Read more at www.afscrossfit.com
On February 28th we see the kick off of the CrossFit Games Season. The Open is the first step on the ladder towards reaching California and throwing down with the beasts of CrossFit.
Registration for the Open has now opened and to some of our newer members there is some confusion as to what the Open is all about. There are videos on the games site and you can register on games.crossfit.com As I and a handful of others have already done.
After 5 years of taking part in the Open here is my take on it and hopefully an insight into what to expect over the 5 weeks and what should be the mindset of those taking part. Firstly I’m going to go out on a limb and say none of our members are going to reach Carson and smash Rich Froning or Annie T So what’s the point you may ask? The point is very simple, to compete! Firstly to compete with yourself. Those that have taken part in years gone by already have the chance to see how they have improved in the past 12 months. For those who are thinking about it for the first time it is a chance to test your fitness in a competitive environment. Nothing pushes us harder then when we are accountable for our efforts and it never ceases to amaze those people how much more they are capable of. Secondly there is the chance to compete with your peers. Training with friends and pushing each other is why we all like CrossFit and training at AFS. Competing with each and pushing each other is even better. Some of the most electric moments of our 5year history have been during the Opens. Pushing each other into the pain cave then coming out the other side, high fiving maybe fist bumping if you can get away with it and feeling the accomplishment of not having left anything in the tank is amazing. And thirdly a chance to compete with the Rich Fronings and Camille Le Blanc. These guys are truly freaks of nature but they still do the same as us. They hit Fran, they take on the Filthy a fifty and they enter the Open. When all is said and done we can enter our scores and who knows…one of us might just be close ;).
What Should you expect? CROSSFIT is the answer. Over the years the organisers have done a marvellous job of creating a format we all can take part in. There will be Double Unders, there will be pull ups and there probably will be those damn burpees plus all the other things we do every day in the gym. I have seen people make huge strides forwards when they see a WOD containing some weaknesses usually side stepped. The Open made them take on their weaknesses and actually improve them and go on to surpass their own expectations. This year the organisers are allowing a scaled option. This means that the WOD will be accessible to all even more so then previous years. You will be allowed to choose to scale the Wod and still have a score register on our gym leaderboard. We are going to program the WODs in for Thursdays beginners class where we will practice the elements of the WODs, run through WOD management then Throwdown TOGETHER!
We will be doing each workout every week and as a Community these events go a long way to building and strengthening our Gym. As a rule I like to let you guys find your feet and push yourselves at your own pace. I am however encouraging all of you to take responsibility for your fitness. Make yourselves accountable and give a purpose to all this training we are doing. Without goals life is extremely boring and training without goals leads to a loss of motivation and without motivation people fall off the wagon. It will be my pleasure to Throwdown with each and everyone of you as it is for Dave, Darren, Macca, Bozzy and all of us old fuckers!!! Come and join the fun and be a part of a cracking 5weeks.
G-Unit
P.S. I think a gym party at the end might be on the cards 
AFSCrossFit, Andover-The OPEN
