S03E86 LAST MINUTE PREP FOR THE 2023 NOBULL CROSSFIT OPEN

We discuss the biggest CrossFit event of the year for @crossfitbison - the Open is coming! Starting this year on February 16, the CrossFit Open, a three-week international competition where anyone — regardless of fitness level or ability — can compete in the biggest fitness competition in history.

This year is the big one for CrossFit Bison and for all affiliates and athletes out there! There is still a lot that you can do to prep for this event! We discuss tips on what to focus on in the gym and outside the gym in the next few weeks to maximize performance for the Open. Sign up today!

@crossfittraining @crossfit @crossfitgames #crossfit #sports #exercise #health #movement #crossfitcoach #agoq #clean #fitness #ItAllStartsHere #CrossFitOpen #CrossFit #CrossFitCommunity @CrossFitAffiliates #supportyourlocalbox #crossfitaffiliate #personalizedfitness

S03E86 LAST MINUTE PREP FOR THE 2023 CF OPEN

[00:00:00] David Syvertsen: All right. Welcome back to the Herd Fit Podcast. I'm Coach David Syvertsen here with my co-host, Dr. And Coach Sam Rhee, we are just weeks away from the 2023 CrossFit Open, and that is what will be our main focus today. This is usually the time of year where people are like, you know what? I should start working on my muscle ups

They might come up in the open. Or I'm gonna start taking CrossFit very serious cause I'm gonna cross the open this year. But no kidding aside, we have three fitness tests coming up. If you CrossFit and you sign up for the open, you have, that's what you have to view these as. All right. They're three tests of fitness.

No matter what level you're at, no matter what experience level you're at, and we want to dive into some of the obvious things that some of you, new PE, new people need to hear about. Some of you guys that have done the open for years. This is going to be my 11th or 12th I think, and obviously a lot of you guys know.

Much of what we're going to talk about, but we will make it interesting for you as well. But we wanna start off with just some of the basic, we'll do this quickly, basic routine of the CrossFit open, what to expect, what not to expect, and then we'll get a little bit more specific for you, Sam. We are how.

What open is this for you? Do you, off the top of your head? I think it's eight or nine. Eight or nine. So do you still get those like nervous butterflies that you used to? Yeah.

[00:01:15] Sam Rhee: So, you know, we've been doing open prep lately, and what I did was for one of the Friday workouts, I, I literally put it in my head that I was pretending this was an open workout.

Like, yep, okay, smart, I'm gonna get scored like an open workout. I gotta go like this is an open workout. Yeah. And the nu the amount of butterflies even. All this time I was like, I can't, I'm too nervous to even pretend. It's too

[00:01:38] David Syvertsen: scary. I don't want to pretend anymore . I'm pretending myself into being actually scared.

Yeah, that's like when you, you notice on these just so what Sam is referencing on Fridays, leading up to the open from January for the first Friday, January to the open, we do open prep workouts. They're very open style workouts. Movements loads, volume, intensity, all that good stuff. And we do heats. So meaning you have someone count for you, you count for someone.

And we do, I think we're six of these this year. It's a little shorter because the open's a little sooner and all, but one of them have a judge. So that is kind of what, in my opinion, that's what gives it the real feel. Someone's counting for you, maybe judging you a little bit. Right? In terms of giving you rep, no rep, that's not as important right now as it will be during the open.

But that even, I did the, I've done a couple of them and I, having a judge, it adds a different level of intensity. I love it, but you don't have to count. But it still adds that different level of intensity. So let's get into just some really, really brief history schedule. The next stages. We'll just chat about that real quick.

So starting on February 16th, if I have my date correct. Just want to confirm that. Yep. 16 to. That is a Thursday, February 16th. CrossFit headquarters is going to release a workout. The way in which they do this is they actually go to a physical location somewhere around the world. It's most of the time at a CrossFit gym, but not always.

Sometimes at the, at the headquarters. Not sure where it's gonna be this year. That first one, I think last year's first one was at their headquarters. Mm-hmm. probably just to play it safe, but and they announced the workout on camera and the cool thing about it, Is they bring games athletes, the celebrity athletes of CrossFit, they bring them to that announcement and they find out the workout right there, give them about 15 minutes to warm up, and then they do it, and you get to watch.

And it, it's a really, it's a fun tradition that CrossFit does. And that's how we find out the workout. During Covid, I think it was like a, an Instagram post, which is always lame. You know, finding it out like with someone actually saying it on camera is really cool. So you're gonna get three of.

All right. Three weeks in a row. That's the 16th, the 23rd of February, and then the 2nd of March. Okay. And from there, that's 3:00 PM Eastern is when that is released, you have until the following Monday night at 8:00 PM Eastern to get that workout done, submitted online, and that's it. That's all you have to do.

You don't have to come at a specific. You don't have to come on a specific day. You have four days to do a workout, four plus days to do a workout. So that's, that's what your weekly schedule will be. So we, we get asked this a lot. Should I sign up? I don't know if I can commit. If you're coming to the gym on one of those four days, get your ass signed up and we'll get more into, should I sign up?

I just started. Should I sign up? I hate competitive CrossFit. I don't, I don't like CrossFit hq, but I like my gym. We'll talk about that as well. . So that's only three weeks and then you're done for 90% of the people, and I bring 90% up because the top 10% of whatever division you're in, they move on to a next stage and.

That is, you know, we'll get into that a little bit, but Sam just opening thoughts on those three tests, the schedule, and we'll dive into the next stage right after it really

[00:04:54] Sam Rhee: de, I I feel like everyone should do the open. Yeah. Regardless if you have any contact with CrossFit, even if it's a passing contact you.

I feel so strongly that you should register, sign up for the open, do the three workouts, and there. You know, we'll probably go through about 15 different reasons why that's the case, right? I've done it every. I have never regretted doing the open. There are so many amazing memories I have as a newbie, as someone who's done it for a couple years and now, you know, going in on my eighth or ninth year, there are a lot of things that I will tell people.

Yeah, if you feel like doing it, do it or don't do it. This one I'm telling you. Take my word for it. No matter who you are, please, please sign up

[00:05:38] David Syvertsen: and do it. And it's, it's the most unique test of fitness in the world. There is nothing like this. Nothing. Because one of the cool parts about it, like I just said at the live announcements.

they, they have those games athletes, they do the same workout as you. And obviously we can't, it, it's not comparing yourself to them, but it, it, it's unique in that the best CrossFit athletes in the world, this is where their season starts and you get to do the same exact workout as them. They usually double, triple, quadruple scores.

But that's where it all starts for everybody. Whether we just had someone that signed up for bison, just started CrossFit two weeks ago. They're also doing the same workout or their version of the workout as Rich Froning. Not Tia this year, but any, any CrossFit celebrity, they're gonna be doing the same workout divisions.

They're, Hey, I can't do rx, I can't even do scale. Dave, I just started, there are three divisions. There are three versions of every single workout, and then they break it down into age groups. They have something called foundations. They really try to keep this as inclusive as possible, meaning you won't even use a barbell for some of these workouts.

They'll have you use a PVC pipe, or they'll have you do air squats instead of a front squat, for example. So I want to make sure everyone, if you're on the fence, whether or not you're capable of doing the open, Trust me when I say this. You are capable of doing the open. You are safe doing the open, and even if you have some sort of injury going on, we will modify further for you.

I had someone last year, Matt wk coming back from a shoulder injury, this might have been two years ago. Yeah. Where he's pretty fresh out of a shoulder surgery. He did the open and they had an adaptive division, meaning someone that. Does Ha does, has one limb, has one arm. There's versions of CrossFit Games, workouts, CrossFit, open workouts for the those people.

[00:07:17] Sam Rhee: That's what I love about the Open is they made it so accessible to everyone. Yeah. I don't know if there's another competition that includes everything, including adaptive, right? Upper extremity, lower extremity, neuromuscular. Yeah. I mean, the philosophy of CrossFit is that it should be for everyone, right?

And if you support fitness for everybody, Then you should support this.

[00:07:35] David Syvertsen: Yeah, so support. Let's talk about this for a sec, right Sam? I don't wanna support CrossFit. They said, you know, they're former ceo, three CEOs again said something on Twitter that I don't like, so I'm not gonna give them $20. , what's your response to that?

[00:07:47] Sam Rhee: Yeah, you know, I read a lot of this. I, I read the CrossFit form on Reddit. I, I saw so many posts about people saying, I'm not paying hq. I don't, because I'm not planning on competing, I'm not going on to the next level. I'll still do the workouts and it's fun to do them, but I don't have to lie in HQ's pockets.

You know, they're not giving us a t-shirt or a sticker. There's nothing that I get out of it. I don't need to see my name. 1000000th out of, you know, 2 million on a leaderboard. So like, forget

[00:08:18] David Syvertsen: it. Why do I have to do that? Yeah. And that, that's a very common response. And my response to that will be, let's go away from CrossFit headquarters on this.

And if your gym is hosting the open and they make somewhat of a big deal of it, it's their daily wad on the Friday, which is usually the case, right? You're supporting your gym by signing up for. And in my opinion, you don't need another answer. I, I if, if support is the actual thing. You don't want to give $20 in support of an organization.

You are saying you don't want to support your home gym. Your home gym gets $0 outta that, by the way. Right. Bison has one of the most in the world signed up right now. I think second most Brazil's coming after us, by the way. But we get zero money for that and Cool. We get an Instagram post every now and then.

I'll be honest with you, that doesn't even matter to me that much. The support I'm talking about is that our gym is a better gym. It is a better environment. It is a stronger c. when we have a lot of people sign up for this thing because it brings us together. Whether you love or hate the open, whether you do well or not, it brings our gym closer together.

It's been that way since 2014. It's why I've always pushed the open should be a big deal at our gym from year one. I've always pushed this and it's not for any reason. Other I do, it's not because I like the sport. It's not. Certain people do well, it brings the gym closer together. Magic happens in the open every single year, and if you sign up, you're gonna contribute to that magic.

If you don't sign up as you don't wanna support, you are essentially telling me you don't wanna support this gym. Or you're, so, you're telling your gym owner you don't wanna support them. And I do, I, I probably sound like I'm cramming this in a little too much into your head, but it's how we. I'm just gonna be real about that.

[00:10:00] Sam Rhee: I'm a little judgey. If you're the kind of person who does these workouts and doesn't pay 20 bucks, the only people who are allowed to do that is if you literally cannot afford to pay $20. And if that's the case, Honestly DM me. Yeah, I will pay your $20. I will feel very sorry for your financial situation, and I will comp you for that.

But other than that, then you're the same person who goes to Costco and eats all the free samples, , and then doesn't buy the product. Or you go to the Halloween and you take like big. Handfuls of candy out of the, like the candy bowl and don't leave any for anyone else. That's the kind of person you are.

And I don't respect that. CrossFit HQ put a lot of time, energy, and effort into building these workouts for everyone. Including the entire world on these workouts. Yeah, and they've espoused this philosophy. If you believe in the CrossFit philosophy, you may or may not have issues with leadership in the past or or what they've done, but if you truly believe that the methodo methodology is sound, fitness is sound, you are actually going to do these workouts because you think that they're of benefit to you, then there's no reason for.

Not to pay your 20 bucks

[00:11:09] David Syvertsen: and do it. Yeah, those are, those are strong, but good words, Sam. And the last thing we'll say about that is CrossFit would not be what it is today without the open. So that. If, if everyone was like you, you don't wanna sign up for whatever reason, you don't wanna support them.

CrossFit might not even be around right now. So that, that's the last thing we'll say that let's get into the more fun stuff about the open. No more guilt tripping . So here, here's a common question. Common thought. What can you do between now and 23.1? Okay, we're, we're just a few weeks away from this.

And kidding aside, what you do in the gym right now probably will not impact the open that much. If anything, doing too much right now is actually gonna make you worse during the open, so you have to be careful. But it is coming up and like, like any athlete that's trying to peak at a certain time, when I get like two, three weeks away from a competition, there's certain things you wanna go after.

My suggestion to you would be, let's get your thought away from making gain. Get your thought away from a lot of volume and go after intensity, go after stimulus. You know, there is a different energy, different speed, different intensity, different power output in the open than you can simulate in other workouts most of the time.

And instead of coming in six days in a row because you're trying to get in the best possible shape, cramming for the open, right? I would say take an extra day or two off. Or pick one or two days a week where you're really going after it, that's what you're pursuing. The stimulus. I've done

[00:12:45] Sam Rhee: heavy volume before.

I've gotten injured right up or into the open and struggled, and I think some of it was. Two parts. Volume was an issue where I really felt like I needed to, to make some big gains before I started the open. And the second thing was I wasn't really optimizing what I was doing outside the gym. Right. And this year you, I did do the reset challenge.

For the most part, I'm not doing the water or you know, some of the other stuff, but I am, but the things I'm really focusing on, Sleep and, you know, hitting macros pretty close. And I will tell you, just in the past two weeks, it's made an important difference. It's, it, it, I don't know if my performance is so much better.

The problem isn't. Yeah. My recovery is better. Yes. The way I feel during the workouts is better. Mm-hmm. and I feel like, You know, I'm a little scared when the open comes cuz you know, you gotta go dark a little bit if you're really competitive and I am sort of competitive with it. Yep, yep. I feel like I will have a little bit of an extra reserve when I have to

[00:13:41] David Syvertsen: push there.

Right. And it's also just the mental knowing that you are, you put everything, you're putting everything you can into it leading up to. Right. And we don't have to talk about like the past 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 months. Right. But since January, right, since the beginning of January and up till the open right now, and even through the three weeks of the.

I think mentally you're in a better place if you know you are making some, I don't, I hate to call 'em sacrifices, but you're setting yourself up to perform at your optimal level. When you know that you're doing that, it actually gives you more confidence in the middle of a workout. When you start to get tired, it gives you more confidence prior to the workout.

Right? I always tell athletes that I coach. I said, Hey, I get nervous too. But the one thing you can always come back to is I did everything I. and you still might not like the results. We'll talk about that later. Process over results. But if you know that you've lined up your water intake, your nutrition, your sleep, your recovery, made a co, you know, couple decisions around alcohol, right in, in for the sake of your recovery in between your hard sessions, right?

That just, that helps you a lot mentally during the middle of these tests. Next up I wanna talk about is the schedule. I get more questions on this. than any. You know, I, I, very few people ask, I think for the first time Amy yesterday asked me, so what do you think we're gonna see in the open? I think that was the first time anyone's asked, but the amount of times I've been asked about, what's the schedule?

Wait, what's going on here? What's that? I've probably had that asked me so far a dozen times. So let's talk about this because I think a lot of people are kind of in the, in the same group. So, like I said, the workout comes out Thursday via live announcements somewhere in the CrossFit world at 3:00 PM.

Monday night, you have to submit your workout. Most gyms not all, talk to your gym if you're not sure how this is gonna be handled. Friday wad is the open workout, so morning, midday night, and then a lot of gyms have a, a repeat or a makeup session on a Saturday or Sunday, and even in some cases a Monday.

The way bison does it is it's our WA on Friday. So I program for the gym. All right. I like to map things out weeks ahead of time. I don't know Friday's wad until Thursday at 3:00 PM so, you know, I have to program around that a little bit. Make sure we don't crush anyone Thursday, even think about it on Wednesdays too.

So whatever. But that's, that's something that you need to start thinking about Big picture first. Are you even around all three weeks, because this is right around President's Week. And, and unfortunately for, for myself, right? Selfishly, a lot of people are not gonna be at the open party this year because they're gone on vacation or they're even gone the next week.

President's Week is weird to me. I feel like I've talked to eight different teachers and they're all off on different times and weekends and days. I'm like, all right, what? I'm not even want to wrap my head around it anymore, but that's my first thing. Go look at your. right now. Are you around Friday the 17th, the 24th and then March 4th.

If you're not, you need to start thinking about how, when and where you're gonna get these workouts in.

[00:16:37] Sam Rhee: Yeah, you can do them. You can drop in at most boxes and just go ahead and do it. Yep. I remember coming back from vacation literally on a Saturday night and then doing it on a Sunday

[00:16:47] David Syvertsen: morning, . Yep. Yep.

You know,

[00:16:48] Sam Rhee: I, and it's okay. Yeah. I think the schedule is important. You, you, and I know you're gonna talk about it, but you also have to lead up into. Wet time of the day. I think it really does help to think about what time of the day you plan on doing these workouts. Right? Yeah. And sort of, you know, getting comfortable with that kind of schedule.

[00:17:05] David Syvertsen: Yep. As well. I'll give an example. Julia Kelly is going to, she's going away the first week of the open on I think she's leaving on a Thursday night or Friday, I forget. One of our athletes. Yeah. One of our athletes. And. , she pretty much needs to do the first open workout, like as it's announced like in the afternoon.

Hmm. Like probably within a half hour of it being announced. Mm-hmm. . So one thing she should do, if she can, right. is get in here on Thursday afternoons a few times between now and then and see how do you feel like, did you eat lunch? Too late now? Your stomach hurts. Did you eat, not eat enough for breakfast and now you feel weak?

You know how much water intake? What did you do Tuesday, Wednesday leading up to that Thursday? These are little things that go a long way, and it's for yourself. It's not for me. It's not to impress anyone. If you are chasing optimal performance, you need to know how your body responds to certain points of the day.

Example, Amy and I trained in the afternoon leading up to legends because we knew our workouts within the, we're both morning people, but we had to make a few changes. Not every day, just a few times. So you can find a new routine and. . There are people that do it on Thursday nights. So once you have that down, let's go next level.

On this next stage, what are you doing The two, three days prior to This is a really tough question to answer and I can't give a template. If Sam, what day do you know when you're doing the workout?

[00:18:27] Sam Rhee: Let's do an example. I was gonna talk about it cuz we've been doing, I had been doing it Thursday night because we recorded for the podcast and I know.

Confidence-wise? I don't know. Performance-wise, I might, I probably would've performed the same , but confidence wise, I felt like I took a hit doing it Thursday night. Right. And do I do that again this year? Do I really, you know, gun for performance and do it maybe on, if I did it on a Friday, I could do it again on a Sunday if I had to.

Yep. Like, you know, I was, I, I don't know. Yeah. What are

[00:18:55] David Syvertsen: you gonna do this year? I think. I, I, I run the open party Friday nights. Okay. So I think, I think I'm gonna commit to doing it Sundays only. Okay. Just Sunday. Sunday, Sunday. . Okay. Yeah. And. Yeah, we'll talk about, some people do it twice. We'll talk about That's, that's our next topic.

Yeah. So because of that, and I'm used to working out hard on Sundays, that that's one of my best days. I feel like

[00:19:19] Sam Rhee: I might do it Thursday nights, but if I do, I'm gonna start jumping into the wads on Thursday nights.

[00:19:24] David Syvertsen: Yeah. Just a couple. Yeah. To do that. Yeah. And again, it's not about like. Crushing it on a Thursday night, like this week's for example, we're just lifting on Thursday.

Right. But it's more about setting up your routine. I would say the one positive of you doing it at night is it's a little bit easier for you to come in a little earlier and get a longer, more intentional warmup. Yeah. Where if you're a Friday morning, 6:00 AM or you gotta deal with our parking disaster, get in here.

and you're kind of rushing through warmup. Yeah. Because the classes in the morning Yeah. Have to have two heats. And if the workouts are long, like warmups are not ideal unless you get here really early. Yeah. So that's something to think about. I, I want everyone to put some thought into that, whether you're taking it serious or not.

Here at Bison, I'm not gonna say that every other gym does this. We will, I have, I've gone to people's houses and judged their open workout on a Sunday night. I've met people here at Bison on a Monday at seven 30 when the workouts do at eight o'clock. We really, I, I make sure I kind of put myself out there for people that need specific time windows, example, I have people that are gonna be gone on vacation during the second week of the open.

They get. On a Sunday, they don't want to come in and do the open workout right away. I'm meeting him them here on a Sunday night, and we're gonna just go through a little workout, get their body moving, they're doing open the next day. Oh wow. Those are things that you, you should plan ahead now because I think you can optimize whatever performance you're pursuing.

Hmm. All right. Let's talk about optimizing performance in regard to all these different days. Repeats. Yes, new CrossFitters, people actually will do the same workout twice in a matter of two or three days with the hope that they get three more reps on a workout. ,

[00:21:03] Sam Rhee: how many times have you done

[00:21:04] David Syvertsen: repeats for the open?

Oh, man. So I used to be much more into them than I am now. But I would say I've probably done about 55 open workouts and I've probably repeated 25 of them, 25 to 30 of them. And did you do better for those 25 On All but the one that Adam Ranson judged me in 2015, , there was a workout, I think it was 2015 or 16.

, it was that nasty. 10 round nine thrusters, 35 double unders workout. Oh yeah. And I was like, really disappointed with, this is before I knew I was really bad at double unders. Like I always like, oh, I'm not, I'm not terrible. And then I do the workout, I wanna say it was like 10 0 3. I'm like, dude, I could definitely do this Sub nine.

Like I'm just gonna draw a pace for myself and for whatever reason after the workout, I finish in my head, I'm like, I definitely just took a minute off my time. And I'm like, and I'm like, Ramsen a minute off. Right? He just looks at me head like, No, you were slower . I was like, you gotta be kidding me. So, the reasoning behind this is always a really interesting topic, and I know more CrossFitters struggle with this than that are willing to admit it.

And I'm gonna go into why people stress out about this. But before we get into the specifics, just so everyone's on the same page. Example, let's say you do the workout on Thursday or Friday and. Your score is you got 150 reps on a workout, cool. On Sunday. You know, you th you thought about it for two days.

You're not too sore, you're not too beat up. You're like, you know what? I could have done better. And that's a common line. After I would say 97% of CrossFitters say that after a, an open, oh, I could have done better. I'm like, well, maybe you did. Maybe, but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. You didn't Right.

they'll come back to the gym Sunday and want to do it again. And because they're submitting a score and some of 'em are pursuing competitive goals, in my opinion, that it, it's worth it. Right. But that it sounds crazy. Like every time I talk about this, it sounds crazy and I've done it. I've done it. More often than not, I think, and I know you've done it a couple times.

Yeah. What are your thoughts about it from the outside perspective when you see someone else do it, but then I also want to hear what you say about your own experience, why you.

[00:23:18] Sam Rhee: You know, I, you're exactly right. After you finish a workout in the middle of the workout, you're like, I'm going as hard as I possibly can.

And then afterwards you're like, man, I could have finished a little faster. Right. And there are, I think, a couple reasons. I feel like it's worth redoing a repeat for me. Yeah. One is, if I didn't go in with a good plan mm-hmm. and I. Just kind of didn't follow what my structure and pace was.

Mm-hmm. or I had no structure or pace to it. And honestly, that's why I feel like Thursday nights are kind of tough because you don't have a whole lot of time to sort of structure out and, and think about it

[00:23:57] David Syvertsen: and talk, haven't talked to other people that have done it. Right. And then watch like

[00:24:00] Sam Rhee: 50 million YouTube videos, how

[00:24:01] David Syvertsen: to crush 23.1.

[00:24:03] Sam Rhee: So that's one thing. The other thing is, is if I truly effed up somewhere in the workout you know, and that can happen. So I would say, but I also always balance it with, if I do this, what price am I gonna pay for next week's workout? Yep. Is it worth it? Mm-hmm. . I think if my recovery is on point, my.

uh, Reserve. And what I can do in terms of repeats grows in the past when I've been really injured, I just had to give it all for like that one time. Right. And just do it. Yeah. And, and accept it. Yep. And that usually wasn't so bad. If you feel like you had that recovery and you are and you can truly do better.

I've seen so many people only get like two reps better. Yeah. Or three reps better. But on sometimes that makes a big difference. It does. And then sometimes it doesn't. Right. So it it, it's a, it's a difficult question as a coach to tell someone Yeah. What to

[00:24:57] David Syvertsen: do. Yeah. That's what I want to say. I want to get this out there.

Cause I know I'm gonna get asked this every week. I always. I will not judge you for redoing or not redoing, and I actually get a little disappointed. I think some people, I don't know if it's a jealousy factor or they just can't control their emotions. They're in the open. They'll get, like, they'll judge, they'll get angry at someone that's trying to beat their own score and try to repeat a workout.

I'm not like that. If you wanna redo it, let's do it. I'll help you make a plan. And I've done that several times. Deborah work comes to mind last year on the deadlift burpee workout, and I will say this, Almost always the reason why someone will repeat a workout and actually feel like they can do better from my coaching perspective is that they did not pace it well.

They went way too fast, way too early, and we talked about this all year and I still to this day, we get some eye rolls, right, where people just don't want to hear it, right? Like, no, dude, like I'm fine. Like I'm telling you, you're not fine. If you go way too fast too early, you're not, you won't get the same score.

You will be slower, your score will be worse if you don't know how to pace, if you don't pay attention into pacing. I think some people this will get hit in the face, in the, in the middle of an open workout and they just can't speed up. They mentally get drawn out. Emotional sometimes. Right. See people cry in the open all the time.

Right. And it's just like, if I started slower, I would feel better and I'd have a better score. Why wouldn't I do it? And sometimes it takes a second shot at a workout for you to really realize that the only reason, another reason why I think people repeat is when the higher skill movements come into play, muscle ups.

And they got there and they, they were failing last year's workout with the thrusters. Pull up, suss chest bar thrust. Muscle ups and some people worked on muscle ups all year and they, they didn't get it. And now the workout changes, okay, I no longer care how fast I'm doing this. I need to get a muscle up so they purposely go slower the rest of the workout because getting that muscle up is usually a big deal for their score.

So that's another reason why I think a really credible reason why someone would repeat. And lastly like I said at the beginning of the podcast, , if you wanna advance to the quarter finals, the next stage you have to finish top 10% in the world. And I've had people in this gym miss that by 1%. And that means that they got three reps more in every workout.

They would've made it. And sometimes the margin is that small. I've been on the losing side of competitions before where it's literally a rep. Six seconds, three seconds, and you know, you can make that up if you tried it again. But I wanna talk about when should you. do this. This is where I think more people need to hear this, because some people are truly on the fence and they used to be really good athletes.

They used to take this really seriously, but now they have kids jobs get here four days a week, maybe, you know, and they just have not fully accepted yet. You just cannot do what you used to do. When should you not redo the open workouts? For ego?

[00:27:41] Sam Rhee: Yeah, purely for ego and. ego is the mind killer for CrossFit in general.

I cannot tell you when I think about people who used to be good, who no longer do CrossFit, the number one reason why is

[00:27:55] David Syvertsen: ego. Yeah, I love that. No, that, that, that's 100% the answer. So people in this gym get very competitive and I think it's a good thing. I, I will go to my grave saying it, that if you get competitive in this gym, it is a good.

But if you do the workout and then someone, one of your opponents, does the workout after you and they get a better score, they quote beat you. They didn't beat you because you didn't do it at the same time, blah, blah, blah, but whatever. All right? That's gonna go in one ear, out the other. For too many people, they did not beat you.

Okay? They want to one up that person. And I'm telling you, man, this has ruined the open for so many people. And it's, it's a, it's a pride thing. It's an ego thing. So let's, let's use Sam and I as an example. Let's say Sam does the workout on Friday morning, 5:00 AM class gets a hundred reps. I do it Friday night.

At 6:00 PM I get 102 reps. What ? I would beat to buy more, but, we'll, we'll be nice. And Sam comes back on sun. Sam's pissed. He's, he's, you know, listening to motivational videos all weekend. Puts I black on before he comes to the gym on Sunday and gets 103 reps. Beats me on Sunday. His redo. I did not redo it.

Did I really beat? Did he beat me? Yep. I don't think so. . But I would even say this. I didn't beat him either because we did it at different times. If you have a number to chase, it's an unfair advantage. So I wanna get this thought in your head and I hope you take it in. If you go and redo the open workout so that you can one up someone else you did not.

just, and if that is why you're doing it, you want the win. You did not get it outta your head. It's not a win. It's almost like a, a cheap way of saying, I got more reps than you, and I love the idea of chasing after other scores. I've done it. I'll do it again. Right? But let's leave that at the gym. Don't take that shit home with you.

You're gonna ruin the open for yourself. And if that's not good enough for you, you're gonna ruin the open for other people. There are people in this gym that will not sign up for the open for that. So if you are someone that's like forcibly and obviously, and trust me, we know who you are. I've been doing this a long time.

I can see it on your face, right? I can see you looking at other people like it's easy to see now. It's so easy to see who does this. All right? You're going to ruin the open and you're actually gonna prevent someone from being a part of this. And the physical advantages of doing the open are not as strong as the mental and emotion.

And community aspects of the open, they're just not, and you're gonna take away all of that from them if that's where you're starting to go mentally. And if you do keep it to yourself. Right. But just get that in your mind. Like, it, it's not, you're not beating anybody by trying to come back and, and read it.

So I think that is a really poor reason to redo an open workout. It's

[00:30:33] Sam Rhee: seductive because if you're a pretty good athlete at your gym and you've been say, top five or top 10 or top 15, and you're like, I wanna maintain that, I wanna. show everyone that I am still that good. Right. It, it gets into your head right about, oh, that guy just got me this year and I gotta, I gotta try a little harder to beat him.

Mm-hmm. , that's a very slippery, slippery slope to, to go down. And I know it because I am competitive too. I look at everyone's rankings at the end of the year in our gym. Yep. Yep. You know, but I, and I hope, I truly do look at people and say, wow, you. That guy jumped five places. That's effing awesome. Yep.

Like I am neck and neck with this guy. Yep. That's that's great. Yeah. Like I don't, I never want to have it in my head like, man, I should have beat that guy. And so I'm just going to work and work and work because my only reason to do so is that I could say I am above this guy. Yeah. Like if I ever get to actually that point, then I know I've really sort of lost the reason why I

[00:31:35] David Syvertsen: should be doing this.

Yeah. You, you've made a mistake at that point. Yeah. And hey, We make them. We're not coming. Probably sounds like we're coming down on you guys. Like we're parents. We're not like it, it's have some self-awareness. That's all. Like, I, I, I'll compete

[00:31:46] Sam Rhee: like till my eyes Hell yeah. Like I will try 100%, but if that guy beats me, I will be so happy.

Yeah. If I know I gave

[00:31:53] David Syvertsen: my all. Yeah. And like I think you should take some pride in the fact that your score helped that person out. Like I know that sounds like so cliche and corny, but it's true. You know, if there's anyone in your gym. Don't like because you guys are competitive in the gym. You should actually be thanking them because they're making you better and vice versa.

My last reason not to repeat an open workout. Okay. If you're really, really, really sore, like I'm thinking about like these high volume thruster workouts, wall balls, like that wall ball row workout, if you know that, hey, this is, we're, we're starting to play around with some danger here. If you have a bad shoulder and there's like a high like snatch pull up workout.

your, your damage that you can do in that open workout can go a lot deeper than an extra couple reps, right? That spectrum is really wide, right? Like the negatives that can come from a workout that you're already beat up from doing the exact same rep repetitive movements at high intensity that can linger and create issues for you for a long time, just for maybe getting two more reps.

So I would just be really careful if there are certain movements that make you very. Injured. Right. You have to be able to kind of step away from the emotion of the moment and be like, it's just not smart for me to do, you know? So let's get into just a few more things left with what to expect. The CrossFit did come out with an equipment list.

All right. So we can maybe dive really quickly into maybe a few things to expect movement wise. Maybe a couple predictions that might be wrong, , but I don't want to break down every movement, so I'm just gonna list them through. What movements are going to be in the season, but that does not mean in the open.

Just let, because there's multiple stages to this. All right. Medicine ball, wall ball, two, kettlebells, barbell. Jump rope. Pull a bar. Wall space. Floor space up to 25 feet. Rower. Box. Bumper plates, obviously dumbbells and rings. One set of rings. Okay, so that is your pretty standard list of open equipment. Last year we didn't see wall balls.

Last year we didn't see rowing or kettlebells or kettlebells. And again, this might not be in the open. They might be in the quarter finals we had, we had a. We had heavy kettlebells in the semi-finals last year. So I'd be, I'm not sure if we'll see kettlebells in the open. What do you think out

[00:34:06] Sam Rhee: of those?

The rower, kettlebells med balls would be in the

[00:34:10] David Syvertsen: open this year because we did not see rowing and wall balls in the open last year. I think we're gonna see both. They might even be in the same workout. They're so standard for open workouts and the, the two of them could just ruin you in an open workout just based on how they manipulate.

How, like our open prep workout this Friday, like that wall ball workout's gonna be so gross, like, , that that's where they can really safely increase the intensity. Because again, you have to remember, the open's gonna try to be inclusive. I think the days are gone of seeing like high ring sorry, high volume ring muscle ups or workouts that start off with really high skill or go super, super heavy.

Like those ascending workouts. I think those days are done. But I think you can still test really high level fitness and the cream will still rise to the. When you get a rower and a wall ball involved, all the tall people are like, yes, yes. And yeah. So yeah, Amy's pumped right now. She's doing some fist pounds.

Another movement I would expect this year is Tobar. They've been in every single open other than last year. And because they were not in the open last year, again, it's a pretty accessible movement. Pretty doable movement for a lot of athlete. But you tell people to do sets of 10, 15, 20, the cream will rise and it still keeps it inclusive, but it allows the fittest to go do their thing.

So those are the movements I definitely think we're going to see this year. Row wall ball to the bar. What do you think about wall space? wall that's basically wall walked or handstand pushups.

[00:35:39] Sam Rhee: Yeah. I think I was thinking they're gonna put handstand pushups in this year. I agree. I don't think they would put wall walks in for,

[00:35:46] David Syvertsen: for a third time in the row.

Yeah. Like, I mean, how many more

[00:35:48] Sam Rhee: wall walks can you actually freaking do anymore? Yeah, right. Someone, oh my God. Ramsen was saying how about a wall walk? Wall facing handstand, pushup movement. And I was like, dude, if they do that, I will kill

[00:35:59] David Syvertsen: you because you just predicted it. I will

[00:36:02] Sam Rhee: kill you.

[00:36:03] David Syvertsen: Because that's awful.

That, that would be, I, I think that's a strict handstand, pushup facing the wall. I think it's tough to standardize right now. If we do see it, I think it'd be at a, at at next stage quarter finals of semifinals. Mm-hmm. , the wall facing stuff. I

[00:36:15] Sam Rhee: felt like we did so much dumbbell box stuff last year. Do you think they're gonna still have that kind of stuff this year?

Like we did like two workouts last year that had dumbbells and some sort of box

[00:36:25] David Syvertsen: involved. Wait, no. Not last year. Or was it last uh, the last two years we've had one. Yeah. So two years ago was a dumbbell snatch perpe box jump over. Last year was a dumbbell snatch. I think the dumbbell snatch needs to go this year.

I, I'm cool. I'm a fan of the movement, but I think. More creative things to do with the open, with the dumbbell. So I think you're gonna see a clean and jerk hang dumbbell, clean and jerk, like what we're doing in a couple days workout. You just did. Okay. One arm thrusters. I think that doesn't get programmed enough.

I always look at programming that CrossFit has put in two workouts in things other than the open. So if you remember, there was a workout during the fundraiser during Covid. Did a fundraiser workout, like support your gym? Mm-hmm. , one of the workouts had the one arm thrusters I think that could, that could rear its ugly head.

Mm. And blah, blah, blah, floor space. Okay? So they say you have 25 feet, you need to have like a zone of 25 feet for your athletes per person. Mm-hmm. . Last year there was a rumor that 22.1, instead of box jump overs was gonna be 25 foot shuttle runs. I'm not sure how many. And then I think that's like when cashew got fired.

And I don't know if that was like, Hey man, this is not inclusive for gyms. Some gyms cannot handle 10 people doing shuttle runs, right? It'd be tough for us. We can do it, but . Do you think if, if you had to say there's gonna be something where someone's traveling 25 feet, what do you think it would be?

[00:37:37] Sam Rhee: We've done lunges before. Yeah. Like walking lunges. Yep. I could see that coming

[00:37:41] David Syvertsen: back. Me too. Yeah. Yep. I like 25 foot double dumbbell walking lunges too. Like give the strong people their opportunity to do their thing. But you pair it with a, you know, a body weight type movement. Yeah. Be a gross workout.

[00:37:51] Sam Rhee: Yeah. I think the people who lift heavy feel like they've been cheated for the past two years. Yeah. So do you think that they're gonna throw them a bone this. No .

[00:38:00] David Syvertsen: Yeah. So yeah, let's get into that real quick. What to expect programming wise. This is, this is actually a topic coming up, so I don't wanna go too deep into it.

Yeah. But strength will be tested. Last year's strength was 225 pound deadlifts, which is not that heavy, but for some it is. And it was a hundred reps. You know, it was a workout that most people didn't finish, but it was still, that's a lot of reps for to, if there is a strength this year, . I don't think it's gonna be another hinge, meaning I don't think it's going to be a deadlift again, probably not even like a power clean.

I think there's gonna be something squat related that gets heavy. So that could be like a hang squat, clean. Hmm. A heavy, an ascending front squat workout. Mm-hmm. , a clean and jerk where maybe the weights go up. But I do think athletes should anticipate, I say this every year, the majority of the open is moving your body.

It is not moving. . And if it is something you ignore all year, it will pop up in the open. And I've had a couple strong people in the gym that I helped out with some programming stuff that's been 80% of their work for the past 11 months. Body weight? Body weight. Body weight. Body weight. Body weight, yeah.

Because

[00:39:02] Sam Rhee: that's more accessible than Yeah. You know, lifting a

[00:39:04] David Syvertsen: heavy barbell of some work. Yeah. But I do, I feel some pe I think there's some athletes in our gym that I would classify as top 10% athletes in the world, in their age groups. And they don't make the next stage because there just wasn't that lift.

The last thing I'll say about that is this, the open is three weeks now. It used to be five and I, I like three. I would prefer four, but it's okay. The problem with three is that if you, one of your main weaknesses pops up in the open and, and your main strength does not, you're the mar, you're gonna have a really hard time making up.

Four. Right? Where do you have five fitness tests? Like I'm always a fan of just gimme more like 10 workouts, 11 workouts, right? Because that will eventually average out the fittest people, right? But if it's only three, there's some luck involved. And I think everyone should anticipate that. And try your best not to complain when, when your strength doesn't pop up.

It's just, I've been doing this for a long time. It's a bad look. That's all I'm gonna say about it.

[00:39:55] Sam Rhee: Last question for me, selfishly. Do you think ring muscle ups will be in the open? I do not.

[00:39:58] David Syvertsen: Okay. Good. And, and if they are, I think it'll be at the very end of a workout. Meaning you have to get there and it will be hard to get there.

It is cool though in the open when people try go with that first muscle and they get it. It's like a magical moment. We've had it happen here a lot. Mm. But you can't have them a main focal point of a workout. And CrossFit used to do that, right? They used to put ring muscles at the end of the workout.

So if you got there and you, and you have them go do your thing, bro. But if you don't, it's okay. But it doesn't ruin the rest of the workout. All right. Now let's, the one thing I wanna push you guys to do is I want you to get into the community. . Okay. Like I said at the start of this, this is more important for the community than it is for you as an athlete.

Even if you take this serious and you see red every time you come to the gym, it's the community is more important. It's more important than your score, your friends score, the person you hate, their score. It's all about the community and. What can you do to help the community out during the open? And I have three really simple ones.

I promise they're simple. Show up and help judge workouts. All right. Especially if it's not a class structure, like open gym. We're always looking for people to help judge. It means a lot, right? I should probably show more gratitude. I just, during the, during the open, you're always just running around, but like those people that help up and showing the judge, they, they mean the world to us.

Okay. Helping out. There's a lot of workouts where we need to set up zones. We need to put weights away if we're allowed to help people put weights on their bar. If you remember last year's thrust workout, it's one of my favorite things to watch as a gym owner is the second someone's done putting their barbell down and going on to the next movement.

Before they come back to the heavier thruster, you'd have like seven people, like a pit crew. Clip off, clip off, wait off, wait off, wait on, wait on. We're done. They're like giving each other high fives, . It's an awesome thing to watch. My last one is simple show support. Another thing I love to see during open gym, this actually happens during Friday classes as well.

People will come in their work clothes and come cheer someone on a workout, and sometimes that's, it's a friend, it's a family member. It's someone that's really going through something and they need a little extra support. Right? I think that means the world, and that's what makes the open so unique that you just will never get.

[00:42:08] Sam Rhee: Anywhere else. Yeah. We've talked about the mental health benefits of CrossFit in addition to the physical fitness benefits of CrossFit and that mental health really comes a lot from community. Yeah. It, it really, you wouldn't get this benefit if you just worked out all by yourself constantly doing the same workouts if you didn't have a group around you.

Yep. And maybe it's a small group, maybe it's a really big group, but whoever that group is for you. Supporting them will in turn provide you more support than you've ever actually known. Yep. And I think of so many different stories of our own group here at our affiliate about. How many people have gotten through difficult times gotten better on, on so many levels, created new friendships through the open, through people they've never met.

And it was just because everyone was helping each other. Yeah. And the open is really kind of a special time to be able to do that. Yeah. We, like you said, only a couple times that are really big for the, for the gym and. Be one of the biggest.

[00:43:11] David Syvertsen: Yeah. And here, here's one thing I think you could help us out with.

Help your gym owners out. Not everyone, not every gym does it the way we do it, but go ask someone after the workout. How was it like, get them talking about it. It it like, especially someone that's not your friend , someone that's not, you train with all the time. That's why when I do, when I make partners for the open, I don't do it like I do Saturday part and workouts.

I'm not thinking about logistics as much. I actually try not to have all the best friends judge each other, account for each other for a, you're gonna let 'em get away with murder . But b, I think this is one of the huge opportunities that so many people miss out on. Someone that's new to the gym, maybe not that.

maybe still a little insecure about a couple things. If they have like one of the main people in the gym judging them, supporting them, and after the workout they're asking, Hey, how'd that go? How'd you feel? How'd that go? That could get someone to stay here for life. And yes, that could change someone's life.

You doing that? So I want to challenge you guys that. don't come to the open saying you need a specific person next to you. Don't come to the open saying you need a specific person judging you. Don't do it, please. Because I think you're missing out on the point of the community aspect of the open, and I hope everyone's on the same page with that.

I, I

[00:44:26] Sam Rhee: didn't realize, but just that one comment could make a big difference in someone just, just for that day sometimes. Like I just saw Mike McKinney and he's, he's getting prepped and ready and he's.

[00:44:36] David Syvertsen: On point right now. He's ready. He's both, both of them are

[00:44:39] Sam Rhee: right and he said, you know, I'm really looking forward to it.

But I just remember last year for the first open workout I barely remember it. I remembered it after he told me, he said, you know, before I started that workout, you came up and you said, you know, I think you have the capacity to go really dark on this one. Nice. And he is like, oh, okay, well I'm gonna go.

Really? And he went really

[00:44:57] David Syvertsen: dark. Nice. That's awesome. And so that means a lot. Yeah, it does. You don't, you have credibility. I know you don't wanna say that, but you have a lot of credibility if you say something like that. Well, you never.

[00:45:06] Sam Rhee: What positive or honestly negative experience you can have just by touching someone, by making a comment, something.

Right. You know, and, and vice versa. Right. And I've had the same thing happen to me too, with people saying stuff to me. Yeah. And so when you're around a bunch of people, and you get that, that,

[00:45:23] David Syvertsen: that's very meaningful. And, and it does not only apply to someone that's new, right? Like I remember my deadlift, burpee workout last year.

I had you judge, and like you said, a couple things to me and just the way you judged me with like the fingers, the counting, like you did it so official, like it helped. And like that meant a lot to me, right? And so it's not just someone that's like new to cross that, that's obvious, right? And this is an intimidating place to come to, especially during the.

Right. If you're just sitting there chatting with your friends, judging them high fives, you don't talk to them at all. Like kiss that person goodbye and you could say that's your fault. You know? And I think that if you want your CrossFit affiliate to really do its job and do for others what it did for you, you gotta be on the other side of that.

And. Again, talking to someone like what Sam did to Mike last year, simply going up to them after the workout, congratulating him high five, and then ask them about like, you care. Ask them. Listen to them. All right? Last part about this, guys. I want everyone to embrace your results. , all right? Embrace them.

The, the results of your workout, they, they're object objective, okay? You had a judge, you had standards. Hopefully you hit them all right? And that your score is your score. The score, whether it's good or bad, does not define you as a person, how hard you work, how hard you didn't work. We don't go there with it, but it, it's your score and you might get out of the open and be like, wow, like I'm not that fit.

you are. Trust me, you're probably top 1% in the world. Alright? When you think about what people are doing out there, but. It, it, no matter what reaction you have, it's the result of your process. It's what you did over the past year, two years, three years, four years, five years. And that sometimes it's hard to swallow.

I've been on that side where like, you know what didn't put the time in on this movement, on that kind of workout. And, and that's life. And I, I think that if you can embrace. , whether it's good or bad, it shows a lot of emotional maturity in you. And you don't just go into a rabbit hole if you have a bad workout and hit the wall and cry and make everybody around you uncomfortable, right?

But you also don't just go on this immediate high and start bragging and making other people feel bad if you have a great workout. I just want you to simp. Embrace your result for what your result actually was and know that that came from the process. Nothing else. You didn't get unlucky, you didn't get lucky.

It's just that's your result.

[00:47:45] Sam Rhee: I have, I wanna say I feel so much pride in everyone. Who puts themself out there. And I've had people last year who said, you know, I haven't been going for a really long time. I don't even know if I can do foundations, but I wanna support the gym, so I'm gonna come out and do it.

And they did it, and they put themselves out there. They did what they could, and I. applauded them because that took grit. And then I also saw people who were like, you know what? I am so close to making quarter finals and they didn't make it. And they're like, you know what? Fuel for the fire for next year and I'm gonna grind and I'm gonna make it next year.

And I was so proud of them too. Yep. Every person from the highest level of fitness down to someone who is just coming back or who was brand new, if you put yourself out there, cuz it's scary, it's really scary Sometimes if you do that it it will pay off.

[00:48:33] David Syvertsen: Yeah. To echo Sam and to, to wrap this up, guys we have all the respect and pride in you for, for signing up and doing these workouts, and I hope that that can help you not put pressure on you, that putting yourself out there like that.

Most people don't do it. They don't out there in the world, you know, a lot of people do it here and, but out there it makes you different and this is something that can really help you grow as a person, as an athlete, physically, emotionally, mentally. All right, thanks guys. We'll see you next week.