The 2015 CrossFit Games Open at CrossFit Fringe

2015 CrossFit Games Open - CrossFit Fringe

The 2015 CrossFit Games Open - CrossFit Fringe

It’s hard to believe that CrossFit Open season is already upon us. This will be my fourth Open, and every year my goals and experience has been vastly different. But that’s the best part of the Open, there is a place for everyone to participate, no matter where you are in your journey.

To that end, the CrossFit Open has always been a great bonding experience for not only our Fringe community, but the Mid-Missouri community as well. We are so lucky to have some great gyms in the area to share the Open with, and I don’t think this year will be an exception.

As many of you have probably already heard, the format of the Open will change some this year. While that leaves some of what we hope to plan in a state of “TBD” for now, there are definitely some details we’d like to pass along:

  • Registration for the CrossFit Open will begin January 15th. You can register and create your athlete profile here. If you need assistance or have questions, don’t hesitate to grab a coach or ask us in the Facebook group.
  • New to this year is a scaled division, as well as a teen division. Athletes will be able to go onto the Games site to see their division’s prescribed version of the workout and their division’s scaled version of the workout. Choosing the scaled version of the workout one week will not prevent an athlete from doing the next workout as prescribed. Learn more about these changes here.
  • The first Open workout will be released on Thursday, Feb. 26. The Open will still be a five-week competition with one new workout per week. The week’s workout will be released each Thursday at 5 p.m. PT, and competitors will have four days to complete the workout and log their score. Score submissions will be due before 5 p.m. PT on the Monday following the workout’s release.

With that said, we want to offer a bit of an orientation and some housekeeping:

CrossFit Games Open at CrossFit Fringe - CrossFit Fringe

Q: What is the Open?

A: The CrossFit Open is the first round of competition leading to the CrossFit Games. It is an “Open” format meaning that any athlete can compete. There are 5 workouts in total spanning 1 a week over 5 weeks of competition.

Every Thursday evening, the WOD’s will be announced on the CrossFit Games website and you will have until the following Monday evening to complete the workout with a judge and submit your score. Remember, each workout must be done with a judge, but don’t worry, you’ll find the details for that below.

You might be asking yourself, “If the professional athletes are doing the workouts, how will I know if I can do them?” The workouts are designed so that no matter your skill level, you can obtain points/reps. One of the best parts about the Open is that even if you don’t expect to make regionals, the CrossFit Games site allows you to create athlete profiles and custom leaderboards so you don’t have to compete against athletes like Rich Froning, but instead your typical 4:00 pm training partner or your friend who CrossFits in a different state.

Q: How do I participate in the 2015 Open at CrossFit Fringe?

A: All you have to do is log onto the CrossFit Games Website linked above, click the red “Log In” tab, and follow the instructions for signing up. Your athlete profile shows your age, division, and you can even add some of your top WOD times or outline your experience with CrossFit so other athletes can get to know you a bit better.

After you sign up, and complete your athlete profile, jump on Facebook and message Coach Mitch Johnson to let him know you are competing. He will send you some more information about our class times devoted to performing Open Workouts with our judges at the box. We will have plenty of opportunities for you to be judged but early contact will help make it easier to coordinate with your schedule.

The workouts will typically be done on Friday evenings beginning at 5pm and Saturday mornings with heats starting at 11am. We will schedule heats FNL-style as people arrive and complete the prescribed warm-up. If you need a judge outside these times (Open gyms are also a good option to complete an open workout), it will be your responsibility to find a judge. You can do this by inquiry in the 2015 Outlier Open Scheduling Facebook group.

If you have any questions, please contact Mitch Johnson via Facebook message, email ([email protected]), or text message (815-488-1820).

Q: Am I really ready to compete? How do I get more work to make sure I’m ready?

A: We can assure you, the CrossFit Games Open are programmed perfectly over the last few years for anyone to compete. However, if you’d like to do something a little extra, we recommend checking out these links. They are other facilities or specialty sites that will give you TONS of information regarding technique, pacing, strategy, etc.

Each week as the WOD is announced, sites like these, as well as dozens of others, will release strategy videos and tips to help you prepare for the workout. Be on the lookout on Facebook, as our athletes who have participated in past years will no doubt be sharing these and their experiences.

We’d also like to point out that our programming focuses and Saturday technique sessions will be covering skills that are likely to be involved in the Open Workouts, so stay tuned for announcements regarding those.

Q: How can I stay informed of the Open events at CrossFit Fringe?

A: Excellent question! If you look to the sidebar on the right, an event has been created for every Open Workout. Details about times to do the workout, as well as events we are planning with other gyms for these events will be located here and cross-posted to the Facebook group and main Facebook page. Because we are still planning these events, these are the big “TBD” items I mentioned above, but they are in place for you to watch as more information as added.

This is a really exciting time to be in CrossFit. For newer athletes you will learn so much in such a short amount of time, and you will come away approaching your training and new challenges with new eyes. If you are still on the fence, I highly encourage you to give it a try!

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