That time of the year is here again. The time when people around the world join the Crossfit community for the five week long Crossfit Open, the road to find the fittest men and women on earth. For five weeks Crossfit comes out with one workout a week. The workouts are released online each Thursday evening, and athletes have until the following Monday to submit their scores. When the workout is released, athletes will be given two versions: Rx´d and Scaled. So far, we´ve survived two workouts, 16.1 and 16.2.
Are these workouts easy? Shortly said, no. The man behind everything, Dave Castro, Director of the Games, knows for sure to throw in surprises to spice up every workout. When you least expect a movement to reveal itself, it is almost guaranteed to show up. Anyone can speculate, and of course there´s lot of that in the community about what will be up next? You can only guess and hope for the best. That is the exciting part with Crossfit. Every workout is different and there will always be something you love and something you hate. Some movement can be your strength and someone else´s weakness. That is why anybody who does Crossfit can sign up for this five week long event.
There are different categories. A teenager in high school can compete in the Open, as well as their 75-year-old grandparents and everyone between. Once you´ve done your workout and entered your score, you will be ranked in relation to your peers in your age, division, competition region, state, country and worldwide.
The 17 regions feed into eight regional competitions, which means that athletes compete with others from one or two other regions.
The best of the best from each region in the Open will be invited to compete in the regional competitions in May.
The number of athletes invited from each region:
- 20 men, 20 women and 15 teams will advance from regions in the U.S and Canada.
- 30 men, 30 women and 20 teams will advance from Europe and Australia.
- 10 men, 10 women and 10 teams will advance from Latin America, Asia and Africa.
The top FIVE men, FIVE women and FIVE teams from each regional will advance to the Crossfit Games.
This is my first time signing up for the Open. Last year I was just about to fly home to Finland and didn´t feel for doing it. I missed my Crossfit Key West family. I tried out a few of the workouts though. So this year I was excited to sign up.
At our gym we have over 20 people signing up, which of course makes us happy :). Many of our members are beginners and still doing it. As I said before, anyone can do Crossfit because it´s scaled to your ability, you compete with your peers, and best of all, you compete with yourself.
February 25th at 5 p.m. PT the first workout, 16.1, was released.
16.1 sounded like a lot of fun ;). A workout that was to my liking. Chest to bar pull-ups were the only thing slowing me down because my butterfly chest to bar pull-ups were not up to par. So I knew that I had to keep a faster pace with the rest. What made me extremely happy were the lunges, hih hih. It was for sure not a waste of time doing 35 100 walking lunges last year ;).
WORKOUT 16.2
When this workout was released I was excited what came up on the board first, squat cleans. Okay, I have no problems doing those. Toes to bar, yeeeees! I like! Double unders, OH YEAAAAH, LOVE IT!! :) Until of course the unexpected. Never underestimate an Open workout. The weights for the squat cleans, which made me and everyone in the box almost cry, lol. Here we go. Heavy weights :(. WHY? oh WHY?
I did the workout last Friday. Came up with the good score, 260. Was I happy with it? Sure, NOT! My goal was to complete all the three rounds but was 4 reps short. It would of course have been awesome to get to try the squat clean with 175 lbs which is 10 more pound heavier then my 1RM, lol. Hey, you never know if you don´t try ;).
Why I wasn´t happy with my score this time was because I messed up my double under too many times, and to be honest, that rarely happens. So I was mad and disappointed. I was well rested this weekend and on Monday I attacked the workout one more time. As they say, the second time trying you always get a better score. Some how I didn´t want to believe that, but I was proven to be wrong. Doing a workout more then once makes you smarter. You know how to strategies better, how to not make the same mistake twice. For me the double unders simply mattered. This time I could pull them out unbroken every round and that really made a big difference. I also knew to break up the toes to bars in shorter sets, though they felt easy in the beginning.
I did the same three sets of five on the first round with the squat cleans. What I also noticed in my video doing the workout the first time, was that I was walking too many times to the chalk bucket. This time I was smarter with that too, lol :D. I know, it sounds crazy, but it saves time.
Though I still did one at a time with the rest of the squat cleans, I could pull them out pretty fast. I was noticing that I this time could finish the whole third round and still have time to continue. Did 10 toes to bar and the time was up, or so I thought. Walked to the bathroom, washed off the chalk from my sore hands and walked back out to the gym, when my judge shouts at me to continue. Had no clue what he was talking about, I thought my time was up already, which it was not. OMG! Without thinking I jumped back up on the pull up bar and finished all the toes to bar and even the 50 double unders. At this moment I had probably around 40 seconds time left. I was done! I still put on my weightlifting shoes and walked up to the bar. I had now 10 seconds time left to squat clean with 175 lbs. Sad to say, that did not happen. My forearms were giving in, had no power left to even hold on to the bar. I´m still super happy that I got to try it out. Now I got up to where I wanted to be and knew I could get it :).
Even tried to squat clean 175 lbs after the workout was over. Watching the video, you can see that I get it high enough to my shoulders, but what is sad to see is that I got scared of getting under the bar and instead automatically pushing it away.
Also tried with 170 lbs. Even here you can see that I get it all the way up. Now my left elbow is too slow to scoop forward in time, I get scared and push it away again. Things you just need to work on. Be patient, work hard and enjoy the progress :).
These workouts really test your strength and skills you´ve developed over the past year, and what you need to improve. I know now what I need to work on to get better :).
I also have a video of me doing 16.2, the first time, but after waiting for YouTube to upload it for almost 5h and still can´t get it through. I gave up! Hopefully it will cooperate better next time :).
So we custom made this leaderboard among all the athletes in the Keys who are doing the Open. Crossfit Key West, Crossfit Mile Zero, Crossfit Key Largo and I AM Crossfit Upper Keys. It is pretty cool to see where you are at. So far, so good :). Not bad for a rookie ;D.
Here you can check out all the divisions.
Custom Leaderboard: FL KEYS RX WOMEN
What also makes this so much fun is to see where you stand in the whole world. On games.crossfit.com you can look up any athlete who signed up for the Open and see how they are doing. Friends from my old gym back home are doing exactly the same workouts as we are doing here. It is fun to see that they´re also doing great :).
Hyvin te sillä vedätte! Go Crossfit Loviisa! :)
After two workouts I am now placed 2102nd in the world and 174th in South East. How freaking awesome isn´t that?! :)))) Crazyyyy!! You compete against top athletes, doing exactly the same workouts and weights as they are. This is so cool.
So 16.3 is out. What everyone were waiting for, muscle ups. Thank God on the bar!;) This workout my friend Jamie and I will crush this Sunday when competing in Florida Open, Miami :). So in the next blog you will be hearing how it went there.
Happy weekend everyone and GOOD LUCK to all of you who are doing the Open!
-Hanna-
At our gym we have over 20 people signing up, which of course makes us happy :). Many of our members are beginners and still doing it. As I said before, anyone can do Crossfit because it´s scaled to your ability, you compete with your peers, and best of all, you compete with yourself.
February 25th at 5 p.m. PT the first workout, 16.1, was released.
WORKOUT 16.1
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 20 minutes of:
25-ft. overhead walking lunge
8 burpees
25-ft. overhead walking lunge
8 chest-to-bar pull-ups
25-ft. overhead walking lunge
8 burpees
25-ft. overhead walking lunge
8 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Men lunge 95 lb. Women lunge 65 lb.
Notes and Standards you can find here.
16.1 sounded like a lot of fun ;). A workout that was to my liking. Chest to bar pull-ups were the only thing slowing me down because my butterfly chest to bar pull-ups were not up to par. So I knew that I had to keep a faster pace with the rest. What made me extremely happy were the lunges, hih hih. It was for sure not a waste of time doing 35 100 walking lunges last year ;).
So every Thursday after the release, our athletes have the choice to stay, or they have until Monday 8pm to do the workout.
For the last two weeks we have also had a large amount of drop ins doing the Open workouts, which makes it even more fun :). We were honored to help the Smith brothers and their BEAST sister Jillian for 16.1. Watch out for this lady, she is awesome! <3 It was nice having you guys, come and see us again. Good luck with everything!:)
With that being said, here is Jamie and me doing 16.1. I cut the video a little bit shorter.
This first workout was all about endurance and stamina. Your mental game is put to the test. How long can you push yourself to high intensity? Not talking about pace. You have to know your limits. You have to know how your body works, when, where and most importantly, how to pace yourself.
This first workout was all about endurance and stamina. Your mental game is put to the test. How long can you push yourself to high intensity? Not talking about pace. You have to know your limits. You have to know how your body works, when, where and most importantly, how to pace yourself.
As I said, I knew I could push myself pretty hard for this. These are workouts where you can feel the taste of blood in your mouth just because of that high intensity. At some point my ears even started ringing. I think this is how it feels to go to that dark side everyone keeps talking about ;). But anyone who knows me doing workouts like this, also knows I push my self pretty hard. Put me in any kind of high intensity workout with light weights, no problem. Heavy weight is then a whole different story LOL! And what does Castro do for the second workout? Move around some HEAVY weights of course.
Was I happy with my score for 16.1? Yes, why not? I mean, I could have tried doing it again, like others did, but I didn´t see any point doing so. Could I have achieved a better score? Probably yes, but a 20 minute long workout with a high intensity is no joke. There will always be a "should have", "could have", "would have". Would ten more reps make any different on the leaderboard? Probably not. Would it take me to the Regionals? Are you kidding me? LOL! Not in a million years. Hah Hah. So doing the workout twice was not for me. I am happy with my 221 reps.
March 3rd at 5 p.m. PT the second, 16.2, workout was released.
March 3rd at 5 p.m. PT the second, 16.2, workout was released.
WORKOUT 16.2
Beginning on a 4-minute clock, complete as many reps as possible of:
25 toes-to-bars
50 double-unders
15 squat cleans, 135 / 85 lb.
25 toes-to-bars
50 double-unders
15 squat cleans, 135 / 85 lb.
If completed before 4 minutes, add 4 minutes to the clock and proceed to:
25 toes-to-bars
50 double-unders
13 squat cleans, 185 / 115 lb.
25 toes-to-bars
50 double-unders
13 squat cleans, 185 / 115 lb.
If completed before 8 minutes, add 4 minutes to the clock and proceed to:
25 toes-to-bars
50 double-unders
11 squat cleans, 225 / 145 lb.
25 toes-to-bars
50 double-unders
11 squat cleans, 225 / 145 lb.
If completed before 12 minutes, add 4 minutes to the clock and proceed to:
25 toes-to-bars
50 double-unders
9 squat cleans, 275 / 175 lb.
25 toes-to-bars
50 double-unders
9 squat cleans, 275 / 175 lb.
If completed before 16 minutes, add 4 minutes to the clock and proceed to:
25 toes-to-bars
50 double-unders
7 squat cleans, 315 / 205 lb.
25 toes-to-bars
50 double-unders
7 squat cleans, 315 / 205 lb.
Stop at 20 minutes.
Notes and Standards you can find here.
I did the workout last Friday. Came up with the good score, 260. Was I happy with it? Sure, NOT! My goal was to complete all the three rounds but was 4 reps short. It would of course have been awesome to get to try the squat clean with 175 lbs which is 10 more pound heavier then my 1RM, lol. Hey, you never know if you don´t try ;).
Why I wasn´t happy with my score this time was because I messed up my double under too many times, and to be honest, that rarely happens. So I was mad and disappointed. I was well rested this weekend and on Monday I attacked the workout one more time. As they say, the second time trying you always get a better score. Some how I didn´t want to believe that, but I was proven to be wrong. Doing a workout more then once makes you smarter. You know how to strategies better, how to not make the same mistake twice. For me the double unders simply mattered. This time I could pull them out unbroken every round and that really made a big difference. I also knew to break up the toes to bars in shorter sets, though they felt easy in the beginning.
I did the same three sets of five on the first round with the squat cleans. What I also noticed in my video doing the workout the first time, was that I was walking too many times to the chalk bucket. This time I was smarter with that too, lol :D. I know, it sounds crazy, but it saves time.
Though I still did one at a time with the rest of the squat cleans, I could pull them out pretty fast. I was noticing that I this time could finish the whole third round and still have time to continue. Did 10 toes to bar and the time was up, or so I thought. Walked to the bathroom, washed off the chalk from my sore hands and walked back out to the gym, when my judge shouts at me to continue. Had no clue what he was talking about, I thought my time was up already, which it was not. OMG! Without thinking I jumped back up on the pull up bar and finished all the toes to bar and even the 50 double unders. At this moment I had probably around 40 seconds time left. I was done! I still put on my weightlifting shoes and walked up to the bar. I had now 10 seconds time left to squat clean with 175 lbs. Sad to say, that did not happen. My forearms were giving in, had no power left to even hold on to the bar. I´m still super happy that I got to try it out. Now I got up to where I wanted to be and knew I could get it :).
Even tried to squat clean 175 lbs after the workout was over. Watching the video, you can see that I get it high enough to my shoulders, but what is sad to see is that I got scared of getting under the bar and instead automatically pushing it away.
Also tried with 170 lbs. Even here you can see that I get it all the way up. Now my left elbow is too slow to scoop forward in time, I get scared and push it away again. Things you just need to work on. Be patient, work hard and enjoy the progress :).
These workouts really test your strength and skills you´ve developed over the past year, and what you need to improve. I know now what I need to work on to get better :).
I also have a video of me doing 16.2, the first time, but after waiting for YouTube to upload it for almost 5h and still can´t get it through. I gave up! Hopefully it will cooperate better next time :).
So we custom made this leaderboard among all the athletes in the Keys who are doing the Open. Crossfit Key West, Crossfit Mile Zero, Crossfit Key Largo and I AM Crossfit Upper Keys. It is pretty cool to see where you are at. So far, so good :). Not bad for a rookie ;D.
Here you can check out all the divisions.
Custom Leaderboard: FL KEYS RX WOMEN
| COMPETITOR |
WORKOUT
1 |
WORKOUT
2 |
WORKOUT
3 |
WORKOUT
4 |
WORKOUT
5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (2) | Hanna Larsson | 1 (221) | 1 (339) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 2 (4) | Erin Hamilton | 2 (208) | 2 (256) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 3 (7) | Jessica Forsythe | 4 (175) | 3 (254) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 3 (7) | Shannon Kennedy | 3 (179) | 4 (176) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 5 (11) | Vanessa Talpasz | 6 (166) | 5 (173) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 5 (11) | Reyna Famy | 5 (167) | 6 (172) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 7 (14) | Gigi Orofino | 7 (156) | 7 (167) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 8 (20) | Jamie Boyington | 11 (140) | 9 (145) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 9 (21) | Julie Nappi | 13 (126) | 8 (165) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 9 (21) | Melissa Edmiston | 8 (146) | 13 (89) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 11 (23) | Alex O'Donnell | 9 (145) | 14 (87) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 12 (24) | Hannah Padgett | 12 (136) | 12 (128) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 13 (26) | Aisha Garcia | 15 (109) | 11 (133) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 13 (26) | Jasmine Theodosiou | 10 (142) | 16 (83) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 15 (27) | Megan Guenther | 17 (99) | 10 (145) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 16 (29) | Erin Fry | 14 (120) | 15 (83) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 17 (36) | Fallon Owen | 19 (76) | 17 (80) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 18 (39) | Brooke Cash | 19 (76) | 20 (59) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 19 (43) | Kristin DeKeyrel | 18 (93) | 25 (341) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 20 (44) | Teresa Cabrera | 16 (104) | 28 (264) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 20 (44) | Kara Jaeger | 25 (234) - s | 19 (65) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 22 (47) | Chelsea Pita | 23 (247) - s | 24 (341) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 23 (48) | Chelsea O'Connor | 30 (208) - s | 18 (73) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 23 (48) | Leticia Cabrera | 21 (46) | 27 (339) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 25 (51) | Laura Santana | 29 (215) - s | 22 (342) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 26 (52) | Lauren Mclaughlin | 26 (224) - s | 26 (340) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 27 (54) | Shannon Catarineau | 33 (195) - s | 21 (30) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 28 (55) | Raquel Lopez | 32 (198) - s | 23 (341) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 29 (56) | Kristine Raab | 24 (239) - s | 32 (258) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 30 (60) | Inga Byrd | 22 (370) - s | 38 (181) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 31 (64) | Catalina Dumitru | 27 (218) - s | 37 (253) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 31 (64) | Juliana Hamouz | 28 (217) - s | 36 (253) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 31 (64) | Marlene Young | 31 (200) - s | 33 (258) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 34 (67) | Ayojire Randall | 37 (184) - s | 30 (263) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 35 (68) | Lindsey Davis | 39 (167) - s | 29 (263) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 36 (72) | Marilyn Penuela | 38 (182) - s | 34 (256) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 37 (74) | Katie Czarnec | 34 (193) - s | 40 (173) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 38 (76) | Kaitlin Dooley | 35 (190) - s | 41 (171) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 39 (77) | Devon Marlow | 46 (0) | 31 (261) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 40 (79) | Ghizlane Allali | 36 (187) - s | 43 (165) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 41 (80) | Paola Forman | 41 (161) - s | 39 (175) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 42 (81) | Kristen Condella | 46 (0) | 35 (254) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 43 (84) | Rebekah Susa | 40 (163) - s | 44 (165) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 44 (85) | Karly Campbell | 43 (130) - s | 42 (170) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 45 (89) | Lynda Costello | 42 (150) - s | 47 (0) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 46 (90) | Jenna Ketcham | 45 (117) - s | 45 (104) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 46 (90) | Christine Test | 44 (118) - s | 46 (1) - s | (0) | (0) | (0) |
| 48 (93) | Marilyn Penuela-Ladaga | 46 (0) | 47 (0) | (0) | (0) | (0) |
What also makes this so much fun is to see where you stand in the whole world. On games.crossfit.com you can look up any athlete who signed up for the Open and see how they are doing. Friends from my old gym back home are doing exactly the same workouts as we are doing here. It is fun to see that they´re also doing great :).
Hyvin te sillä vedätte! Go Crossfit Loviisa! :)
After two workouts I am now placed 2102nd in the world and 174th in South East. How freaking awesome isn´t that?! :)))) Crazyyyy!! You compete against top athletes, doing exactly the same workouts and weights as they are. This is so cool.
So 16.3 is out. What everyone were waiting for, muscle ups. Thank God on the bar!;) This workout my friend Jamie and I will crush this Sunday when competing in Florida Open, Miami :). So in the next blog you will be hearing how it went there.
Happy weekend everyone and GOOD LUCK to all of you who are doing the Open!
-Hanna-
