It’s that time of the year! The CrossFit Open is almost upon us, and we now have an awesome opportunity to help each other reach our goals AND take part in an amazing worldwide culture.
Why sign up for The Open? Why pay The CrossFit Games $20? Because it accomplishes two things:
- It solidifies your commitment. Putting $20 on the table says something — mostly to yourself — about what you are resolved to do. A metaphor: Say you decide to run a half marathon. Great, you can run a half marathon anytime you like. Just put on your shoes, walk out your front door, and time yourself for 13.1 miles, right? But we know that’s not the same as signing up for an event. We are social: belonging and connection are basic human needs. Doing it with others counts. Buying in counts. This is one reason why we register for things. It also says something powerful to your tribe, your family, and your people.
- It’s kind of like voting. You are one of thousands, but the act itself is a belief that a drop of water in a pond DOES matter. The ripples add up and make a cacophony of noise! And they do reach others, even people you will never see nor meet, though to a certain extent social media helps bridge that gap these days. So while you could give us $20 instead, or keep it and just follow the online leaderboard, we want to encourage action that is participatory in the global CrossFit Culture, Community, and Cypher that we are proud to be a part of.
Outline:
- Over the five weeks spanning February 21st – March 23rd, we will be holding a friendly team competition and team building event. Nothing really extraordinary required from you all. All you have to do is show up, and bring your smile and energy just like always.
- More than 300,000 people from around the globe competed in the Open last year, and 99% of them did it for reasons other than to qualify for the CrossFit Games! As the largest CrossFit community event of the season, the Open ties together athletes from within the same gym to those in their broader city, country and world.
- The Open welcomes anyone 14 to 100 years old. All you need to do is sign up, and enter a score each week.
- There are dedicated Rx and Scaled Divisions for each workout, as well as modifications for Masters and Teens.
- Our Cypher programming for January and February will be specifically geared to help you perform your best during the Open. Don’t miss our last Mock Open workout on Feb 9 – that’s also the same day as our draft!
It’s going to be a blast. What will 19.1 bring? 19.2? Is it going to be my strength or my goat next week? Which workout will they repeat? Nobody knows! Let’s get ready to have fun, build our community, and get better.
Rules of the Game:
- Merrill, Matt, Karina and Rocky are Team Captains!
- Athletes that are registered on the Games site will initially be assigned to teams evenly via The Draft on Saturday February 9th. You must be officially registered by then in order to be eligible. Sign-up now! Make sure when you register on the Games site you select “Cypher Health & Fitness” as your affiliate.
- Captains will then have the opportunity to recruit the remaining people on the fence to sign up and join their team! Captains will also be in charge of organizing and rallying their team so that everyone has an awesome experience.
- The workouts will be officially scheduled for Saturday mornings between 9AM-12PM. Depending on the details of the workout, it could take 1.5-2 hours for everyone to do it with the workout review, score keeping, judging, etc., so plan your time accordingly. We will do our best to be as close to an hour as possible.
- Please invite your friends and family to watch and support you and your team! Children can come also, but must have a designated adult with them at all times (not a Cypher Coach or staff member).
- Team members earn points for their team a few different ways described below. This year, we will not be awarding points for top workout scores on the Games site, because we want to keep it strictly fun and social. You all know how to read the whiteboard anyway :).
- The main mission is to simply get in the gym, have fun, kick butt, make yourself better, and share with others!
Scoring:
You can score points for your team a few different ways:
- Show Up & Throw Down: 1 point for every team member who completes a given CrossFit Open workout at Cypher.
- Submit Your Score: 1 point for every team member who submits their score on games.crossfit.com. You must submit your score by 5PM PST on the Monday following the workout release.
- Set a PR: 1 point for every team member who achieves a “PR First” in a workout. Max of 1 per person, per week. This could be your first Double Under, T2B, Pull-up, 95# Clean, 225# Deadlift, etc. It must have happened for the first time the day of the Open workout (Scout’s Honor), and you must also have done it in the Open workout as well (as opposed to in the warm-up only). Quirky things like Unbroken rep PRs or fastest 500m Row split will not be counted. If the workout is a repeat from a previous year’s Open (there is always one) and you PR, that will count. You must note the PR on your Scoresheet in order to count.
- Share on Social Media: Up to 1 additional point for every team member who posts (or re-posts) a video or photo from the Open workout on Social Media. You MUST tag @CrossFitCypher and #2019CypherOpen. Post deadline is the same as the Games site score submission deadline: by 5PM PST the Monday following the workout announcement.
- Go Head-to-Head EARLY: 2 points (max) for the team of those who perform the workout head-to-head against one or more members of another team on Thursday night, immediately following the Games Announcement. Must be done head-to-head with at least one other person from an opposing team – solo won’t count.
- Show Your Spirit: 5 points to the team that wins the Spirit of the Open for the respective week. This will be awarded based on the team that cheered the loudest, got dressed up in the most colorful or creative way, and/or athlete who threw down for their team in a most spectacular way. This will be decided by a VOTE from participants each Saturday. You will not be able to vote for your own team. In the event of a tie, Cypher coaches will discuss and choose the winner for that week.
Cypher Intramural Open weekly scoring closes officially at 5PM PST the Monday after the Open workout is announced, and will be tracked on a special poster in the gym.
At the end of the 2019 Open, the team with the most points overall will have their team name engraved in bronze on the Cypher Health & Fitness All-Time Open Champion plaque!
Finally, the individual showing exceptional spirit and camaraderie throughout the five weeks of the 2019 Open will also be awarded the official Spirit of the Open hard hat.
What are you waiting for? Sign up for the Open today by going to games.crossfit.com, and let’s start the party!
See you at the gym –
Leslie