The Open, like anything we do in CrossFit, is ultimately a challenge, a test. Every workout we do is designed to challenge you. It is designed to improve your fitness and make you a more capable athlete inside the CrossFit gym and outside in the real world.

The Open is an opportunity to show yourself what you have accomplished in the past year. It is a chance to showcase the gains you have made and to expose areas of weakness. It is an opportunity to stick your neck out  and try something new! Even if you’ve done the Open before, every season brings something new and every year I have done it I have been humbled at least once. I surely plan for that  to happen again!

Do you have to officially sign up for the Open and spend the $20 necessary to do so? No, I am not going to force you to. But I will strongly urge you and will do the best I can to compel you to do that. Why? Well there are a lot of reasons.

Why You NEED To Sign-up

First, you love CrossFit, right? If you didn’t you wouldn’t be a part of Evansville CrossFit. The only reason you walk into a CrossFit gym and do a WOD is because you love it. Tell any person that you do CrossFit and they will look at you, puzzled, and ask “Why? Isn't that really hard?” The answer is simple: yes, but it’s because you love doing it.

Second, signing up for the Open is like signing up for a half marathon. Most people wouldn’t run a half marathon just because yet a ton of people pay money to run one. They pay that money because it gives them something to work for. It holds them accountable knowing that they have invested real money into it. They end up finding a training regimen to help prepare so when it's game-time they can perform to the best of their abilities. The Open is the same thing except, guess what, you don’t have to find a training regimen because you are already doing that when you come into a class WOD.

Third, You want to support CrossFit. We as a gym and as a CrossFit community need to support CrossFit. Similar to that first point I made - we love CrossFit. If we want CrossFit to continue doing what they allow us to do and to continue to improve, we need to show our support and each $20 they receive from us goes into helping them grow. It seems silly and you might think that CrossFit makes enough money as-is and I am saddened to tell you that they don’t. I don’t want to get into the thick of it and we can talk about that at another time, but truly CrossFit needs our support and this is the easiest and best way to support the mothership called CrossFit HQ.

Alongside that point. Yes, you do pay Evansville CrossFit a monthly membership. But you aren’t paying us to make workouts, or for running a competition or just to line our pockets. You are paying us to provide you with a service of high-level coaching. Paying for the Open is paying CrossFit HQ to be able to continue to provide a service to us affiliates so we can continue to provide the service we give directly to you.

Finally, I believe this is the most important, it adds a little bit of pressure to your workouts and especially the Open Tests when we do them. It sparks something that helps you give an extra 1% in your workouts. That extra 1%  will have profound effects on your overall health and fitness in the long-term. It will help you find levels you didn’t know you have and expose you to areas you need improvement in. It will help guide your training for the upcoming year and that training will make you a fitter individual.

Why Does It Matter?

“What if I don’t care much about being fitter?” If you truly believe that we need to have a 1-on-1 conversation and I will hold you to that. But being fitter does not just mean being faster or being able to lift more weight - yes that is a by-product but not the only thing. Being fitter means being healthier. Having a lower body fat percentage, increased muscle mass, increased bone density, lower levels of triglycerides and LDL’s and higher levels of HDL’s. You will have more energy and a better ability to support yourself as you age. You won’t need to be put in a nursing home because you can sit down and stand, get up off the floor and have the balance and coordination to stay standing. Right now, being fitter may not seem like that big of a deal but, trust me, as you get older and things start to slow down you will notice the difference between people who do CrossFit and those who do general activity and those who don’t do anything whatsoever.

You Really Should Sign-up

All that may seem like a reach just by signing up for the Open and spending that $20. And yes, it does. As I write it it almost sounds silly. But I know how important the Open is, I know what the long-term effects of doing the Open are and I know that it has gotten me to where I am today. Signing up for my first Open way back in 2014 was scary as shit. I still have my score from 14.1 tucked away in my CrossFit journal and looking back 10 years ago it is really really freaking cool to see where I was and where I am now. Back then it didn’t seem like that big of a deal but now, 10 years later, I cannot believe how much that changed my life.

Feel like signing up but haven’t yet? Follow this link to help you begin the process:

Sign-up for the 2024 CrossFit Open

If you have already signed up for the Open and are wanting to reserve your spot for your heat at Friday Night Lights, follow the link here → Heat Sheet Sign-up for 24.1 → and lock in your spot and time (times subject to change depending on length of Workout) and if you can, find yourself a judge to help make the process easier!