The 2021 CrossFit Open will certainly not look like any that has come before.  You can be certain that we will not be gathering en mass to fire up the BBQ and our competitors.  No, this year our Empower Open athletes will have to bring their A Games out of view of the bright lights and cheering throngs. 

This year the Open will be only 3 weeks long with 1 workout released each week starting March 11th and the usual 4 days to get it done.  In addition to teen and masters divisions there will be the RX’d, Scaled, Foundations (even more scaled) and even a “No Equipment” division so everyone can play even without gym access.

Judging has also been simplified with Zoom judging allowed.  So if you do ther WOD on Zoom with a qualified judge present on the other end we can validate your score.  Of course, with every class an open gym you could also book into the gym and bring a live judge along with you to validate.
  
In some ways this simplifies things.  Since most events are under 20 minutes you can probably take turns judging a friend and having the judge you in the same open gym, if you are the same household you can even share space and equipment.

It sure won’t be the celebration we are used to but the coveted Spirit of the Open award will still be on the line and DT insists there will still be costumes.  Who am I to argue with last Open’s Winning Team Captain & Spirit of the Open recipient?

Why join the Open this year?  I think Shades said it best.  Here are her key points:

1) Inspired by and want to support the efforts by CrossFit  to make the Open more inclusive and promote fitness for all (CrossFit has just added new divisions including equipment free, foundations and masters 65+ in order to make the open more accessible to everyone) show them that this is a move in the right direction by signing up.

2) The impact on people’s health wrought by COVID shut downs in this world frightens me.  The Open is a positive step to get people back into action and playing again.  Support the initiative.

3) CrossFit took a real beating in 2020, it should be acknowledged for how quickly and effectively the organization moved to identify its failings and recreate itself.  It appears that CrossFit is coming back stronger than ever and we ought to support that as well.

And one more piece that I want to add:

4) At Empower we have a fantastic community and we are part of a larger, worldwide community.  Putting your score, not just in Zen Planner where our Empower community can see it but on the worldwide leaderboard where all your fellow CrossFitters around the globe can see it, is a way of reaching out to everyone who has struggled to survive this past year and telling them “I’m still with you!”  It doesn’t matter that I’m not in the best shape of my life or that I have to do the WOD wearing a mask or that I’m not all fired up for the Open.  We here on the West Coast have had a rather easy time of it, in other provinces and countries our fellow affiliates and CrossFit brethren have really struggled.  It matters that I stand with our worldwide community to show that COVID did not stop us, shut downs did not defeat us and that we are and will remain absolutely unstoppable!  I can’t think of a better way to signal this than by doing the Open WODs wearing a costume as per DT’s orders and then logging my score diligently each week.  This is something bigger than me or my performance, it is a contribution to our community and the better, healthier world that CrossFitters dream of creating.  We are leading the charge on health, and we lead by example.

Register here: https://games.crossfit.com/

Get qualified as a judge here: https://oc.crossfit.com/course?id=43


Friday WOD
I love the partner WOD!  Hard Rock kindly partnered with me on this one and totally kicked my ass as she pushed me to try to match her pace.  She didn’t complain once about how I slowed her down.  We managed 5 rounds & 50 reps RX’d.  If you do this with a member of your household you can share a station and equipment or you can do this as Hard Rock and I did from different stations.  If you’re on Zoom, grab another Zoomer on an in-gym member for your partner and team up.

Equipment: rower or alternative cardio, barbell or alternative, KB or alternative

Warm Up
2013 Time Capsule
6 min AMRAP
4 Alt. KB TGU
10 KB Burpees

Tech:
Row & Alternatives
Burpees
Power Cleans

Hero WOD Laura
In partners, tag team style:
21 min AMRAP
30 cal Row
20 Burpees over the rower
10 Power Cleans

Cool Down
Yoga Flow