The Open is the first stage of the CrossFit Games season and the largest worldwide CrossFit community event of the year. Every year, hundreds of thousands of athletes come together to compete in the worldwide, online competition.
Anyone aged 14 or older can compete in the Open. All you have to do is sign up at Games.CrossFit.com and log your score each week. Workouts are released on Thursdays at 5 p.m. PT, and athletes have four days to complete the workout for the week and submit their score. Scores are due before 5 p.m. PT the following Monday. Complete the workouts at a CrossFit affiliate with a judge, or film your effort from anywhere in the world and submit a link as proof.
Since 2015, the Open has offered a scaled option in addition to the prescribed workout. This option makes the all-inclusive event even more accessible to the masses.
At the end of five weeks, the fittest move on to the next stages of competition: The Regionals and The Online Qualifier.
The workouts of the CrossFit Open are a great test of general physical preparedness. The workouts vary year to year, however on occasion a work may be repeated. Some of the workouts can be as short as five minutes, while others may be as long as 20 minutes. The Open will test all aspects of movement from heavy olympic lifting, to gymnastics, such as handstand push-ups and muscle-ups, to cardio style movements such as rowing and jump rope.
Each week during The Open, CrossFit HQ will broadcast a live video on Thursday nights at 5pm PT. During these live shows the director of the CrossFit Games, Dave Castro, will announce the workout for that week. After the announcement a number of competitors, anywhere from 2 to 4 or more and anyone from CrossFit Games athletes to garage gym athletes, will compete head-to-head style in the workout for the week.
Here at CrossFit Tradewinds, we will be hosting Friday Night Lights. Each Friday during the weeks of The Open, athletes may come to the gym from 6:00pm EST to 8:00pm EST to participate in The Open workouts in front of a sanctioned CrossFit judge. Friday Night Lights is a fantastic opportunity for athletes from all class times to come together, socialize, meet other athletes, push each other, and be a part of the CFT community.