pigeon Stretch, 1 minute each side

Top 7 reasons to sign up for the Crossfit Open right now!

1. Be a part of of the official Crossfit Games.
   I think it’s pretty cool that the road to the Crossfit Games begins with an online competition open to everyone.  It goes right along with the founding of Crossfit.com as a free, open source, online resource.  Later, when you are watching the Crossfit Games on ESPN, or watching it live at the Home Depot Center in Carson, you will be able to say that you participated in the event that ultimately crowned the Fittest Man and Woman on the planet. 
2. Join in with the worldwide Crossfit community.
   Similar to the first point, I think that joining the Open connects you with the worldwide Crossfit community.  Sometimes training can feel like a bubble, as you tend to train at the same times with the same coaches and people.  But over the next five weeks, every crossfitter in the world, in countless languages and across every continent, will anxiously wait every Thursday for the announcement of the next workout.  The other day I was browsing Youtube video submissions from last year’s Open and watched some guy in Italy perform one of the workouts.  His intro was in Italian and I couldn’t understand a word he said or anyone else said cheering him on.  I was amazed by how far the worldwide reach of the Crossfit Games has grown since the first championship in 2007.
3. Participate in the PCF community and support the gym!
   As a gym, we will be programming each workout on Fridays so everyone can be judged and log their scores online!  Since the workouts are already going to be programmed, you might as well join and get credit for your workout.  Just like last year, on Friday nights we will be closing Venice and pushing as many people as possible to attend MDR for our Friday Night Lights series, where everyone competes and supports each other.
4. Perform workouts Rx’d.
   I love the Open because, just like any competition, it will expose your weaknesses and highlight your strengths.  This may sound a little scary to some of you, but each week you will not be able to scale any portion of the workout, for better or for worse.   For many people, myself included, this is actually a blessing in disguise.  The whole point of “as prescribed” is to put everyone on the same playing field and give you an objective and measurable picture of your fitness.

    Also, performing a workout in front of a judge is awesome.  They hold you accountable to standards, and you can go all out with intensity since they also count your reps.  Even outside the Open, when I want to go all out on a workout I ask a friend to be my judge so I can focus on intensity and know the score I got was legitimate.  

5. Track your long term progress
   Each year you participate in the Open your scores are stored online for you to review and compare in the future.  By signing up for the Open you are automatically investing in your long term progress by collecting objective data each week.  When an old Open workout comes up, I can easily find my score online and know what to shoot for the second time around.  Also, because the Open compares every crossfitter in the world together, the workouts become a benchmark that we as a gym repeat each year.
6. Participate in a Crossfit competition, risk free
   If you have never participated in a competition, you should definitely sign up for the Open!  This really is the cheapest, easiest, and most risk free way to compete.  You have the comfort of your own gym, your friends, your coaches, the times available to perform the workouts, etc.  Not only that, but the workouts are programmed so that everyone can post a score, no matter your ability.  In other words, you will never be forced to do a 300lb deadlift or something crazy that will hurt you or keep you from participating.  If you want to know what a competition feels like, sign up for the Open and perform the workout during Friday Night Lights in front of a judge and a crowd.  It perfectly replicates the competition atmosphere…a judge is counting your reps (and no reps!), people are cheering you on, it’s so loud you can’t hear a thing or even think, your adrenaline and nerves are flowing, and you leave knowing you gave it your absolute best.  
7. Have fun!
   The number one reason I do Crossfit is because it’s fun.  Besides all the reasons listed above, the number one reason you should sign up for the  Open right now is because it’s fun!  It’s fun to compete, to workout with your friends, to take a risk every once in a while and see what you’re made of, to see how much progress you’ve made since you started, to join in a group of people who support each other and share your same interests and goals, to cheer others on and watch them succeed, to witness others struggle and watch them grow.  I hope you join the Crossfit Open this year, and I hope you have fun!