Tag: CrossFit Games Open

2017 CrossFit Games Open Results

As previously mentioned, due to tweaking my back, I wasn’t able to do the 5th and final workout of the Open this year. I’m feeling good to go now and didn’t want to delay my attempt on 17.5 any longer, so I did it in my garage yesterday.

When the workout was announced I knew everyone would be tricked into thinking they had to do the thrusters unbroken. It’s the beauty of the workout design. Change it from 9 to 10 reps and people would have thought different about it. I tried to convince people breaking up the thrusters would be beneficial, but nobody believed me. I certainly didn’t plan to do 10 sets of 9 unbroken thrusters.

I split up the first 9 sets into 5 reps, a strict 3 count to rest, and a set of 4 reps. I did the 10th round unbroken. It worked out great and allowed me keep a steady pace through the entire workout. I geek out a bit on split times over on my workout blog if you’re interested in that kind of thing. Finished the workout in 13:28.

While not official results, I calculated where I would have ranked this year if I had been able to submit this score. Overall through the 5 weeks I would have had 139,975 points in the Open division, ranking me 20,616 / 201,951 (10.2%) and 18,825 points in the new Masters 35-39 division for 2,455 / 38,106 (6.4%). My best year yet!

CrossFit Games Open Ranking History

  • 2012: 16,395 / 20,857 (78.6%)
  • 2013: 9,251 / 43,479 (21.3%)
  • 2014: 13,721 / 66,904 (20.5%)
  • 2015: 13187 / 118,237 (11.2%)
  • 2016: 19,060 / 139,037 (13.7%)
  • 2017: 20,616 / 201,951 (10.2%)

I don’t know why, but a bunch of these previous year numbers are substantially different in terms of participation (lower) that I’ve written about before. According to the current CrossFit Games Leaderboards it’s the data I come up with though. I always base it off the number of men who completed at least one of the workouts.

Zero Reps On 17.5… For Now

My 17.5 will have to wait. I tweaked my back 6 reps into a 17.4 redo on Sunday and it has turned out to be the worst one I’ve experienced. Walking and basic human function has been challenging most of the week. Thankfully I finally started to see some improvements this afternoon. I made it to the gym tonight to watch some of the crew crush the workout and then got to enjoy beer and pizza with everyone.

I’ll battle with 17.5 in a few weeks when I’m healed up. I’m going to finally find a PT and hopefully correct whatever keeps causing these back problems.

Why I Compete in the CrossFit Games Open

2013-crossfit-gamesThe 2013 CrossFit Games season kicked off on Wednesday night with the live announcement of Workout 13.1 and a throwdown between two of the top athletes in our sport.

I’ve been chatting with friends back home in MI, a cousin in Texas, and friends at the box here in Phoenix all week. We’re sharing strategies, giving pep talks, and excited for one another.

As of Wednesday, over 120,000 athletes from around the world had registered for the Open, with many more to register before the close of the first workout on Sunday. Registrations should easily double the total of 69,560 in 2012. CrossFitters everywhere are excited for each other. There is no other community like this.

Most of us have no chance at qualifying for Regionals or the Games. However, we will accomplish things we didn’t know we could. We’ll set PRs. We’ll push harder than we have in any other workout. We’ll sweat, cry, yell, and gasp for air; maybe all in the same workout. We’ll have a lot of fun and make new friends.

Many of us loved to play sports in high school. We miss the competition, the adrenaline rushes, and being compared to our peers. The CrossFit Games Open gives us all that and more.

I get to compare myself to CrossFit athletes around the world. I’m not the best athlete in the world or even at my box, but after 5 weeks, I’ll know exactly where I rank in the world and that’s pretty fucking cool. Since I competed last year, I also get to measure my improvement. The registration fee might be the best $20 I spend all year.

Do CrossFit. Prove your fitness. Tomorrow afternoon I’ll try to prove mine in 13.1.