Registration for The Open is now open

So it’s that time of year again where this whole CrossFit thing takes over peoples lives. People who just 3 months ago only wanted to move better and be a little bit fitter, now all of a sudden they are sleeping more, being crazily strict with their diet and wanting to train 7 times a day. Oh and be prepared for those members that want to do every Open workout 5 times.

All of a sudden all this extra stuff starts happening and as a box owner, it’s up to you to manage the expectation, disappointment, joy and all the other emotions your members will experience throughout The Open. That, as well as making sure your staff have done the judges course, running the Open workout every week and all the normal day to day stuff. Where do you even start? If you’ve been around for a while as I have, you will have experienced it, learn't from yours or other peoples mistakes and be equipped to do it better this year.

1. I’ve been involved in every Open either just as a “competitor”, as a judge or running the whole thing as a coach. I’ve done and seen some stupid things and also some awesome things. With the rapid growth of the sport there are a lot of people and gyms around that don’t know what to expect from the Open. So I have put together a few points that I think can help run the Open better within your gym and all in all help give your members the best experience with it as possible;

2. People turn up to your gym day in day out because they enjoy it. Don’t let this change. It’s just another day and another workout in the gym. Your members will place enough pressure on each other and on themselves. You know your members and they are all different. But do whatever you can to keep them as relaxed and calm as possible.

3. Some people are competitive, some people aren’t. You see it every day so be prepared for it to get worse throughout the Open. The competitive become more competitive and you might even see the non competitive buy into the competition of it a little more. There is nothing wrong with a little healthy competition. Provided it doesn’t spiral into negative competition. One of the main reasons CrossFit is as great as it is, is the community it creates. I’ve seen negative competition destroy happy, healthy, fun communities. Don’t be afraid of having the hard conversations with the one or two “egos” in the gym. Your community is your most important asset.

4. Plan each week. Know how long the workouts are going to take per heat. I’ve been in the box for the open workout and five and a half hours later we were just finishing up the last heat. Know what equipment and how much you will need. To save the stress on yourself and your members, maybe plan a heat list. This way people don’t have to be there for the whole day and things can run faster.
Have as many members as possible do the online judges course. Members will have more confidence to help out judging which will keep things running smoothly and faster but it will also give them a better understanding of the movement standards. Which will help them “no rep” less and therefore have a far better workout experience. Also it will save time when they don’t have to ask as many questions about what is and isn’t acceptable.

5. Be a head judge. I would strongly recommend yourself as the gym owner or one of your more experienced coaches be there throughout the heats as a head judge to keep an overall eye on how everything is going. That way if there is any mid WOD confusion with a workout or movement it can be handled straight away.

6. RX or Scaled? As a gym owner you should have a decent idea of what level all of your members are at. Especially now there are the different divisions within The Open. Don’t be afraid to tell your members they are to register in the “scaled” division if they aren’t able to move safely under heavier load and the more technical movements (this may require some private 1 on 1 discussions to be handled sensitively). Vice versa you might have the super modest member who moves amazingly well with all the movements and loads but doesn’t think they are up to the RX’D division. Sometimes all they need is your support and backing.

7. The repeaters. The people that want to do the workouts every day to try to get 3 extra reps. Because of a numbers of factors, The Open workouts will be some of the most physically and mentally taxing workouts most of your members will ever do. Neurologically they will not recover sufficiently to do it again the next day or the day after. Come up with a strategy, hit the workouts hard once and be done. There are exceptions to this. If you totally mess up your strategy and therefore haven’t exerted yourself then sure. For the very, very small percentage of us that will be on the borderline of heading to regionals individually or in a team. If a slightly better result in a workout would keep you in the top tier then yes, you may need to re-do a workout. But for the greater portion of us, I personally don’t recommend it. Some workouts should never be re done within 4 days. Case in point the deadlift box jump workout from the 2014 Open.

8. People turn up to your gym for your coaching and your programming. The Open is always going to disrupt this. But you can limit the disruption by having most of your members do the workout together on the same day. Not only will this save you the stress of always having to be there to judge workouts at random times. But it will create a mini games day vibe within the gym that your members will love. If you plan it well it can be an amazing community building experience. Especially when you have your AM members training with your PM members that they might never interact with.

At the end of the day, they are just another 5 workouts. Mistakes and unexpected things will happen and you will deal with them. The experience for me has always been fun. I love it and look forward to it every year. Good luck everyone taking it on this year! I can’t wait to see what we get thrown at us.

Wesley Moss

Iron Edge