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How to Mentally Prepare for the Open

male athlete smiling at the gym

The Open starts tomorrow, and you’re likely doing your last-minute prep. But while you’re probably hyper-focused on your physical training, you must not overlook your mental wellbeing. Your mind and body are intrinsically linked. If you want both to perform well, you’ll have to give both your undivided attention. So, in this post, we’ll take a look at some of the simplest ways you can mentally prepare for the Open.

How to Mentally Prepare for the Open

1. Quit Thinking About Other Competitors

With countless athletes competing in the Open, it could be enough to throw you off your game. Even though you know this is for fun, if there’s one thing that can shake your confidence, it’s the belief that other competitors will be bigger, faster, and stronger than you. The key here is to focus on yourself, not the other competitors. If you do your very best, remember to have fun, and always keep a positive mindset, you will have a solid foundation on which to compete.

2. Practice Getting in the Zone

When the Open starts, your mind should be ready. In reality, this is something you can practice all day, every day — by focusing on the task at hand and nothing else, whether it’s responding to emails or washing dishes.

Create a mental space in which you can perform. During the competition, you need to focus on your movements, pacing, and breathing. Any other thoughts are certain to be counterproductive to your success. That’s why it’s vital you learn how to get into the zone. Block out everything else and aim to give 100% of your attention to the activity in which you’re engaging.

Khan Porter training on bike

3. Visualize Yourself Succeeding

Never underestimate the power of your own imagination. Research suggests the act of merely picturing yourself succeeding or looking at motivational imagery could be enough to boost your self-confidence and self-efficacy.

At times, when you’re focused on improving your performance, you may lose sight of the finishing line. Don’t make that mistake. Meditate on how amazing it feels to get your WOD on with your friends and, crucially, what this kind of happiness looks like in your mind. This practice could be just what you need to take your game to the next level.

4. Create an Inspiring Mantra

Equally, an inspiring mantra could be just the thing to push you forward and help you perform during the Open. Your mantra should be short and straight to the point. For example, something direct, such as, “I am strong enough to succeed,” is ideal.

Get into the habit of repeating this mantra in your head while you’re training. The words will encourage you to stay on the right track and help you to focus your mind.

female athlete power pose

5. Remember Why You’re Competing

Why you’re competing is just as important as how you’re competing. One of the most effective ways to motivate yourself is to recall the reason you registered for the Open in the first place.

The Self-Determination Theory dictates that autonomy, competence, and relatedness must be satisfied so we can reach our goals. In layman’s terms, that means we have to be free to set the goal, good enough to achieve it, and it must relate to our lives. So, training hard and keeping your eye on the reason you’ve decided to compete will help you perform at your optimum level. Never lose sight of your goal.

6. Get the Rest You Need

Recovery is the cornerstone of the training process. As the Open kicks into gear, you could be tempted to up your training regime at the cost of your recovery time. However, if you fail to give your body the rest it so desperately needs, you could find it hinders your fitness and, ultimately, you burn out both mentally and physically.

Design a schedule that allows for regular breaks and recovery days. It may feel counterintuitive, but it’s what you need.

Now that you understand how to get your mind in shape for the Open, it’s time to put those ideas into action. Combining mentally healthy activities with physical training is a winning plan. Good luck!

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9 Things We Learned From the Open

female athlete with hands on hips

Another year, another Open. The biggest fitness competition in the world has come to a close, and now is a time of reflection. What did we learn? What mistakes did we make? What could we have done better? Let’s look back on the last five weeks — because no matter what the results are, the Open always leaves us with new lessons to learn.

9 Things We Learned From the Open

1. There Really Are No Boundaries

Dave Castro has always said nothing was off-limits, and this year, as is the case every year, we saw this for ourselves.

Handstand push-ups, notoriously difficult to judge, came back with a vengeance — except this time they were strict. We also saw handstand walks for the second time, as well as bar muscle-ups.

We were reminded this year that the Open isn’t about being manageable enough for everyone to do it as prescribed. While it does take care to make sure everyone can participate in some capacity, the ultimate goal is simple: to find the fittest in the world.

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2. The Open Will Probably Continue Getting Harder

Speaking of handstand walks, here’s another important lesson we had to learn this year: It’s likely the Open will get more challenging each year. This isn’t just because Castro likes to torture us (although he does). There’s a very logical reason behind it: Simply put, athletes are getting better. So, naturally, we have to raise the bar and make the competition harder.

If you’re having a hard time understanding this, all you have to do is rewind to Games of yore, when competitors couldn’t do muscle-ups and nobody knew how to snatch. These days, female Games competitors can snatch over 200 pounds, and everyone can string together muscle-ups until the cows come home.

3. Strategy Reigns Supreme

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Being strong helps. Being fast is important. But if you don’t have strategy, you don’t have much. You couldn’t have successfully completed a single workout this year without considering breathing, pacing, when to break up reps, how to most efficiently load your weights, and how long to rest. You know what they say about this sport: it’s constantly varied, and being good at everything is better than being a master of one thing. The athletes who knew how to best manage strategy, strength, technique, and speed undoubtedly faired best.

4. If Scaling is Inevitable, Just Scale It

With such difficult movements in the Open this year — handstand walks, strict handstand push-ups, bar muscle-ups — scaling was unavoidable for many of us. We had to get a tough lesson through our thick heads this year. If you can’t do a strict handstand push-up because you don’t yet have the strength, spending even a second of your time trying to squeeze out a rep is pointless. Same with handstand walks.

While probably none of us were thrilled to do bear crawls, in this year’s Open, it was harder than ever to stubbornly do some of the workouts as prescribed, because we simply couldn’t. And you know what? That’s totally okay.

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On that note…

5. Scaling is Still Way Harder Than it Looks

Mark our words: Scaled does not equal easy. It’s all relative. The scaled movements are just as challenging for those athletes as prescribed movements are for more advanced athletes – especially when you’re winded and fatigued and your grip is starting to go. Rest assured that even scaled, you’re getting one hell of a workout.

6. You are Your Biggest Competition

Competition has a bad reputation and for the wrong reasons. There’s nothing wrong with competing against others — it pushes us to be better. Ultimately, though, there’s but one person we should try to be better than: who we were yesterday. Constantly comparing yourself to others and determining your own self-worth based on what they have and you don’t is surely a recipe for disaster. Take baby steps to improve who you are, and remember: you’re already a winner.

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7. There’s No Such Thing as Last-Minute Training

It never fails: Every year, some of us wait until the week before the Open to start practicing bar muscle-ups, thinking we’ll be able to master them with that much time left. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a marathon, not a sprint — meaning if you wanted to do bar muscle-ups in the Open this year, you should’ve started practicing them… a long time ago. Don’t wait. Start now.

8. This Sport is as Mental as it is Physical

You already knew this, but the Open is always a good reminder. If your mental game isn’t on point, it doesn’t matter how skilled you are as an athlete — you won’t make it. Plain and simple. Stay positive, have fun, remember why you’re doing this, and give it your all.

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9. This Community is Everything

This year, the Open looked a lot different from previous years. HQ stripped it way down and got back to the sport’s roots: community. While the Open certainly brought out a lot of hate and criticism, there’s no denying it reminded us of why we love this sport so much in the first place — the camaraderie.

Are you Open ready? Shop our collection today.

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8 Tips for Open Success

For most of us, functional fitness is a hobby we do for fun and to stay in amazing shape — and that’s pretty great. Still, when it comes to the world’s biggest fitness competition, we all want to bring our A game, right? If you want to ensure this is your best Open yet, here are eight simple things you can do to make for a better competition.

8 Tips to Crush it During the Open

1. Pack Accordingly — Meaning Bring *Everything*

You won’t know until the live announcement what Dave Castro has planned, which means you should be prepared for… everything. Show up armed with tape, wrist wraps, grips, shin guards, and weightlifting shoes. The last thing you want is to be caught off guard.

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2. Plan Your Own Strategy

Winging it typically isn’t the best option, especially when you’re under pressure —something we all feel during the Open. Take a few minutes to come up with a game plan. You know yourself better than anyone else. Be realistic — 20 thrusters unbroken might not be feasible, so how do you plan on breaking them up? What about those double-unders? You just got them a couple weeks ago, so maybe aim for sets of five.

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Don’t wait until the middle of the workout to figure out how you should approach it. By then, it’s too late. If this isn’t your first Open, odds are you probably learned a few valuable lessons from previous ones — don’t forget them!

3. Do the Workout at an Affiliate

True, you don’t have to do each WOD at an affiliate — but you should anyway, even if you’re dropping in someplace new. You don’t need us to tell you the best part of the sport is our community. The energy and camaraderie you’ll find at the box is unmatched elsewhere. Not only will you have more fun, but you’ll be pushed harder and will most likely perform better.

4. Choose Wisely When Repeating Workouts

It’s so tempting to repeat workouts and see if you can squeeze out a few more reps. While there are indeed instances where repeating a WOD is reasonable, in many cases, it won’t be. For instance, if a workout calls for 50 toes-to-bar and toes-to-bar destroy your hands every time, repeating it is probably not the best route. Your time is better spent healing and preparing for the next. Otherwise, you irritate an already irritated grip.

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You should also ask yourself why exactly you want to repeat it. This will help you determine if it’s truly worth it. Did you just enjoy it that much that you want to do it again? Go for it! Was your strategy way off, negatively impacting your score, and you’re confident you can do much better with your updated strategy? Give it a shot.

But if it’s coming down to pride or ego, you need to have a chat with yourself. Be honest about your intentions and motivations.

5. Set Challenging But Attainable Goals

Don’t underestimate the power of setting goals. This can be a total game-changer. Get creative! While healthy competition with your fellow gymgoers is a great thing, focus on competing with yourself. We mentioned strategy is important, and it is; but while you don’t want to set unreasonable goals, you also don’t want to put the bar so low for yourself that you don’t really need to try.

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If you’re a strong lifter but know you still have a hard time cycling a barbell, commit to getting five reps in before you let go of the bar. If running is your worst enemy, aim to always keep moving, even if you’re walking. Goals are where it’s at!

6. Make Recovery a Priority

The Open means a lot of activity in a very short amount of time. Recovery is paramount. If you don’t take your rest time seriously, when the next event hits, you won’t be anywhere near ready.

We all recover differently, but this might mean spending time on a foam roller, taking an extra active rest day, hopping on the rower, or spending a little extra time stretching.

Don’t forget about your hands. If we end up having a workout that’s extra grippy (which we always do), your grip will take a beating. Take care of fresh tears, always have your favourite grips nearby, and be sure you chalk up when needed.

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7. Be Mindful of Your Mindset

You can’t have a positive Open with a negative attitude. No matter how things are going — perfectly according to plan or completely haywire — keep an optimistic outlook. Pay special attention to how you talk to yourself in your mind. Do you say nice things and find the silver linings, or do you cut yourself down and dismiss your hard work? Aim for the former of the two.

It’s as important to be mentally strong as it is physically strong.

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8. Remember What it’s All About

Goals are good. Strategy is peachy. Dominating a WOD is brilliant. You know what matters more than any of these things? HAVING FUN! Don’t forget what the Open is all about — having a really good time. Keep a positive mindset, enjoy the community feel, and give it your all.

Are you Open ready? Shop our collection today.

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19.1 Strategy Tips From The Progrm

jess on the rower

We’ve already talked about ways to make your rowing more efficient and how to get through wall balls more easily, but let’s look at Open workout 19.1 a little more closely. Here’s some more helpful advice from The Progrm on strategy for the first Open workout.

The Key Takeaways

Your Warm-Up

(1) Spend around 20 to 30 minutes warming up. Begin with your ankles, before moving on to your hips.

(2) Then, spend approximately five minutes working up to the rowing pace you want to maintain for the workout. This should be something you can comfortably keep throughout the AMRAP. Refer to the below chart for guidance.open 19.1 pacing

(3) Lastly, do:

3 rounds of

  • 10 wall balls
  • 10-cal. row

Rest for two to five minutes, and then go for 19.1.

The Workout

This is a marathon — not a sprint. Thus, your pacing is crucial. You should finish harder than you start, so be sure you’re conserving energy earlier in the workout.

For the row, start with a few short, quick pulls of the handle before going into the full pull.

Aim to do the wall balls unbroken.

Transitions matter! Keep your rower near your wall ball station, and move quickly between the two.

Have you done 19.1 yet? Let us know how it goes! Be sure to shop for all the Open essentials with TWL.

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19.1 Has Arrived! Here Are Some Quick Tips for Rowing and Wall Balls

khan on rower

Ladies and gentlemen, the CrossFit Open has begun. 19.1 brings us a 15-minute AMRAP of 19 wall ball shots and a 19-calorie row. The movements themselves are straightforward enough, but maintaining efficiency is key. Here are a few helpful hints so you can dominate the first workout of the Open.

6 Helpful Tips for 19.1

The Wall Ball Shots

1. Use Your Legs to Drive Power

Your legs are stronger than your arms. Use them to launch the ball upward.

2. Remember to Breathe Consistently

We tend to hold our breaths, especially with wall balls. But with such a long workout and so many reps, breathing is crucial to maintaining efficiency.

3. Only Squat Once You’ve Caught the Ball

You want to absorb the weight of the ball, ride it down into your squat, and then bounce out of the bottom. Only begin squatting once the ball has hit your hands.

Want more advice? Read our blog for six tips on mastering wall balls.

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The Row

1. Stay Relaxed

Keeping your body relaxed is key! The more you tense up, the more work you’re doing, and the faster you’ll feel the fatigue.

2. Use Your Lower Body

Remember that your arms only finish the movement. You execute the rest of the row by pushing through the pads of the rower and driving hard through your legs.

3. Move the Handle in a Straight Line

Some people “scoop” the rower handle. This is more work! The more direct path between two points is a straight line.

For more tips, check out our blog on tips for rowing more efficiently.

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Don’t forget to shop for all the Open essentials with TWL.

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7 Predictions for the 2019 Open

Games female athletes

With the 2019 Open almost here, it’s anyone’s guess what Dave Castro and the CrossFit HQ team have in store. This year, we will see the 2019 CrossFit Games Open become the largest qualifier of athletes to the 2019 Games, with the top 20 men and top 20 women receiving invitations directly to Madison. With the five weeks of torture — *ahem* fitness — kicking off on Thursday, February 21st, here are our top seven predictions for this year’s Open.

7 Predictions for the 2019 Open

1. The Year of the Kettlebells

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We saw the dumbbell appear in several 2018 Open workouts, often replacing typical barbell movements with new movement standards introduced. So, what will the 2019 iteration be? Will it be the humble kettlebell? We’re not talking about the usual kettlebell swings but rather the likes of kettlebell snatches (single arm or perhaps double), overhead kettlebell lunges, kettlebell pistol squats, or perhaps the classic farmers carry.

2. Which Girl?

18.4 featured a Diane variation. 16.3 drew similarities with Amanda, as did 17.3. 14.3 had a nod to Christine. 14.5 was a spicier version of Fran, as were 13.5, 12.5, and 11.6. 12.4 and 13.3 incorporated Karen. 13.4 took Gwen to the next level. And 12.2 was an intense version of Isabel.

If 18.4 isn’t the repeat workout, we predict a shorter, more intense variation of Mary — 5 handstand push-ups, 10 pistols, and 15 pull-ups as a 20-minute AMRAP.

3. Hello, Handstands!

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Handstand walking or handstand push-ups, one or the other, perhaps even both (again!). After the landslide down the leaderboard 18.4 caused for many athletes, it’s safe to say that, one way or the other, handstands will make an appearance to separate those who are truly fit. Especially with the Open being the largest athlete qualifier for the 2019 Games, it’s a guarantee that there will be more advanced movements.

In the words of founder Greg Glassman, “Handstands, hand walking, and pressing to the handstand are critical exercises … and essential components to becoming ‘CrossFit’.”

4. Airdyne or Die

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Will 2019 be the year the Airdyne (Assault bike) makes an appearance? Only a few years ago, it was a piece of equipment rarely seen in an affiliate. Now, it’s unlikely that a box doesn’t have one. Yes, we ‘ve mentioned before that there can be discrepancies between brands, but it’s only a matter of time before the Assault bike appears in the Open. Our guess if it does? A spicy mix with barbell thrusters or wall balls.

5. Once a Classic, Always a Classic

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There are certain movements fundamental to CrossFit, so to crown the best athletes in the world, it’s imperative that they are masters of these. From 2011 to 2018, certain “bread and butter” movements have appeared each year, so it’s unlikely that 2019 will be an exception.

Don’t think that you can get away not mastering the basics — toes-to-bar, double-unders, chest-to-bar pull-ups, wall balls, muscle-ups (ring or bar or both?), snatching, and thrusters. The real discussion is how, based on past Open workouts, couplet-style WODs are a certainty, and a triplet WOD is very likely.

Fun fact: The couplet workout is usually thrusters. (Sorry to bring bad news, but let’s hope that probability is wrong.)

6. Repeat, Who?

Castro loves to repeat previous years’ workouts. So, what do we know? 17.4 was a repeat of 16.4, 16.5 of 14.5, 15.2 of 14.2, 14.1 of 11.1, 13.3 of 12.4, and 12.5 of 11.6. No WODs from 2013 or 2015 have ever been repeated. However, 2018 was a surprise, as there was no exact workout repeat. Similarities occurred including 18.2a featuring the 1-rep-max clean, similar to the 1-rep-max clean and jerk in 15.a. And 18.5 could be likened to 13.5, 12.5, and 11.6 with the same movements of thrusters and chest-to-bar pull-ups.

Where does that leave us? It’s any guess what mastermind Castro has in store, but there’s a good chance that 2019 will see a repeat. Our pick is 18.4 or an iteration of.

7. And the Winners Are…

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Drumroll! Always a tricky one to predict. With the new format of 2019, the stakes are arguably higher for the Open. With the favourites likely to receive 2019 Games invites from sanctioned events, it’s possible we will see some new names at the top. With Tia-Clair Toomey, Patrick Vellner, Sam Briggs and Mat Fraser already qualified for the Games, our prediction to take out the 2019 Games Open is the always consistent Brooke Wells for the women’s category and 2018 CrossFit Games 4th place holder and 2017 CrossFit Games runner-up, Brent Fikowski for the male category.

With so many new things to look forward to and the likelihood of the most challenging Open workouts we’ve ever seen, 2019 is certain to be one exciting Open. So, let the games begin and may the WODs be ever in your favour.

Get #OpenReady and shop the essentials with TWL.

Main image: Brooke Wells/Instagram

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One Huge Mistake People Make During the Open

The anxiety of the Open is no joke. Even as I write this, the thought of Castro’s maniacal test of fitness looming on the horizon is enough to make my palms sweaty. Sleepless nights, stress-fueled conspiracy theories, all are fair game during the first step in finding the fittest on Earth. Football season, rugby season… the Open is quite literally our season as CrossFitters.

For the overwhelming majority of us, sadly it’s the start and finish to our season as well. That’s it. Five weeks, five workouts and you’re done. With only five opportunities to prove yourself on a global scale, a disproportionate amount of weight and stress is placed on each test. The funny thing about stress, though, is it can make you do some crazy stuff.

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Everything about the Open is created to make you uncomfortable. The number of tests, the way they’re structured, the way Castro loves to trickle out clues only to be dissected ad nauseam on Reddit. Everything is designed to push you out of your comfort zone.

The single best piece of advice I can offer to you is don’t let the Open bully you around. Don’t let the pressure of the moment cause you to fall into the biggest trap laid by the Open: thinking you have to switch up your routine to succeed.

Stick to What You Know

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The Open, the sport in general, hinges on the concept of preparing you for the unknown and unknowable. It’s this level of variability that drives adaptation. It’s the reason this sport as a fitness program is so effective. Yet, just because CrossFit makes its money by subscribing to the chaos theory of fitness, that doesn’t mean routines are inherently bad.

In fact, the athletes that are most successful during the Open are those who understand how to eliminate any excess variables and instead fall back on the routines they’ve built over the course of the year – for better or for worse.

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What I mean is, if your normal pre-workout meal on a day-to-day basis consists of a Whopper with an extra large Coke, then that’s exactly what you should do come the Open — the reason being you know exactly what to expect from your body if you do so. If your everyday warm-up consists of hopping on a bike for five minutes, checking memes on your phone for another 15 and a couple of leg swings, then that’s what you should do.

Too often I see people try to cram a year’s worth of good habits into the week prior, or even more hilariously, the 30 minutes before the start of the workout. People who have never rolled out a day in their lives now have a mobility setup that would put Kelly Starrett to shame. Better yet, they decide today’s the day they need pre-workout supplements, end up taking three scoops, do their first thruster and crap their pants — don’t be that guy.

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Understand the difference. I’m not advocating for bad habits or unhealthy eating. I’m advocating for not switching up your routine come game day. What’s the saying? “Practice how you play.” Eating healthier, warming up properly and taking the time for mobility are all tremendous habits, but habits that need to be tested and built into your daily routine months ago. If you are unsure how anything under your control is going to affect your performance, even with the off-chance it might have a positive effect, the day of the competition is the last day you want to test it out.

One way to be prepared for anything? Make sure you have all the right gear on you. Shop for all the Open essentials with TWL.

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CrossFit Announces 4 More Sanctioned Events for the 2019 Season

Slowly but surely, the 2019 competitive season is coming together. The latest announcement coming out of HQ is regarding four more events that are officially CrossFit-sanctioned: CrossFit Strength in Depth, the CrossFit Lowlands Throwdown, and the CrossFit Italian Showdown — which, unlike the others, won’t include a team competition.

They also announced SouthFit CrossFit Challenge as a sanctioned event, but it won’t be official until the 2020 competitive season.

HQ confirmed in a press release that the Games will begin with elimination events, to narrow it down to 10 competitors who will move on to the finals. The athletes’ scores in the Open will determine competitor seeding. Athletes who choose not to participate in the Open will have the lowest seeding and will be placed in the first qualifying heats at the Games.

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The pool of athletes who will qualify for the Games is going to be so much larger than previous years, which means the events will only continue to get more challenging — but that was a given, and something Dave Castro warns us about almost every year.

Main image: Dubai CrossFit Championship/Instagram

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Wodapalooza is the Latest CrossFit Sanctioned Event

More exciting news comes about the 2019 competitive season. In a press release, CrossFit just announced that Wodapalooza has officially become the seventh CrossFit-sanctioned event. Next year, the competition will award the top male and female athletes, along with the top four-person team, with an invitation to the Games in Madison, Wisconsin.

CrossFit’s founder and chairman Greg Glassman previously spoke about wanting to get CrossFit back to its roots: community. Community is where it starts and ends. No competition better highlights that than Wodapalooza, possibly the most massive and inclusive community-based fitness event, which brings tens of thousands of athletes of all levels from all over the world together each year.

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Wodapalooza actually starts this week, with their online qualifier.

Aside from the winners at the individual sanctioned events, athletes can also make it to the Games by placing in the top 20 in the Open, winning in their country in the Open, or being selected as one of the four at-large athletes who will receive passes from CrossFit to attend.

Main image: Wodapalooza/Instagram

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CrossFit Announces Four New Sanctioned Events

Exciting news comes from HQ: in a press release, CrossFit announced four more sanctioned events for the upcoming competitive season.

  1. CrossFit French Throwdown
  2. CrossFit Fittest in Cape Town
  3. Brazil CrossFit Championship
  4. Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge
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As is the case with the Dubai CrossFit Championship and the Granite Games, these four will each qualify the top male, female, and team, all of whom will get an invite to the 2019 Games in Madison, Wisconsin. We can expect to see these events take place in the first six months of 2019.

Main image: French Throwdown/Instagram

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The CrossFit Games Will Allow Transgender Athletes to Compete Starting in 2019

On August 3rd at Woof’s Bar—Madison WI’s ~premier~ downtown gay sports bar— CrossFit Founder Greg Glassman announced that beginning in the 2019 season, athletes will be eligible and invited to compete in the gender category that they identify (instead of by the sex assigned to them at birth).

“This is the right thing to do. CrossFit believes in the potential, capacity, and dignity of every athlete. We are proud of our LGBT community, including our transgender athletes, and we want you here with us,” said Glassman.

Glassman made the announcement at a “A Big Gay Happy Hour” hosted by OUTWOD—the largest national initiative for bringing together LGBTQ+ athletes and their allies to WOD together in a safe, inclusive fitness environment… all while raising funds for LGBTQ organizations like the Human Rights Campaign, Lambert House, Nashville Cares Fighting To End HIV/AIDS, Family Equality Council, and Los Angeles LGBT Center.

This policy change comes after some controversy earlier this summer when former Chief Knowledge Officer Russell Berger blatantly discriminated against the LGBTQ community with a series of tweets that have since been deleted.

CrossFit HQ responded to Berger’s tweets by officially terminating Berger, and issuing a statement on their social media site, quoting CEO Greg Glassman as saying he’s “crazy proud of the gay community in CrossFit. “The statements made by Russell Berger do not reflect the views of CrossFit Inc. For this reason, his employment with CrossFit has been terminated,” CrossFit HQ announced via Twitter.

“CrossFit is a diverse community in every way, and that’s what makes us strong. No matter who you are, how you’re built, what you believe, or who or how you love—we are proud of you,” CrossFit said.

OUTWOD and outspoken members of the community used this moment to highlight and expose the sport’s exclusion of transgender athletes. 

LGBTQ+ athletes and allies have vocally opposed the CrossFit Games transgender policy since 2014 (and GLAAD launching a petition) when well-known athlete Chloie Jonsson sued CrossFit HQ for $2.5 million for discrimination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and unfair competition after she was outed as trans by a gym member, and was subsequently informed that she would have to compete in the men’s division… despite having medically transitioned over a decade earlier.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Baed2xNDRTg/?taken-by=chlojonsson

The case was settled out of court, but apparently Jonsson was informed of this new policy a few hours before Glassman made the official announcement on Friday night.

“I always loved CrossFit so much for how inclusive it felt,” Jonsson told Them. “So when this all happened four years ago, it felt so divided. And now I’m hoping that it can all go back together again. I want it to feel like everyone is included, and everyone has the same opportunity.”

While the exact policies are still being metered out, we can expect the specifics to be released in the CrossFit HQ Rulebook. (Likely, this will mirror International Olympic Committee’s established policies and guidelines.)

Also worth mentioning, Greg Glassman presented OutWOD a check for $10,000. It’s safe to say that CrossFit is committed to improving their relationship with the LGBTQ+ community and its athletes.

Main Image: Chloie Jönsson/Instagram

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People Are Really Mad About Brooke Wells’ 18.4 Video Submission — Here’s Why

Holy cow. People are ticked. As you likely already know, athletes aiming to get to Regionals must prepare video recordings of their Open workouts, in case they need to provide verification they got the scores they claim they did. No big deal, right? Well, it is now. Someone recently came across Brooke Wells’ video submission for 18.4 and noticed something a bit… odd. And then? It spread like wildfire.

The controversy surrounds her handstand push-ups. You’ll recall CrossFit’s standards for handstand push-ups say the athlete must start the rep above the pre-marked target line.  Here’s where people are getting a little irritated: some are convinced based on Wells’ video, it could be deemed she missed the mark on the majority, if not all, of her reps. Here’s her video submission — the HSPUs start around the 5:45 mark.

A few YouTubers took notice and left their thoughts in the comments. People have taken to Reddit to debate her performance. The tension is so thick, you could cut it with a knife.

Then, of course, other people don’t seem to mind so much. It’s Brooke Wells. Of course she can do handstand push-ups — and just about anything else. Of course she belongs at Regionals.

The HSPU standards certainly made for a heated debate, and some athletes felt negatively impacted by it. Just look at Jacob Heppner, who left an emotional Instagram post letting his fans know the standard meant he won’t be qualifying for Regionals.

Now, in all this commotion, where does HQ stand? They actually responded on Reddit, saying:

Following up on this. We took the information shared on the thread and circulated it internally. The video is shot at a poor angle, which makes review difficult. There do appear to be HSPU reps that miss the line.

In terms of the video verification following the Open: This video was submitted as a verification of capacity to complete the score submitted. These spot checks are designed to allow us to verify that athletes are capable of the work they claimed to be.

In rare, egregious cases, score adjustments based on quality of movements or massively miscounted reps can be made. It was determined that this video did not represent one of those cases.

Brooke’s video has been accepted.

A satisfying answer? Not for a lot of people. If they admit it looks like she no-repped quite a bit, why was an exception made for her? Other athletes undoubtedly got called out on missed reps, and their scores suffered for it. What about Jacob Heppner? Conversely, if CF needs only to determine an athlete is “capable of the work they claimed to be,” and Wells obviously is, should it matter that she missed the mark?

A messy situation indeed, but the functional fitness gods have spoken. What are your thoughts?

Main image: Brooke Wells/YouTube