Alright y’all. The Open is coming to a close. How did you do? Did you perform the way you wanted to? Did you PR your thruster or snatch? What about getting your first pull-up or ring muscle up or strict handstand push-up?
I ask these questions hoping you did any or all of these things, but I’m also here to tell you it’s okay if you didn’t!
I didn’t PR in any of the Open workouts. But I did better than I thought I would. And I know, without a doubt, what I want to work on for next year.
Honestly, this was probably the best Open season, both for me and for the gym. We had the biggest Intramural competition we’ve had in years. We had SO MANY people get their first movement or hit a weight for the first time. We had SO MANY people doing the Open for the first time. And we had SO MANY people go all in for each and every workout.
It was phenomenal to watch and be a part of. It was amazing to workout next to our members and cheer each other on. Push and motivate each other. And it was amazing to see all their hard work pay off.
And for me, it was nice to see all my hard work from the past year carry over into these workouts. Historically, I freak myself out over the Open workouts and start off at a frantic pace that I can’t maintain. Then I end up doing the workout again and notoriously do worse. It was a vicious cycle.
But this year, I approached them all as “just another workout,” and knew working smarter and smoother would be more beneficial than “balls to the wall.” It only took me 10 years to learn. Ha.
I’ll admit, I started beating myself up and wondering if I could have done any better in the workouts. If I could have pushed harder, gotten a few more reps, forced myself to get my first strict handstand push-up.
And then I reminded myself that wasn’t the point of these workouts. A) I know I’m not even remotely in the running for advancing; B) this is all in fun and again, just another workout; and C) it gives me the opportunity to see if my workouts throughout the year have prepared me for competition, and to show me where my weak points are. I now know what I need to focus more on before next year.
And that’s what I hope you take from it, as well. I hope you had fun and know what you want to focus on in the upcoming year.
Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t get where you wanted or hit the weight you thought you would. Brush yourself off, take it as a learning experience, focus on your training in the next year, and test yourself again!
That is the beauty of the Open and CrossFit in general. It’s measurable and quantifiable and you can see (and feel) your progress!
I love it, and I’m ready for our gym to continue training together and having a blast in next year’s Open.
So here we go. Training starts now. Strict handstand pushups, here I come!
Have a beautiful week!
Whitney
