OPEN AND CLOSED

The 2018 CrossFit Open finished up last week.

This year, we placed probably the lowest emphasis on it than ever before, and yet..... about 15 of you signed up, many for the very first time!

So cool to see everyone stepping outside their comfort zone.  I think this year was some of the best all round programming, some complex stuff for the more experienced athletes and just enough of a stretch for newbies to be challenged but stay safe.

If you and I talked in person about the sport of fitness, many of you might be forgiven for thinking I didn't like it anymore!!!

That's not it at all,  I'm just against doing it at the exclusion of other activities and certainly at the exclusion of health and life balance.

I'm also not a fan of using The Open to gauge your worth as a human being and reason for existing.......  (in case you were wondering, it has zero correlation....)

When we opened back in 2008, there was no Open, and there wasn't one until 2011, instead we competed amongst our friends within class workouts, entered trail runs and marathons and ocean swims, and got fit!

But competition itself is something I believe in very strongly.  It's basically the reason homo sapiens exist!  The world we live in, no longer demands competition to actually live to adulthood and beyond, but it still requires it in school, in finding a mate (although I hear Tinder is taking some of the effort out these days...), and in work.

Something so ingrained in our DNA should be embraced and practiced regularly.

Healthy competition however, encompasses all aspects of training and fitness and sport, including sportsmanship, goal setting, self reflection etc.