Today’s Workout:
2011 Open WOD 1:
AMRAP 10
30 Double Unders
15 Power Snatch 75/55lb

It has come to my attention that I have not done a proper job explaining the Open so I want to rectify the situation. The Open is the initial pool for the 2012 CrossFit Games. Anyone can participate, but you must have your scores judged and validated at and affiliate or film your workouts. Workouts will be released every week starting February 22 and ending March 25th. If you are one of the top athletes or teams in the Open you move on. The next stage is Regionals. There are 17 regions throughout the world; ours is Southern California. Last year Pappas made it to Regionals, crushed it, and took 9th. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the top 3 finish required to move on to the Games. The CrossFit Games is the big show. The top athletes from across the globe battle it out for a cash prize and the chance to earn the title of Fittest Man or Woman On Earth (or at least out of the tens of thousands of athletes who participate).

The Games started when a bunch of crazy exercise hippies decided to throw the “Woodstock of Fitness” at some dude’s ranch in Aromas. It was about going hard and having fun. Over the years it has grown exponentially into a hot new marketing opportunity for some shoe company. Despite all the fanfare, the essential spirit of the Games lives on in any athlete who is willing to embrace the rage. The soul of the Games is not the money, publicity, or inappropriate compression pant usage. It’s not winning or losing. Competition pulls something out of athletes that they simply cannot produce alone. Whether you are in the Home Depot center in the final heat, falling down the hill on Castro’s ranch, or are in your home box crushing Open workout 4 competition itself will inspire you to work harder. There is no better motivator for increased fitness. You will learn your strengths and weaknesses, do things you have never done, feel the stress of impending performance and the joy of dropping to your back after a hard effort, but in the end you are just hitting a workout like we do just about every day around here. Even if you know that you have no chance of winning the value is in the growth from the experience. 20 bucks is a small price to pay for the motivation that having a weekly public checkup on your fitness can help you bring into your next WOD.