Harvest CrossFit, the CrossFit Open, and what you need to know!

MetCon//

5 rounds for time

8 DEADLIFT @BODYWEIGHT

25 Situps

100m run

First of all, you must know that MacLarin and I are super excited about doing the CrossFit Open every year. The day that the workouts are released we wait like giddy children on Christmas morning! It's a 5 week online competition where we complete the workout which is judged and scored. Your score is kept on a worldwide leaderboard and you can compare yourself against thousands of other athletes. You can even compare your fitness against other people your own age, in your own state, your own gym, and this year there's divisions for service people to find out who is the fittest firefighter or EMT etc. We hear all sorts of excuses for not doing the Open and our answers to those excuses are the very reasons why we love the open!

Excuse: "I just started CF, I don't know how to do everything yet." Or "I can't do muscle ups or double-unders yet." "There's no point."!

I am certain that not every workout will have something you can't do. Sure, Muscle Ups and double unders will show up to the party, but that's why there is a scaled division. No shame in scaling! Scaling is a core property of CF and you'll still be able to compare your fitness to the thousands upon thousands other people who can't do Muscle-Up's. If you skip out on the open because you can't do a muscle up, you are for certain missing the opportunity to have the story about how you got your first muscle up in the 2016 Open. And forget the muscle-up. There's no hiding in the Open, it will reveal ALL of your weaknesses, especially the ones you've tried to hide! Reminder: this is CrossFit--that's a good thing!

Excuse: "It's $20 and I won't even make it to regionals."

Right and Right. $20 is a night at the taphouse for Mac and I. It's the same $20 that Katrin Davidsdottir and Ben Smith pay though. There isn't another sport where you can watch the top athletes and say you competed against them. Other sports, we just watch with limited authentic appreciation. When we make the trip to watch regionals or the games in Carson, we have first hand experience in the same competition. We're not qualifying for regionals, but we did compete in the CrossFit games! And while that $20 might seem steep (eye roll), let's be honest, Mac and I are still going to the taphouse!

Excuse: "I'm just not competitive."

Fine. You certainly do not need to be competitive for CrossFit. But the most important aspect of the CrossFit methodology in terms of changing our bodies is Intensity or relative intensity. The competitive stimulus will take you to a place that we often forget about when we've become really efficient and game planners. Five weeks of one workout that takes you to the darkest of dark places! You don't have to be competitive to achieve or increase intensity, but if you're not experiencing that stimulus, you're missing out!