Crossfit Already Looking Past the Games and into the Off Season

Towards the end of Thursday night’s Dave Castro said something that peaked my interest when he quickly mentioned some of the plans that HQ had for the upcoming off season. In years past there has been a significant “Games Hangover.” That means basically that the sport disapears for several months following the Games in July. There's very little news out of HQ, very few competitions and little to no buzz. I almost compare the CF yearly rotation to most Olympic sports. For three years they're totally out of sight, then one year we're all supposed to care and then they vanish again. For the past couple years Crossfit has been comparably cyclical, building in excitement and momentum from January to July, then falling off a cliff right after the Games.

We’ll normally get video clips of the events at the affiliate Big Sky event and the past two years they’ve started the USA vs. the World competition but that’s really all Crossfit HQ has had to offer from basically late July through the end of the year. During that time most athletes dive into off season training programs that center on getting stronger or shoring up individual weaknesses, not to mention allowing time for their bodies to recover from the grind that Games preparation demands. While that down time and off season training is necessary, it frankly sucks if you're a fan of the sport. While it’s an unfair comparison, I look at how the NFL manages to stay top of mind all year round despite their season only running from August to February. The NFL is the top of the sports pyramid in the US, so why not try to copy some of their methods? There are ways that Crossfit could stay on the 'front burner' during the off season, so what can Crossfit HQ do to change this recent trend?

2014 Crossfit Games Open 14.5: Reactions and Looking Forward to What's Next

Well Dave Castro didn’t disappoint last night as he rolled out another “first” for the Crossfit Open. Despite using only the two movements that everyone expected, Castro shocked us all by turning 14.5 into the first “for time” Open WOD. Needless to say, all these “firsts” are going to make predicting any future Open WODs virtually impossible (as if they weren’t already). So on to the workout…

So it’s basically a buffet of thrusters and burpees. Have fun with that!!

Crossfit Games Open 2014: Predicting 14.5

The final live announcement of the 2014 Crossfit Games Open is less than 12 hours away and it should be quite an entertaining show. Five, past and present, champions will compete head to head in the live throwdown. Of those five, we have the top two men and women in the world after four weeks of the Open. Yes, Rich Froning, Jason Khalipa, Graham Holmberg, Sam Briggs and Annie Thorisdottir step onto the big stage tonight to take on a WOD that just about everyone in the world thinks will center around burpees and thrusters. After four weeks of WODs, those are the two major movements that have yet to show up, but Dave Castro has shown that he’s willing to break from the mold in 2014.

Last week we saw a rower for the first time in an Open competition and while it created arguably more debate than any other WOD so far in 2014, it’s clear that HQ wants to take the Open in a different direction. Despite their claims of the Open being “inclusive,” I think they’ve proven this year that their only goal is get the fittest of the fit to Regionals and also that they’d really like all of these Open WODs to be completed at a CF box. I’ve never personally completed an Open WOD from home and had to upload a video submission but the process of videoing all the components of 14.4 would have been a nightmare, not to mention that the WOD included the use of a piece of equipment that costs nearly $1,000 brand new. My home gym, which has only been open a couple years only, has one rower so even for us completing this WOD took some time. Enough of that though back to the task at hand, which is of course, predicting 14.5.

With the movements that have been eliminated so far in the Open, just about anyone who’s in the guessing game is thinking that 14.5 has to be centered around burpees and thrusters, even the Games Update show predicted those two movements. It’s for that reason, and that reason alone that I think Castro will pull something else out of his hat tonight. I think he’ll want to surprise everyone will something else entirely new. I also think this is finally the week where we finally see a triplet. So with that being said, here’s our fearless prediction:

12 minute AMRAP
15 Thrusters
12 Bar Facing Burpees
9 Sumo Deadlift Highpulls

I'm thinking they start at 95 pounds and increase each round. That gets two of the major missing movements involved while also throwing something at everyone that hasn’t been seen before in the Open. Sumo deadlift high pulls are a fundamental CF movement though and I’m sure almost every person who’s been in a CF box for any length of time is pretty familiar with the movement. So what are your guesses?

Crossfit Open 2014: Predicting 14.4

With three weeks down in the 2014 Crossfit Open and the live announcement for 14.4 less than 24
hours away, I'm quickly running out of chances to get even close on one of these predictions. As the weeks go by though the list of exercises that Crossfit HQ has to choose from is dwindling so I'm liking my chances this week. First let's recap some of our basic assumptions:

Crossfit Open WOD 14.4: Josh Bridges vs. Scott Panchik

The live announcement of the 2014 Crossfit Open 14.4 is creeping up on us again and tomorrow night Dave Castro will pull the curtain back and shock us all for the fourth week in a row. We’ve done pretty terrible on our weekly predictions so far, but that’s to be expected and I think it’s pretty clear that HQ wanted to break free of the mold they’d developed over the past two years. We’ll still take another shot at predicting 14.4 later on this evening or tomorrow morning, but first let’s talk about predicting something we have been better at so far. With three live throw downs in the books, we’ve correctly predicted the winner on twice with only the lovely Talayna Fortunato spoiling our fun on 14.2. This week HQ offers up another star studded pair in which they’ve combined for four Games appearances and of those four appearances, the worst overall finish was a 7th place. We’re of course talking about matchup between Josh Bridges and Scott Panchik.

Tale of the tape
Josh Bridges is 30 years old and reports himself as 5’5 and 165 pounds. Bridges is a two times Games veteran and a podium finisher in the 2011 Games. So far his CF resume looks like a donut. He broke out in 2011, finishing second at the Games and looking like the biggest competition for Rich in upcoming years. Then active deployment and a severe knee injury completely wiped out his 2012 season. He returned in 2013 to so much fanfare that an eventual 7th place finish at the Games felt like a letdown. Bridges cruised through the 2013 Open collecting four top-10 finishes and winning 13.5 en route to a third overall finish in the world, behind only Froning and Mikko. He continued to dominate at Regionals winning four of eight events and finishing in the top-4 in all but one event. At the Games, many expected Bridges to be Froning’s biggest competition but it was a somewhat mixed bag of results. On the positive side, he won just as many events as Khalipa and Froning (3) and logged two more top-3 finishes (pool event and Cinco 2). On the negative side though outside of those four events, his average finish was 28th place with three finishes of 36th or worse.

Scott Panchik is 26 years old and lists himself as 5’9 and 190 pounds. Panchik is only entering his third year of CF competition but there hasn’t been much of a learning curve. He burst onto the scene by winning 12.1 (7 min of burpees) and even an article on the Games site described him as an unknown. He’d go onto to finish 27th in the world in the Open and then place 5th in the stacked Central East Region, behind two previous champions (Froning and Holmberg) so he earned a trip to the Games. Once he got to the Games though, Panchik no longer looked like a rookie. He collected eight top-10 finishes, including a streak of six in a row to close out the weekend, and won the final event, Fran. When the dust settled he was in fourth place, not bad for his first trip the Games. In 2013 he continued to prove he belonged among the big boys, finishing fourth in the world in the Open and then taking second place in the Central East at Regionals. At the Games he got off to a bit of a slow start with two 11th place finishes then a 16th and a 30th,but he again closed out the weekend with an impressive run of five top-10 finishes. In the end he again took fourth overall.

Head to Head
There’s less data here than previous weeks considering Panchik is only entering his third year and Bridges was absent during 2012, so that leaves us with all of 2013 and the three Open WODs so far this year. This almost might be the closest head to head matchup we’ve seen so far in 2014. Of the 27 WODs these two have both completed over that span, Panchik holds a 14-13 advantage over Bridges. Since we’re talking about an Open WOD though it’s worth looking at how they’ve fared in the past eight Open WODs and in those Bridges holds a 5-3 advantage. Panchik’s wins have come in 14.3, 13.1 and 13.2. The first two of those are both WODs that included ‘increasing weights’ so this matchup could very well come down to what kind of workout Castro announces. It would make sense that any workout with heavier weights will favor Panchik, considering he’s got 25 pounds on Bridges, and that any WOD basically mostly on movement will favor Bridges.

Conclusion
Since I obviously don’t know what the workout will be yet, this is really more of a gut feeling that anything else, but I’m going to go with Bridges for two reasons. The first, I don’t think we’ll see heavy weights this week after seeing the heavy deadlifts last week. Secondly, I think Bridges will come into this week feeling like he has something to prove after a somewhat poor showing last week. He only completed 148 reps, good for 1,336th place in the world, dropping him from 2nd overall to 157th in the Open standings. While all of the elite level athletes don’t put much emphasis on the Open WODs, that’s still a disappointing result. His coach, CJ Martin, has addressed the result as well, saying that he was still recovering from a taxing deadlift WOD a few days earlier and ‘played it safe on 14.3.’ That’s a very legit excuse considering Bridges isn’t competing to win the Open, he’s competing to win the Games. Still though, no one is going to enjoy being called out like he was on the CF Games Update Show and I think he’ll have a little something extra when Castro calls out 3,2,1… GO.

Friend or Foe of Crossfit: National Pro Fitness League

If you follow Crossfit, The Sport of Fitness, at any level then you've most likely heard of Tony Budding. Budding was Crossfit's media director for many years and often seen as Dave Castro's right hand man at the Games. That all changed though late last year when Budding left Crossfit to build something of his own. What has resulted is the National Pro Fitness League, a team based version of  the Crossfit Games (my words not his). Here is how Budding describes the league:

Crossfit Open 14.3: Back to Basics

Dave Castro dropped the announcement of 14.3 on us tonight and for the first time in the 2014 Crossfit Open, you won't read any complaints from this lowly blogger. This is an inclusive, yet increasingly challenging WOD, and it'll challenge the beginner, intermediate and advanced athlete. This is, at least in my opinion, exactly what the Open should be about. These type of WODs are why the Open has grown from 26,000 people to over 200,000 people in just four years.

Crossfit Open 2014: Predicting 14.3

Tonight Dave Castro will grab the microphone and shock us all with a WOD we never saw coming, but just for grins, we’re back this week trying to predict what Castro will pull out of his hat. I was incredibly wrong again last week (and next week I’ll write this same sentence again), although I was right that burpees wouldn’t be involved. I’ll wear that as a badge of honor for sure and I’m definitely going to continue with my theory based on mainsite programming. With that assumption and many more, here’s what I’m assuming going into 14.3:

• We won’t see double unders, snatches, overhead squats or chest to bar pull-ups. That’s a given, we’re done with those movements for the remainder of the 2014 Open. That’s leaves us with these movements as available options thrusters, clean and jerks, burpees, toes-to-bar, box jumps, muscle-ups, wall balls, deadlifts and push-ups.
• The mainsite workouts of the past couple days have included push-ups a couple days ago and heavy push presses yesterday. So I’m assuming we won’t see push-ups or anything heavy overhead in 14.3. The overheads might be a stretch but I've got to rule out some options one way or another.
• I also thought that they might stay away from anything like toes to bar or muscle-ups because so many people tore up their hands on 14.2, but after looking back at previous years, I’m not so sure. In both 2011 and 2012, they had back to back WODs with toes to bar and then chest to bar pull-ups. Granted the order would be switched this year but at best this is probably a flaky assumption (still going with it though).

If these three assumptions can be trusted (which of course they can't), that leaves us with burpees, box jumps, muscle-ups, wall balls, deadlifts and cleans. I also think we'll see a longer WOD this week and I still think we see some form of triplet. I thought the same thing last week, but previous Opens have each included multiple triplets, so they've got to surface at some point. So with all that being said, here's this week's prediction:

17 minute AMRAP
Two rounds of DT at 115/75
20 Bar facing burpees
Two rounds of DT at 135/95
20 Bar facing burpees
Two rounds of DT at 155/115
20 Bar facing burpees
Two rounds of DT at 175/135
20 Bar facing burpees
Two rounds of DT at 195/155
20 Bar facing burpees
AMRAP rounds of DT at 215/175
A round of DT is 12 deadlifts, 9 hang cleans and 6 push presses

Now you may be wondering why several elements of that WOD conflict with my assumptions above (namely the overhead portion and the triplet), but it's a guess and I figured since I'm throwing darts blindfolded it might as well be a WOD that I'd like. I actually did a WOD similar to this the other day and it was a real beat down. This would also be a creative way of adding a strength portion while still being very inclusive. I assume almost every athlete could make it to at least the hang clean portion of the second set of DT. They could go one step further as well and allow full cleans instead of just hang cleans. Anyone else want to take a shot at guessing?

Crossfit Open WOD 14.3: Stacie Tovar vs Alessandra Pichelli

The 2014 Crossfit Games Open is nearing the halfway point and 14.2 is officially in our rearview mirror. With two weeks in the books, the leaderboards are starting to take shape and they’re filled with names we’re all very familiar with. On the women’s side the top 25 is populated with stars like Camille, Webb, Letendre, Briggs, Thorisdottir and Horrell and the men’s side is arguably even more top heavy with Froning, Bridges, Smith, Khalipa, Panchik, Bailey, Holmberg, Forte, Golden and Maddox. While I personally may have some qualms about the programming so far, the cream is certainly rising to the top and ultimately that’s the main goal of the Open. The live announcement of 14.3 is right around the corner and HQ announced earlier this week that the throw down will pit long time Games veteran Stacie Tovar against last year’s 4th place Games’ finisher Alessandra Pichelli. This should be a great matchup regardless of what Dave Castro pulls out of his hat tomorrow night. Let’s take a look at these two ladies:

Crossfit Games 14.2 Continues to Take the Open in a Different Direction

Dave Castro and Crossfit HQ unveiled the Open WOD 14.2 tonight live from Miami, Florida at I am Crossfit and the live throw down between Talayna Fortunato and Camille Leblac-Bazinet didn't disappoint. I was wrong about the WOD, the movements and the winner of the throw down but, two weeks into the Open, one thing is becoming very apparent; the Crossfit Open isn't for everyone anymore. I wrote leading into the Open that it had two goals, to get the fittest to Regionals and to also be inclusive so that athletes from all different ability levels could participate. Through the first two weeks though, I think the second goal no longer exists.

First let's talk about the workout, it's an overhead squat and chest to bar pull-up ladder where you have 3 minutes to complete two rounds of 10 OHS at 95/65 pounds and 10 C2B pull-ups. If and when you complete that, you have another three minutes to complete another two rounds of 12 of each and so on until can't complete them within the 3 minutes. It's a brutal combination and although the weight is relatively light, both the OHS and the C2B pull-up are a step above basic movements.

While an athlete of my stature generally approaches every WOD with the only goal being survival, I do think I'll try to mimick Talayna's plan. She said afterwards that she wanted to do the OHS unbroken, then break up the C2B as needed. That will be my plan as well, for as long as I can manage. OHS are certainly not a strength of mine and anytime I'm gasping for breath, which will certainly happen after some C2B pull-ups, they are particularly awful.

Predicting Crossfit Games Open WOD 14.2

Its prediction time again as Dave Castro is set to announce the Crossfit Games Open WOD 14.2 this evening. Last week I took a huge swing and miss as I put too much faith in pictorial evidence and Castro zigged when I fully expected him to zag. I hinted a couple days ago that I had a new theory I was working on though and now it’s time to take it for a test drive. First let’s go over some basic assumptions:

• I assume we can completely remove double unders and snatches from the available movements for 14.2. I think double unders are totally gone for the remainder of the Open. Snatches may resurface in later weeks but not for 14.2.
• I’m also assuming that clean and jerks will not show up in 14.2 because so many people used them as a way to break up the snatches. Clean and jerks will definitely show up later in the Open but I don’t think we’ll see them this week.

Sadly those are the only two assumptions with which I have any confidence. That does eliminate three movements though and if we take a look at the remaining movements that have been used in previous Opens, we’re left with thrusters, burpee, toes-to-bar, chest to bar pull ups, box jumps, muscle-ups, wall balls, deadlifts, push-ups and overhead squats. Now remember that theory I was working on…..it’s basically centered on what the “mainsite” programs leading up to the Open announcement. Going back to the first WOD of last year, the mainsite has at least somewhat avoided the movements that will be in each Open WOD in the days leading up to the announcement. For example as of the night of the announcement of 14.1, the closest the mainsite had gotten to double unders or snatches was a WOD with triple unders 11 days prior. Going back to 13.5 last year (thruster and C2B), it had been four days since they’d programmed either of those movements. Looking back at 13.1 (snatches and burpees), neither of those movements had been touched in the previous week. Now this certainly isn’t a fool proof theory, but when grasping at straws is all you’ve got, you gotta roll with what’s available. So I’ve been keeping an eye on the mainsite this week hoping it would eliminate several more eligible movements and I didn’t have a single ray of hope until last night. That’s when they posted a WOD that included 125 burpees!! That means if my theory holds true, we can eliminate burpees from our list as well, meaning we’re left with: thrusters, toes-to-bar, chest to bar pull ups, box jumps, muscle-ups, wall balls, deadlifts, push-ups and overhead squats.

Crossfit Open 14.1 Reactions: A Change in Direction?

I’ve had a night to digest the announcement of Crossfit’s Open WOD 14.1 and, while I thought I’d wake up with a better feeling and understanding of the surprise, I’m still very torn on what Dave Castro threw down. There are some things about 14.1 that I understand.

• I understand that HQ likes “repeat” WODs so that they can later brag about how much everyone improved. Mark my words, we will see a post on the Games site within a couple weeks concerning what percentage of the population posted improved scores (granted it’ll be a small sample size considering only 26K people were signed up for 2011 and not necessarily all of that pool is currently signed up for 2013).

• I understand that this is Crossfit’s baby and they can program absolutely anything that they wish.

• I also understand that this is a competition and thus just about any movement, and then some, that’s ever showed up on Crossfit.com is an option for HQ to program. We all knew that double unders would show up at some point of the Open. The surprise though was them being the very first movement in the opening WOD. I would feel very differently if double unders were used as they have been in the previous two years or even if this exact WOD was used later in the competition.

• Lastly, I understand that the primary goal of the Open is to get the correct people to the Regionals competition and every athlete who makes it to Regionals (or for Masters straight to the Games), should be able to knock out double unders with ease.

So what’s my problem if everything above is true?
Crossfit HQ goes out of the way leading up the Open to “sell” it as an inclusive competition. They post countless videos, including several with Glassman himself, encouraging anyone and everyone to sign up and “prove yourself.” They encourage those who are brand new to Crossfit and even encourage those who’ve never done Crossfit. Glassman talked in one of the videos about athletes from other sports and them proving themselves if they think they’re truly a match for Rich Froning. I guess what I’m driving at is my frustration isn’t with how 14.1 was programmed, instead my frustration is with how it was sold leading up to the announcement.

If Crossfit wants the Open to simply be a vehicle to get the most deserving athletes to Regionals, then I agree with, understand and fully support that goal. If that is the case though, 200,000 don’t need to sign up for the Open in 2015. I certainly don’t need to sign up for the Open next year and maybe that entirely ok with Crossfit HQ. Maybe they’d like to establish a clear line between the person who does Crossfit for sport and the person who does Crossfit for exercise. And if that’s the case, it won’t change my love for Crossfit or my passion to write, think, watch or follow the sport. I could not be clearer about that last point, while I’m disappointed and/or discouraged in the programming of 14.1; it certainly hasn’t changed my passion for Crossfit as a whole. Perhaps I look at the Open differently now but that’s ok. I’ll struggle through and Crossfit will crown the fittest man, woman and team in a couple months and all will be right with the world.

Crossfit Games Open 2014: Predictions for 14.1

I posted last night that I thought Crossfit North Atlanta had given us some really good clues as to what we’ll see tonight when Dave Castro announces the first Open WOD of 2014. Now that I’ve had all night to think about it, I think I’ve come up with a prediction that I feel fairly confident with, at least for now (small disclaimer: I always feel confident with predictions until they’re proven wrong, it’s my process).

First, let’s recap, here’s what we know based on the pictures that CF North Atlanta posted. One, there is a two man rig set up for some movement that’ll require hanging from a bar (pullups, toes to bar, chest to bar etc) and the rig doesn’t currently have any capability for squats from the rack or wall balls. Secondly, the rig is not set up in the center of the arena so that tells me there will be more to this workout than just pullups, toes to bar, chest to bar, etc. Now of course I’m probably making way too many assumptions based on just a couple pictures. Maybe the rig won’t be used at all (although last year if they set up a rig they used it and when they did need a rig they didn’t wait until the last minute to set it up) or maybe Dave Castro is just trying to throw us all off, but at this point it’s just more fun to mild wild assumptions based off the few clues at our disposal. Now onto the prediction for 14.1:

17 min AMRAP (ode to 13.1)
30 burpee pullups
30 clean and jerks (95/65lbs)
30 burpee pullups
30 clean and jerks (135/95lbs)
30 burpee pullups
30 clean and jerks (185/125)
30 burpee pullups
30 clean and jerks (205/145)

I'll freely admit that I'm at least partially biased, if not totally and completely, because if I have one minor strength, it's with the clean and jerk. I'd feel fairly confident if this were the WOD (and by confident I mean that I would post a number I'd be happy with, not confident as in a number that even a Regionals level athlete would be satisfied with) and to be honest I'd enjoy it. Burpee pullups are brutal, especially when you're talking about 60+, but all of the Open WODs are going to be brutal and at least with any variation of burpees, you can keep moving. Your strength isn't going to "give out" on a burpee. You're going to slow down but you can keep moving and for a very average CFer like myself, that's important. If this were the WOD, and I can assure you it won't be, I'd be shooting for at least getting to the 185lb clean and jerks. Now that I think about it, I'm going to have to try this WOD at some point after the Open just to see how far I'd get.

Crossfit North Atlanta Drop Big Clues about 14.1

Ever since Crossfit started the live announcements of the Open WODs I've gotten even more
enjoyment out of trying to guess/determine what the WODs will be by searching Facebook and Twitter for photos and hints of the site of each live announcement. There is some logic to this after all, equipment and an "arena" must set up ahead of time and it's only logical that each home gym and their members will be excited about the unveiling. So far this has led to plenty of pics regarding each setup and Crossfit North Atlanta did not disappoint today. They've posted quite few pics from before any set up started and all the way through final construction. Here's what we know:

An arena was constructed and nothing was inside that arena while it was built. Once the arena was complete, a small, two person rig was added to one side of the arena. The rig was very simple with one pull-up bar on each side. There was no J-hooks for squats or targets for wall balls, this rig will used for pull-ups, T2B or perhaps my favorite idea, burpee pull-ups. There is a small chance that wall balls could be a part of this but as of right now there are no targets on the rig. That would be an easy add at the last minute so don't totally rule them out.

Of course just knowing that the WOD will involve a rig doesn't tell us even close to the entire picture but it is pretty interesting considering that the none of 11.1, 12.1 or 13.1 used a rig at all. Perhaps 2014 will be quite a surprise form Dave Castro after all.

And yes, that's Mr Bob Harper, from the Biggest Loser, in the brown jacket. That guy loves him some Crossfit.

What is Inclusive and Why Does Crossfit Care?

After my last post, it occurred to me that perhaps not everyone understands why it’s so important that the Open is “inclusive,” I when I say inclusive I mean that almost everyone, regardless of their fitness level or experience in Crossfit, can post a score. Crossfit HQ wants as many people as possible to compete and complete the Open. They use the word “inclusive” quite a bit and they’re very up front about wanting anyone and everyone to join this worldwide competition. You don’t have to be in great shape, or be able to lift the backend of a car off the ground or even be a member of a Crossfit gym. They literally want everyone to sign up and do their best to complete five WODs over five weeks, it’s really that simple.

Why would Crossfit HQ care about being inclusive?
I’ll start with the answer that I think they’d give, they don’t want anyone to feel intimidated by some crazy, highly skilled WOD. They want everyone to feel comfortable with signing up and competing, to the best of their ability. They want everyone to be able to “post a score.” In order to accomplish that goal, they won’t have WODs that start with a “skilled” movement (double unders, handstand pushups, muscle ups, etc) or a movement requiring heavy weight. By starting with movements or weights that almost everyone can complete, they allow and encourage more people to sign up.
And of course the secondary reason, or you could just describe is as an outcome of the reason listed above, the more people that sign up, the more money it generates. Signing up for the Open isn’t free (although it is cheaper than any other competition you’ll find) and let’s be honest, HQ wants the Open to generate as much money as possible. The Open has grown by astounding rates over it’s now four year history and it’s “inclusiveness” is a huge reason for its success.
In 2011, just over 26,000 people signed up for the Open. That’s pretty impressive for a niche sport in their first year of competition but each and every year has remarkable and astounding growth. In 2012, over 69,000 people signed up and in 2013; over 138,000 paid their $20 to join (you do the math on that!). So far in 2014, I count right around 186,000 that have signed up and that number will certainly grow over the next 24-36 hours, until the release of the first WOD. By tomorrow night, I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if Dave Castro announces that over 200,000 people have signed up.
The Crossfit Open is growing at an unprecedented rate, and it’s “inclusiveness” is one of the biggest reasons why.

Crossfit Games Open 2014

The Crossfit Open is just around the corner and I for one, can’t wait. Even though I’m far from a competitive Crossfitter, I love the Open competition. I enjoy the competition it breeds within a gym and I relish the idea that somewhere Rich Froning, Jason Khalipa and Talanya Fortunado are all doing the exact same WOD. As the excitement builds each week I spend hours each day thinking, strategizing and projecting what I think the WOD for that week will be (spoiler alert: we’re never right because Dave Castro is an evil genius) and regardless of what it announced, the excitement instantly turns into frantic preparation. How quickly should I start on the 7 min of burpees? Should I try to go unbroken on the 75lb snatches? The bottom line, for 90% of us Crossfitters out there, the Open is our big stage. While my main goal of doing CF every day is to just be a fitter human being, I really enjoy the feeling of being a competitive athlete for these five weeks. With all that said, I decided to do some predictions on the Open, interview style (because we all talk to ourselves right??):

Will we see any new movements this year in the Open?

Interesting question and I thank you for asking. There are three years of history to consider here when looking at movements from previous Open competitions, but I’m going to narrow our sample size even farther. I think the first year, HQ wasn’t entirely sure what they wanted to the Open to accomplish. Sure they wanted to find the fittest and I think they accomplished that goal but I think when you look at the three Opens in total, 2011 stands out as the least “inclusive” and it’s by a considerable margin. Start with the 11.1 and it opens with 30 double unders. That knocks out a sizeable number of CFers instantly. Double unders are a fairly high skilled movement and any time to you introduce a highly skilled movement first in a WOD, you are going to lose a large number of your population. In the two years since then, both 12.1 and 13.1 started with burpees, a movement every single CF can perform at their own speed. 2011 also included a WOD that was made up entirely of heavy squat cleans and a third WOD that included heavy overhead squats. Both of these WODs don’t fall under the “inclusive” portion of the Open. With three WODs out of five (well techinically six because of HQ error), the 2011 Open wasn’t very ‘inclusive’ at all. Since then the weights have been light and the higher skilled movements have been buried with WODs so that everyone can at least post a score.

So you didn’t really answer my question, will there be any NEW movements in 2014?

Oh forgive me, I started talking and totally forget where I was originally headed. I think HQ is comfortable with what they’ve presented in the past two years and I don’t see them changing up the formula too much this year. I think we’ll see at least “repeat” WOD, but if there is a new movement, I think it’ll be introduced to clear up some of the controversy last year. Box jumps are a difficult thing to judge, especially on a video submission, but you they need to keep some form of jumping or explosive movement as a component of the Open. My solution to that problem: Burpee box jumps. I think we see them this year and that’s the new movement. There I answered your question.

So that’s it, burpee box jumps? What about bar muscle ups or handstand pushups, running or rowing?

I don’t think bar muscle ups would be used simply because I’m not sure how many garage gym-ers have the equipment to do that movement. Handstand push ups are a possibility, but they’ll be buried deep within a WOD, much like double unders and muscle ups have been the last two years. As for running, rowing or Aerodyne work, that’s too difficult to judge in a video submission. There’s no chance of those showing up.

Check back later today or tomorrow and we’ll hit up predictions for 14.1, including what the WOD will be and who will win the live announcement battle between Marcus Hendren and Garret Fisher.