Our Empower team definitely DID NOT SUCK as everyone showed up determined to give their best in the third and final week of the 2021 CrossFit Open.  The seemingly endless string of personal bests in 21.3 & 21.4 made me want to order a marching band to storm through celebrating our wins!


It started Friday when Shorty stepped up on short notice to make room in Saturday classes by doing her WOD early and putting up a sensational 135lb barbell complex which puts her in competition with many of the men at Empower.  Then Motor one-legged her way through front squats and thrusters like a champ. 

The show of strength continued Saturday morning when Shades disregarded a dysfunctional shoulder to complete her WOD.  Dauntless followed suit and despite some nagging knee issues her squats and thrusters looked rock solid as all her technical practice paid off.  And when it came to the lifting complex she surprised herself and Motor as she taught Motor that fractional plates cut both ways!  But inspired by Motor’s ingenuity, many on the Empower team took advantage of the fractional tactic to climb a few places on the worldwide leaderboard.

Fierce gave Sprite great T2B coaching leading to a superb performance.  Pepper who’d worried the night before about pull ups executed without any trouble at all.  Venom scored his first C2B pull ups.  DT in colourful Hawaiin vacation mode completed a 110lb barbell complex for a personal best while on Zoom Jedi and Sydney both completed personal bests at 95lbs!

The action continued on Zoom as Gymkata performed the daunting equipment-free version of the WOD which included dips between 2 chairs, masterful pistols, and – the highlight of my day – freestanding handstand shoulder taps!!!  Unreal.  She didn’t just get some reps, she completed round one and made it into the second round of freestanding handstand shoulder taps before time ran out.  Coolest thing I’ve witnessed so far in 2021.  Gymkata, you totally ROCK!!!!

We weren’t finished though. Fierce showed up dressed like a boss.  She and HeeHee both went unbroken on the fronts squats and thrusters – like a boss!

Noon swingers Smash and WOD Father did some wife swapping as they took on the WOD together, HeeHee helping Smash across the finish line and HHH taking care of sport-loving WOD Father who came dressed to play with a sound track to match and managed a 12lb best on the hang squat clean.  It was a sketchy catch in the squat as he teetered back and forth trying, and eventually succeeding, in finding his balance and standing the bar up.

Elsewhere Silk exceeded her goal of making it to one bar muscle up – no doubt thanks to some next level coaching (all glory to Sandman) – and then scored 120lbs on the barbell complex.  I hear Sandman himself got 7 bar muscle ups and a 200lb barbell complex!

I saw nothing but phenomenal performances from our athletes Friday and Saturday.  We can only hope that our remaining athletes have as much success Sunday and Monday as the 2021 CrossFit Open winds up it’s final week. 

Let’s give one more shout out to all our wonderful judges who took the time to get certified and made time to support our athletes.  A fantastic job was done by all!  Having a great judge makes competing a much better experience.  I want to personally thank my 2021 judges Fierce, Shine and HHH whose excellent judging allowed me to have a fun and successful 2021 Open experience!

The weekend’s action should have provided us many nominees for Spirit of the Open and we are now asking for your vote.  Who inspired, motivated, helped, impressed and brightened your life the most this Open?  Let us know: [email protected].

Monday WOD
Yay!  A low-intensity, technical lifting day that will allow us all to play together.  And after the weekend’s challenging workouts, this snatch session which should take place at 70-80% of your max, is a nice change of pace, a chance for your body to recover and reset as you focus on technique instead of power.

Equipment: PVC pipe or alternative, barbell or alternative

Warm Up
4 min AMRAP
10 Shoulder Pass Throughs
10 OHS
10 Snatch Balances
10 Sott’s Presses

WOD/Tech
Muscle Snatch 1-1-1-1-1
Power Snatch 1-1-1-1-1
Squat Snatch 1-1-1-1-1