When Crossfit Games Open 14.1 was released, I remember hearing so many negative comments from people who were either unable to, or not very comfortable, doing double-unders and how it wasn’t fair that they programmed these in the workout. Ironically, some of those same people ended up not only getting their first DU last week, but multiple. And some didn’t get it, but used that full ten minutes to work their butt off with full determination.
With this week’s announcement of 14.2, Twitter and Facebook were again abuzz with negativity, with two movements, overhead squats and chest-to-bar pull-ups, that many wouldn’t be able to perform. Comments ranged from how Crossfit is trying to weed out the new people, and others claimed that now they’re “out” since they cannot do either movement. Some got discouraged because they can’t even do a pull-up so how will they be able to do a chest to bar? I was so frustrated reading these things online about how athletes felt like failures even before the workout started because they just weren’t “good enough.”
That is not what the Open is about.
Last year a workout came up that required chest-to-bar pull-ups. I had never done a kipping pull-up before so knew the workout was going to be a short-lived one. Maybe because I was new to Crossfit and naive, but rather than going into the workout with the negative thoughts about not being able to a chest-to-bar, I had a different goal of doing as many kipping pull-ups as I could get. Not one of those counted towards my Open score, but I was never more proud of those 12 reps I managed to score, scaled. Reposting a pic of myself from that workout, I didn’t see myself as someone who was struggling or someone who was mad at Crossfit for not being able to do a movement. I saw an athlete.
This is what the Open is about.
In 13.2, I was faced with another movement that I had never been able to do before: a 95# clean and jerk. Again, rather than thinking I can’t do this movement, I spent all 7 minutes attempting to my PR my clean by 20#, performing the movement over and over and over (and repeating the workout again), just to get one rep. I ended up getting 2 reps each time. 2. But I was dang proud of every one of those reps.
This is what the Open is about.
While I am floating in the bottom half of athletes at my box, I am more than excited to tackle the upcoming workouts. While I have never done a chest-to-bar pull-up, I am more than determined to get my first one today. I will not say I am a bit bummed knowing this movement is programmed and I cannot do any yet, but my first reaction when I heard the workout?
Well.. TIME TO GET MY FIRST CHEST TO BAR!
— Jennifer (@winetoweights) March 7, 2014
This is your test to do something you have never done before.
I am hoping for anyone who hasn’t overhead squatted 65# that you look at this as an opportunity to PR your OHS. Even if you cannot do the full 65#, use today as the day that you will OHS more than you ever have. I hope for anyone who hasn’t done one unassisted or kipping pull-up, use today as a solid 3 minute attempt to do one, or to push yourself to use the skinnier band that you have never used before.
Even if the scores don’t count on the official leaderboard, use the Open to improve YOU. Do not compare yourself to Froning or Camille; do not think negatively about not being able to do the movements or lifting that heavy. Think about, How can I use this workout to make me a better athlete overall? How can I use this workout to improve a skill I am currently lacking? or, How will attempting this workout make me stronger, inside and out?
I really hope those who are discouraged from the announcement can gain something positive from it, and cross your fingers for me that I will get my first chest-to-bar! 😉
Your turn..
Do you feel badly when you have to scale a workout?
Would you attempt a workout RX knowing that you are unable to do any of the movements?
Thanks for the positive words. It’s a good thing I have refrained from writing my thoughts on 14.2 so far. My words would have a slightly darker tone than yours. I’m still searching to find my silver lining in this.
I know I’m not alone in a negative reaction towards the workout. But way more importantly, YOU aren’t alone in offering positive encouragement. Once again, the CF community is lifting each other up and cheering each other along. Kinda hard to stay down when there is so much contagious positivity going around.
One more thing… Don’t forget your own words and YOU stay positive too!
Chris recently posted..Why The *!%# Did I Sign Up For The Open?
I wish I could be as positive as you are on this, but I did find my small silver lining…
Chris recently posted..Warning – This Post Contains the C Word
Twitter: fantabulouslisa
March 7, 2014 at 11:07 am
I went ahead and attempted this thing last night–I definitely did “less than mediocre” for someone who is trying to make a regionals team. But I did my absolute best and set my own PR by stringing all ten of the first C2B pull ups together! My advice for someone struggling with the movements: load and pop your hips as HARD as you can on the pull ups. And just grind through the OHS. Go as fast as you can for the first round, if you can buy yourself some recovery time before the 12’s then DO IT! I only had about 10 seconds for the 14’s and failed miserably 😉 I scored 116 reps. Big personal victory for me. Plus I ripped the heck out of my hand so I feel like I’m all hardcore.
Lisa recently posted..Accidental Hiatus!
Normally I don’t feel bad about scaling a WOD because I do crossfit for me. But, I do feel different about the Open. I signed up for my box’s scaled division (not the official Open), and I feel that the I am wasting people’s time. Everyone is still encouraging, but it definitely feels different and somewhat less inclusive, at least to me.
You’re definitely not wasting anyone’s time!! 🙂 Trust me, seeing people PR and break through mental and physical barriers in the Open is thrilling for anyone to watch!
And even if you don’t get what you expect or want, it is awesome to see such drive and determination of those that try!
Really great post! I’ll be PR’ing my OHS tonight that’s for sure! I was super discouraged after seeing 14.2 last night, thought about skipping it, but knew that 10 reps is better than 0 reps. Good luck on 14.2!
Adrienne recently posted..Brussels Sprouts Slaw w/ bacon & honey mustard dressing
Great post! I was one of the negative Nellies last night after the announcement. OHS are the ONE movement that make me feel like the weakest person in the world. Not to mention I had laparoscopic surgery less than a month ago, so I can’t even remember the last time I practiced OHS.
All that negative BS aside… I’m going into my box today and I’m going to PR the CRAP out of some OHS!!! While I really hope that means I can get an official score for the Open, Jen you are right, this is the perfect chance for me to look at one of my weaknesses head on and show it who’s in charge! ME!!!
Humbly, I think you’re missing something here. I know that I’m one of the people referenced. I happen to COMPLETELY disagree with “This is what the Open is about” (as posted by Crossfit, and above, and likely in Joy & Claire’s podcast, etc.). If that were the case, then if you got a zero, they would not “lock you off the leaderboard.”
I COMPLETELY agree that doing “the Open workout” is a great thing. Most boxes are doing them anyway – so doing what you said – scaling, doing the “best you can,” is great.
But that is NOT “doing the Open.” That is “doing an Open workout when your box is doing the Open.” That is what “newbies” should be encouraged to do.
So when I said I was “out of the Open” – that’s just the truth. It’s not meant “negatively” – it’s just true. If you do not get a 1, you are “out.” And just to be clear, “feeling like a failure” is very different than “failing.” I’ve “failed” to move on in the Open by getting no reps in 14.2 at Rx. But I don’t “feel like a failure.” What I am, is IMMENSELY upset with myself for setting myself UP by doing this.
I don’t think it’s “unfair” that double unders, or anything under the sun is in the Open. What I do think is “wrong” is encouraging folks to “join the Open” to “see how well you can do” and all that jazz. Instead, newbies should be encouraged to “do the Open workout,” but NOT to “join the Open.”
Crossfit has now become a much broader forum for “average Joes.” In fact, in a Crossfit across the Bay from me, they’re having an “Average Joe” competition – where you have to PROVE that your Open score is less than some number. (Funny.) Whilst, as you said above, you did a scaled version of the Open, and were happy about it, that, to a Virgo, year of the ox, lawyer like me, does NOT mean that you “did the Open.” Because if you don’t do the Rx, you can’t enter a score, you can’t move on, period. It’s a fact.
And speaking of “Average Joes,” I’m not even all that much of an “average Joe” if you consider the “average” American. I’ve done an Ironman, lots and lots of triathlons, 5 marathons in the past year or so, swum from Alcatraz, etc. (and all after I turned 48, wasn’t athletic as a kid.) I eat Paleo, etc. – so I’m actually a pretty “above average Joe” (laugh).
Let’s say that I decided, instead of Crossfit, to start archery. A few months down the line, the Olympic Archery team has tryouts.
I KNOW that this is not something I would NEVER even CONTEMPLATE doing. The thing is, Crossfit HQ touts the “Crossfit Games” as something that a newbie should do, etc. (and so do many who are in Crossfit, and EVERYONE that I listen to online. EVERYONE). Now, perhaps this is because a “Crossfit newbie” was (before now) someone with a LOT more physical experience. In my archery example, that would be someone who (perhaps) had done archery in high school, college, etc. So maybe they’d gotten back into it, and so they thought “what the heck, I’ll take a flyer on it, why not?”
The deal here is that folks like me are NOT “thinking they will get to Regionals.” Not a chance! But if someone can’t move on if they don’t get 1 on the Leaderboard, then the Leaderboard presumes that you CAN get 1 – which means that it presumes a certain amount of competence, period.
It is my belief that there should be some “gating item” for the Games. Because otherwise, when “everyone” that I personally “listen to” Crossfit-wise says, Oh, it’s fun, it’s only for fun, ~I~ know I am not going to Regionals, I never even listed my final 2 scores, get a grip, (etc.) and then someone like me BELIEVES them, it’s doing a disservice to the “mes” of the world.
Examples of gating items could be something like doing any three of the Hero or Girls workouts at Rx. That seems like a fairly easy gating item, right? Doesn’t matter what your TIME is, but it matters that someone at your box signs off/agrees that you have done some number of those gating items at Rx. Could have taken you 2 hours, but you did it.
Simple, right? No, not so much. Because I’ve done Crossfit for 5 months, and I have YET to do ANY of those workouts at Rx. I’m FAR from it. In fact, I can’t even DO most movements (as indicated by any squat move like the OHS in the workout today – I can’t get my butt below my heels in ANY squat, and am still holding onto a vertical trying to work on that).
If that simple gating item was part of the Open, then someone who was more “Crossfit capable” than me could do those gating workouts on their first DAY, enter the Open that same day, etc. They’d be the “newbie of newbies” but they would be Open-capable. If the Open didn’t lock you out of the Leaderboard if you enter a zero, then perhaps I would think differently. But that’s not the case.
I don’t think “Crossfit is trying to weed out new people.” But I DO think that new people are being unfairly led to believe that this is something that they should do, etc. when I personally believe that, at least for me, I absolutely should NOT have done it. It set me back an IMMENSE amount, in confidence, etc.
HAD their been an “Open gating item,” then I would have done the workouts, working my butt off for 10 minutes, scaled, done ANYTHING I could to get what I could get. Because my box is doing the Open, and, in my hypothetical, EVERYONE is ENCOURAGED to do the Open WORKOUTS as best they can.
Okay, that’s enough of that. I am sure I haven’t said this as well as I could – but I sure feel strongly about it. I feel very VERY strongly that folks like you (not to be personal) and others who write for a very broad Crossfit community should CAUTION folks from “entering the Open” but wholeheartedly support folks in DOING THE OPEN WORKOUTS. My two – or three – or 400 – cents.
Sandy Shepard recently posted..14.1 v 14.2 – “I can’t do that anyway”
You don’t get “locked off the leaderboard” for turning in a score of 0. You just lose eligibility to qualify for Regionals, which you’re likely not worried about anyways.
What the Open is about depends on your attitude. That’s a choice I leave to you.
daiglebreathesfire recently posted..Open Workout 14.2: Above the Bar
I guess I will weigh back in on this. Our coaches at our box told us that to keep entering scores on the Open Leaderboard, you have to get at least a 1. So, I got a zero, but I will try 14.3 this week. We’ll see whether, if I get a 1, it lets me enter it. And as for what the Open is – again – my issue is that folks like ME need to do what others pointed out that “duh, I could have done” (like look at the past workouts), but I did not. Didn’t even occur to me, frankly. Instead, I listened to an online community that basically said go ahead, it’s fun, none of us is going to Regionals, etc. My box is made up of folks who all actually MIGHT make Regionals (and we’re likely to field a couple of teams in a very competitive region), so asking people I know via the box was (in my opinion) going to give me a skewed “vote” since they’re so far and away better at all this than I am. HOWEVER, I made a mistake imagining that folks in my new little online community were more like me than like them where, on the continuum (because now I’ve seen videos that these gals have posted) they are more like them than me. Again, “my mistake” but it didn’t even OCCUR to me that I was MAKING this mistake.
My weighing in – which I was quite loathe to do – was to put a note on the board for folks like me, who are positive, fun, open, not going to give up Crossfit, etc. I have now gotten chastise-bombed as a “negative nellie.” What I am is a person who made a mistake and actually “entered” the Open listening to online friends who – as I think we often do – I just imagined in my head were more like me than unlike me.
Perhaps I should have suggested that folks who are considering entering the Open should give themselves a “gating item” instead of suggesting that perhaps Crossfit have for the Open.
But that’s all I’ll say, and I actually wasn’t even going to say this, since I’m veeeeeeery leery now of saying anything that could be perceived as “negative” rather than “you might want to watch out for the Siren song.”
Sandy Shepard recently posted..Another GiveIt100 – this time, Tabatas
Sandy, I guess it depends on what you want to take out of it..
I’ve had a number of girls at my box that were peer pressured into signing up, and a couple THANK me for pressuring them to sign up, DESPITE not being able to do all the movements. It was an opportunity for them to get a competitive push and drive in the direction that wasn’t there before.
That’s kind of how I see it; that no matter what the workouts that come up on the board, it is still a huge community thing to be a part of and you now have thousands of people that can all relate to what you are experiencing, good or bad perspective.
I don’t think anything I can say is going to change your thoughts, but I think based on your other posts you have gained something from this other than a 0 on the leaderboard. Would you have done 2000 DUs and practiced and fought for them last week if there wasn’t pressure to? Do you feel accomplished that you CAN do them now?
yes, I would have done those DUs, because I’m doing them as a GiveIt100.com project. So yes, I would have done them without the “pressure,” because I’ve been practicing them every day for the last month, just happened that they showed up in 14.1. (And I still can’t do them in actuality – because I tried again yesterday for about 10 minutes and didn’t get one – so they still have a “unicorn” standing in my book.) I would still have gone to the Crossfit I went to in Hawaii, because I had planned to do it 2x while I was gone. (So, perhaps I would NOT have gone on “Open day” but i would have 2x other days.) If I had, instead, NOT signed up for the Open, but still gone to the Crossfit in Hawaii, I would have learned a lot about mobility, while actually missing out on a brutal evening before and brutal morning, all of my own doing, of course.
Sandy Shepard recently posted..March 11 (day 187) – I’ve caught the evil BaselVirus
Sandy – whoever pressured you to do the open probably didn’t realize that you lacked basic mobility (to perform an air squat). But on the other hand, you signed yourself up and you had access to the previous years workouts. Being upset about your situation is not a good use of your energy. Take that energy and put it towards your body. The open is for anyone who wants to try it. To get upset that you can’t do a movement is totally natural but it is no ones fault.
Throwing up a zero is part of the process. If you can’t do a movement, or you’re sick, or you forget to log your time – you get a zero.
Crossfit HQ makes no promises that by paying $20 and signing up that you are guaranteed any score. Why are you so upset with this?
You have a choice – your lack of confidence can either fuel improvement or the opposite. That is your choice. You can try to make yourself better or be upset by a website that is ranking people based on their ability to exercise faster than one another.
My advice is to get your head back into a good place. Why did you join a cf gym in the first place? Why do you practice double understand? Or squats with a vertical assist – to get better. The open is just a way to document your journey. It does NOT define it.
Thanks, Staci 😉
see my reply, above.
Sandy Shepard recently posted..Another GiveIt100 – this time, Tabatas
Interesting read, I have never really understood crossfit, so thank you for explaining it! I see why it can be compared very closely to long distance running. You have a lot of the same requirements that I do to follow my training intensity.
I am excited to see what you can do. You are right, at the end of the day it is about being the best YOU can be, and the negativity around it surprises me, but I guess the same thing is happening in the running world.
I sometimes have a lot of doubts before starting a workout, and that negativity affects my performance as it messes with my head. It is tough to combat a workout when you dont think you can, BUT if you overcome those doubts, and still perform, it feels amazing!
GOOD LUCK!
Tina Muir recently posted..International Women’s Day
Initially, I was frustrated because I JUST got my first kipping pull-up two days before, so there really was no room to get C2B down. But heck, after those first 10 OHS, I was kipping as hard as I could to get to the bar. I didn’t get one, but I’m proud for trying. I agree 100% – if it weren’t for the open, I wouldn’t have even tried in a normal workout. And DU in 14.1? I was also still getting those, but came into open gym and was able to get 142 reps – pretty damn proud!
Kelsey @ Ramblings of Change recently posted..Brave.
I am a person who got a 0 on 14.2. I tried on 3 separate occasions to get a single rep but unfortunately couldn’t get depth in my squat. I was a person who didn’t whinge when I saw the workout, despite it being 5 kg over my 1 RM, over the weekend I worked on my mobility and when the time came I gave it a good crack. I am, however, disappointed that I couldn’t register my score of 0 and, according to the rulebook, I will not be listed on the Leaderboard in subsequent workouts.
I’m proud of my 0 and it gives me a goal for the next year but the idea of the Open was to see how we stacked up against people from all over the world and by being taken off the Leaderboard so early on they have taken that away.
I’m super excited for this year!! Can’t wait to get going and see how much I’ve improved from last year. I’ll be looking forward to hearing about your experience too!
Deryn @ Running on Real Food recently posted..Easy Vegan Butter Chicken
Thanks, girl!! Ought to be a “fun” time! 😉
Comments on this entry are closed.