Friday Night Lights
February 16, 2024
Dive into what FNLs is, why we are doing it, the goal of FNLs and how it will be run
First, what is FNLs? FNLs is a in-house competition-adjacent event.I say competition-adjacent because it will be in the format of a competition. There will be groups of athletes performing the WOD at specific times with judges scoring their workouts and enforcing movement standards. I say adjacent because there aren’t going to be “winners” or “losers” and there aren’t going to be multiple workouts that single day to establish who is the “fittest”. It’s a competition because each athlete will perform the WOD in a certain category (Rx, Scaled, Foundations, Masters, etc.). And it’s adjacent because it is just another WOD. FNLs is meant to bring the energy that a competition brings into the affiliate and to give athletes who haven’t experienced the thrill of a real competition a taste of what it feels like. It pushes people in ways that are extremely difficult to replicate in the day-to-day WOD that we perform in class all the time. Not only those things but it also gives us a chance to watch and cheer on our friends while they workout from start to finish and then gives them a chance to do the same for us. It gives us as an affiliate to do something we don’t normally do and to try and make it something fun, something that we will talk about for the rest of the year and give us something to look forward to next year.
Why are we doing FNLs? The reasons stated above clearly outline why. It gives us a chance to do something new and different. It gives athletes a chance to experience the thrill of competition. It pushes athletes to try something new and do something challenging. It takes the experience of the daily WOD you do in class and 10x the experience. Higher high’s, lower lows, a little bit more anxiety and a lot more adrenaline. A chance to put ourselves in an uncomfortable position and then utilize that to do some incredibly powerful things. I know some of that sounds scary, “lower lows? I don’t want to do something that has lower lows.” and that is fair, but without the risk of having lower lows you won’t be pushing as hard AND when you succeed it will feel like a much bigger accomplishment because of the higher risk involved. It’s a matter of perspective and, like with trying new stuff, there is always a risk. Remember when you first tried CrossFit? I bet you were really nervous and scared but you kept going and now it’s like no big deal. What if I told you you could get another taste of that. Knowing now that you are going to be alright, happy and proud to have done what you did. Would you do it again? Absolutely.
What are the goals? Really the goals are whatever you want the Open to be. You want it to test where your fitness compares to years past? That’s what it is. You want it to be a celebration where we do a little WOD? That’s what it is. You want it to be a viewing party watching people workout? That’s what it is. And it could be anything else you want it to be. My goals for the Open this year for Evansville CrossFit is to get ALL of you in the gym in the afternoon, grinding in some intense WOD’s, breaking records and cheering on friends and family while they workout. My goal is to have you all beyond hyped for the upcoming week of the Open and to make you want to spread the word of the Open to your friends. I want you to be so excited about it that you drag people along with you to the gym to watch you workout and that you won’t take no for an answer.
Finally, how will FNLs be run? This is quite important if we want this thing to be smooth sailing. Unfortunately since we won’t know the WOD until Thursday afternoon the day before FNLs it is not possible to have a perfect layout for how to run it. But there are some things that can make it run smoother. First, once the WOD is released I will test it immediately and get a feeling for what it is. I will come up with a Warm-up and have it posted in Wodify so everyone can see how I encourage athletes to prepare for it. When FNLs rolls around there will be heats of athletes going at certain times with each athlete having a judge (don’t forget to sign-up for a heat or a judging slot
HERE
). While those athletes are working out there will be a “warm-up area” where athletes in the upcoming heat will get a chance to warm-up and lock-in their game plan for the WOD. During that time I will be announcing heats, times and double-checking with athletes that they have judges and judges that they have athletes. I will make sure that each individual understands the WOD and the movement standards so on the call of “3…2…1…GO!” Everybody knows exactly what is expected.
This could be a great thing. FNLs is supposed to be something that you all are looking forward to doing and something that you will be talking about forever. I have heard stories from some of you along the lines of “we used to do FNLs and man was that fun” or “I remember doing the Open a handful of years back and that was a cool thing to do.” Well I’m here to tell you to do it again and to bring back FNLs to the full glory it deserves!!!
Need more of a reason why to come participate in FNLs? Go read
What Friday Night Lights Can Really Be
and watch the videos from some gyms highlighting the incredible experiences it brings with it!
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