It’s almost here: the 2024 CrossFit Open begins THIS MONTH! Read on to find out what’s going to be happening at SCFIT in the coming weeks, and how you can get involved!
The CrossFit Games in a Nutshell
In case you missed our recent blog posts about The CrossFit Games: What We Know So Far and The CrossFit Games: An Update (and if you don’t have time to catch up on those now!) here’s what you need to know:
- The CrossFit Games is an annual event, where athletes from around the world will compete in various categories (including age, team, and adaptive) in the hopes to be crowned The Fittest On Earth
- The qualifying rounds begins with The Open: an inclusive, open-to-all series of 3 workouts spread over 3 weeks, for participants to attempt in their own gyms.
- Budding competitors will hope to qualifying for the subsequent ‘rounds’ (Quarter Finals, Semi Finals) in the hopes to make it to the in-person CrossFit Games, but for thousands upon thousands of other participants around the globe, The Open serves as an inclusive community event, celebrating CrossFit worldwide and allowing athletes of all abilities to be part of something bigger, together!
Let’s make this official
…if you want to! What we mean by that is: if you want to officially take part in the CrossFit 2024 Open, we’d highly encourage it! This will mean you will need to complete the workouts exactly as written (don’t worry – there are various options to cater for all abilities, but you must choose one ‘set’ option to suit you) and carry out the movements adhering to the given standards. This might mean for example – making sure you squat below parallel, and use the exact weight specified on a Barbell / Dumbbell. The cool part is that your scores can be submitted and viewed as part of a worldwide leaderboard, so you can check out how you fare against the wider CrossFit community! Even if this part isn’t of interest to you, it can be an awesome way to track your progress each year, and celebrate improvements (such as levelling up a category in the workout options!). To register, head here.
A note on CrossFit Quarter Finals
If you’re undecided about whether to officially register for The CrossFit Open or not, please take a moment to consider any impact this might have on Quarter Finals.
The online Quarter Finals are the next qualifying round after the CrossFit Open, and this year, the top 25% of CrossFit Open participants will be invited to take part in this next round. This is a huge increase from previous year’s top 10% only, so will of course mean participate numbers will greatly increase. This poses an extremely exciting opportunity for higher performing Open athletes who might’ve missed out on the 10% cut in previous years! Quarter Finals workouts tend to involve more specialist kit (such as the GHD, high rope etc) and at SCFIT we plan to do our best to provide the necessary set up for any athletes who have qualified to take part in the Quarter Finals. This means that if you would like to be in with a chance of qualifying for the Quarter Finals and taking part in the online QF workouts at SCFIT, you must officially register for the Open. For safety and logistical reasons, non-qualifying athletes will not be invited to take part in the QF workouts.
What’s the plan at SCFIT for The CrossFit Open?
Whether you decide to officially register for the 2024 CrossFit Open online or not, you are invited to take part in The Open events at SCFIT! As previous years, we will hosting…
Friday Night Lights
Every Friday for the three consecutive weeks of The CrossFit Open, the SCFIT Team will run Friday Night Lights: a chance for members (whether ‘officially registered’ or not) to book a slot and take part in the week’s Open workout! Workouts will be judged by a fellow SCFITter (to monitor movement standards and count reps!), and members will be encouraged to stay, support and cheer on their peers for the evening!
The Format
The 6am, 7am, 9:30am and 12pm classes will remain on the timetable as normal each Friday, but the afternoon & evenings workouts will be replaced with bookable slots for members to take on The Open workout in heats. Instead of running like a typical class, members will instead be provided with a suggested warm up by the SCFIT coaching team to complete in their own time, in designated space on the gym floor, either on their own or with heat-mates. Coaches will be on hand to answer questions and provide tips! Participants will then begin their workout at sharp at the start of their booked heat time.
The Workouts
Each Open workout will be released on the Thursday of that week, in a Live Announcement by CrossFit HQ. You can watch the announcement online if you want to! The SCFIT team will find out about the workout at the same time you will: we will not have any further information ahead of time. Upon release, a workout guide (including movement standards and workout options) will be available online. The SCFIT team will collate the information and form a plan for the next day (including suggested warm up routines and tips!).
Next Steps
1. Register
We encourage all members to register formally for the CrossFit Open, which you can do here! It is a brilliant way to get involved in the wider CrossFit community and be part of something Epic!
2. Ask Questions
If in doubt, ask! Ask the team as many questions as you have, and they will be happy to answer…. Unless your question is “What are the workouts going to be”…in which case, your guess is as good as ours!!
3. Get Involved
Whatever you do, be sure to get involved. Even if you decide not to formally register, come down on the first Friday Night Lights and see what it’s all about! Nothing represents the vibrant and supportive community at SCFIT better than our inclusive events, and The Open really is the vert best example of this. Take part, judge other heats, shout encouragement and post your bright spots online – be a part of it!
Watch this space and keep your eyes peeled on your inbox for more updates, and we’ll see you in the gym soon!
Looking for a welcoming, inclusive gym in Stirchley, Birmingham? Book your free No Sweat Intro with a member of the team now to find out what we are all about.