06/10/2023
The Open was always a trip.
A once a year formalized test of your overall work capacity.
There were standards and you’d have a judge for your workout.
That kept it honest and leveled the playing field in many ways.
If you had somehow managed to shave reps and short range of motion in classes without getting called out, you were in for a rude awakening.
More than once athletes lost it on me as we did our best to hold the standard.
But there was so much positive too.
It caused people to push harder and to achieve things that just weren’t possible outside of a competitive environment.
First pull ups, first muscle ups, first handstand push ups, PRed lifts. There was magic in the air.
People were AMPED!
Was it all fun and games? Absolutely not… especially for the affiliates that had to implement workouts they had no say in on short notice.
Some of them were excellent tests of fitness. Others were just recipes for back pain.