This is it. The big one. And you probably already had it written off. Over the past few weeks you’ve probably heard a few phrases thrown around that resemble something like:
“CrossFit has made too many changes over the years.”
“I wish it was the way it used to be when I had a shot at regionals.”
“Two Open’s in one year, that’s terrible for programming?”
And I have to stop and ask you…”Where’s your spirit man!?”
I just took a look at the CrossFit Open page from 2011 and you know what I saw? Absolute badasses. Lifting in their makeshift garage gyms with whiteboard walls from the Home Depot wearing Reebok Zigtech (remember those?)
I don’t know if we’ve been spoiled too long with the glorified baby food in pouches and lululemon sweats, but somewhere along the way we’ve lost touch with our CrossFit roots. We’ve gotten soft and comfortable.
That’s why this is your most important CrossFit Open ever.
You have been in the game for a long time now. You remember the good ole days of box jumps in the park and pullups on the jungle gym. Shredding your hands every year during Murph, because those blisters were a badge of honor. And fighting for every last rep during the open when you had never done a muscle up, but dammit today was going to be the day!
Then the sport grew. The athletes grew. The standards were raised. The sport became mainstream. All of a sudden there was gear, and brands, and sponsors that separated the pro’s from the rest of us.
And in the midst of it all you let the passion slip. You stopped putting in the extra work. You show up and try hard, but most of the time you don’t feel like going to that dark place where your muscles ache and burn and your eyes sting with sweat. That place that made you fall in love with CrossFit from the start. You say it’s changed, but it hasn’t.
CrossFit has been there all along.
New members join the gym every day. You see them experience it. You can’t help but smirk when coach mentions burpees and thrusters in the workout and you know the new guy is in for a rude awakening. You can’t wait to cheer them on as they push out the last rep. With a face contorted between relief and anguish as they collapse on the floor.
That’s why this is your most important CrossFit Open ever.
Because there’s a piece deep inside of you that still burns to be pushed. That you must go through the fire and flame and see if you can come out the other side. That you need to find new purpose in that 7 minute AMRAP, because you know that the biggest enemy you will ever have to face is between your ears. And every time you overcome that little voice telling you to quit something inside of you changes and you feel a pride that can’t be faked.
That’s why this is your most important CrossFit Open ever.
Because of the friends you’ve made in the gym that have changed your life. From the inspiration you’ve gotten from every member who has lost the weight, or quit the job, or said “Never again” to that habit.
For the community. For your family. And for you.
Make it happen.
