Coach Sam here. I tell you this so that when I make a funny or sarcastic statement you know who to credit or blame!

The 2023 CrossFit Open is upon us! We are approximately 3 months (a little less) out from the start. One quarter of the year – the perfect time to focus on things like Open movements, skills, and capacity in 5-15 minute workouts.

Below you will find details about how we intend to prepare for and run the Open this year. We provide these to prepare you and to allow us to plan in an organized and comprehensive fashion. There is always the person who says “but I didn’t know….”. So here we are on our blog. This will also be linked to the newsletter we email out monthly (or monthly-ish).  Details for those who will register or are registered for the Open will also be announced in the pre-class announcements and listed on the whiteboard at the box. Also, we’ll have printed handouts so you can have access to all of the details at home. So…unless you give me your phone or your paper calendar so that I can put this information into reminders and add dates to your calendar, I don’t know how to better help you KNOW. (That was supposed to be a joke!).

The CrossFit Open is a 3 week competition hosted locally (at affiliates all over the world) and provides the platform as the qualifier for the CrossFit Games in August. Anyone can do the Open. There are divisions for Rx – elite. Scaled – working toward elite. And Foundations – new to CrossFit. There are age brackets within each division making the movements and the loads achievable by anyone- any age. The CrossFit Open is inclusive.

Why do it? Why not?! Yes, it’s a competition. Yes, it produces pre-event anxiety. But conquering your fears, that anxiety, and producing a result you never thought you could is why we do it. It makes us physically and mentally stronger.

Dates & Logistics

THE OPEN WILL BE JUDGED AT OUR BOX

ON EACH OF THESE SATURDAYS:

Saturday, February 18th

Saturday, February 25th

Saturday, March 4th

If you are doing the Open, training has already started. Just training CrossFit style prepares you for the Open. In addition to this, we’ll be scheduling some new options for you. They are listed below, and will be provided in more detail at the box should you choose to engage in any of them.

  1. FREE OPEN TRAINING SESSIONS. We will provide three of these with TENTATIVE dates as follows:
    • Saturday, January 7th
    • Saturday, January 21st
    • Saturday, February 11th
    • These sessions are specifically for those athletes who don’t choose one of the other options listed below. We actually weren’t pleased with how this went last year and are limiting the sessions by one this year.
  2. PRIVATE TRAINING PLUS OPEN GYM. Signing up for private sessions to work on Open skills and movements, and then using Open Gym times to work on a program created by your coach will give you a lot of practice time – which is key. An example would be in December you sign up with Coach Pete and spend an hour working on your weaknesses, after reviewing the list of Open movements. Your coach would then lay out a plan for you that would take about an hour to work through during and Open Gym time. Open Gym will be free if you sign up for private sessions each month. We are recommending one private session every 2-3 weeks. This will allow you to gain confidence and repetition before you’re advanced.  More details of this will be provided at the box.
  3. NEW CLASS FOR OPEN COMPETITORS. Yes, we are trialing this for the Open and it may become a permanent class if it goes well. While we’re sensitive that recovery time is more needed with our age demographic, we’re confident that with the right programming and counsel on ensuring you’re eating enough, this will work. Tuesdays you’ll work on 2-4 skills and practice a short metcon inclusive of the skills you practiced.  Thursday you’ll work on one skill or strength movement for load, and then this movement will be incorporated into a zone 2 session that will include this skill. This class will begin on 12/13 and run every Tuesday and Thursday until the Open. There will be a fee for this in addition to your 3 x a week class. Details will be posted at the box. As with the private training option, Open Gym will be free while you are training in this class so you can stay later or come earlier to further work on what you want.

For planning purposes, we know that every Friday, during the three weeks of the Open, we’ll practice the workout in class (probably separating the Open competitors from the class) and then Saturday we’ll host the competition. We may push the start of judging back (in time) because we need to recruit help with judging from outside the box.

This will be the same format as last year.

Also, consistent with last year, if you are scheduled out of town, or to work on a Saturday that the Open would be judged, you can get with Sam or Ed in advance to schedule another time (on Friday or Monday) to be judged. We will not judge on Sunday – sorry.

Last-minute “I need to do the Open at a different time” changes and asking to do the Open workout “off hours” because you don’t want to do it in front of other people will be frowned upon. The number of athletes we have competing can be overwhelming because of the individual way we approach and plan for this.  We set the schedule in advance to prevent this. Watch the whiteboards at the box and listen to the pre-class announcements and you’ll be “in the know”.

SOME GENERAL FACTS…

WHO CAN DO THE OPEN?
Anyone. Period.

WHY SHOULD I DO THE OPEN?
To challenge yourself. To set a bar and set goals for improvement. To participate in the “sport” of CrossFit.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
The Open is put on by CrossFit Headquarters and hosted by us.  You will create an account on the CrossFit Games website and the cost to participate is $20.00 (for the entire event – all 3-5 workouts/weeks). You pay CrossFit Headquarters.  We don’t charge a fee to host the competition. We may pre-order Open Shirts solely for those who compete – to be determined.

DID WE GET MORE AGE DIVISIONS THIS YEAR TO BETTER ACCOMMODATE THOSE BEYOND 70 YEARS OF AGE?
Nope. But we have read the rulebook (you can too – here’s the link: https://games.crossfit.com/rules) and we’ve had some correspondence with HQ and the Games team regarding: our box, our demographic, and the snafu that occurred last year when we didn’t have enough options in the Foundations Divison to accommodate all of our athletes. We’re clear this year and feel good about making sure everyone who wants to can compete.

HOW DO I REGISTER FOR THE OPEN?
This link will take you to the registration page: https://games.crossfit.com/article/register-early-2023-open
This will be your “CrossFit Games Account”. You will log in to this account to post your scores after every workout.

HOW DO I PRACTICE FOR THE OPEN?  
You have lots of options! Do what works for you.
As noted above but let’s repeat:

  1. Option 1:  TRAIN IN YOUR CLASS. Most of the movements you will do are included in your daily training. Doing Crossfit prepares you for this. For the first many years of our CF careers, Ed and I used the class setting to train for the Open. It works.
  2. Option 2:  FREE SATURDAY SESSIONS. Like last year (but different), we’ll offer a few Saturday group training sessions for those who don’t choose Options 3 and 4.  Solely for Open Competitors, these sessions are a “speed round” of specific open movement practice. They will be reserved for those who are registered and commit to it – not “thinking about it”.
  3. Option 3: New this year: PRIVATE TRAINING FOR OPEN SKILLS. We’re offering Open athletes who are new or want to work on specific things, sign up for private sessions with the coaches who can accept private training clients, to assess what is needed, and then create a work plan for Open Gym. This way, the athlete will have a plan and have dedicated time to work on weaknesses at their own pace. Currently, Coaches Ed, Sam, Nicole, and Pete are available for this.  If you’re interested sooner, please see Sam. We’ll recommend one private session every 2-3 weeks, and then the use of Open Gym (we’ll make Open Gym available for free as a part of the private training package for the Open).
  4. Option 4: TUESDAY/THURSDAY OPEN PREP CLASSES.  We’re putting the finishing touches on an idea that actually came about from one of your fellow athletes asking for a 5-day-a-week option for classes.  We will begin a Tuesday/Thursday addition to our programming that we’ll use initially for those registered for the Open. These classes will focus solely on Open movements and skills, and the styles of workouts that often come up in the Open. Tuesdays will be solely skill and a metcon. Thursdays will include skill and more endurance work using the rowers, ropes, and other cardio-focused movements.  The pre-requisite will be that you are registered (not intending on registering) for the open and you can attend the 9:30 class.
Finally, this year, we will not be “recruiting for the Open” like we did last year.  I think we were in everyone’s ear :). We fear we pushed some of you to do it and maybe you did it because we wanted you to…versus because you wanted to. So if you want to do this, SIGN UP! And if not, we will be needing volunteers and supporters to help run these three events.  It takes a village!
Register for the Open