IBCF 2016 Crossfit Open Recap Part I: Straight from the Athletes...
Since 2011, the Crossfit Open has been a platform for Crossfitters worldwide to participate in HQ programming and compete alongside the fittest in the world! Iron Bridge athletes had a GREAT representation this year for the Open! Twentythree IBCF athletes of all experience levels challenged themselves each week with these WODs and many more of the community came out to support at Friday Night Lights! The following sums up the 2016 Crossfit Open at Iron Bridge Crossfit!
IBCF: Why did you register for the Open?
Jeffrey Thomas: “Why not? I'm going to do the workouts, I might as well sign up.”
Jennifer Randall: “I mainly did I for myself. I liked being able to watch the leader board to see how I did compared to others in my division.”
Coach Andrea Duer: “Anyone that knows me, knows that ring mu are are something that I have struggled with my entire crossfit career. I signed up because I finally got to a place with them were I felt like I could at least get a few under my belt during the open. So I signed up to get that ring mu next to my name. I was secretly very happy that they never showed up this year!”
Jake Cummings (Open first-timer!): “Just to get in the gym more! It was definitely a motivating factor to prepare for the workouts. I'll be building on the momentum of the Open workouts as well to try and continue to be consistent with my workouts.”
Chris Hooley: “I love Crossfit community events. It’s fun, and it’s an opportunity to see where you’re at.”
Steve Grotsky (Open first-timer!): “I didn’t know what the open was even though I’ve been doing crossfit for a while, but when I found out you can see how you measure up against the world, it makes me want to work even harder and study more. The open let me see how far I’ve come since my first few days of onramp. Lastly, I registered because of Friday Night Lights, which was some of the best times I’ve had at Iron Bridge.”
Anthony Lehn: “I registered for the Open for multiple reasons. It's a simple way to support the Crossfit community. It's also a unifying event for Iron Bridge. Obviously, I enjoy competing and it's an easy way to do that. Lastly, I like tracking my fitness and the Open is an easy way to do that.”
(IBCF Comment - Are YOU tracking your fitness? Anthony makes a great point! It’s easy to track progress every week you train with the IBCF app or even a simple notebook! Ask a coach if you need help!)
James Simons (Open first-timer!): “I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself. I have always been curious where I would stack up against others in my gym, region, country, and world.”
Nathan aka Nate Jones (Open first-timer!) “Because everybody else was doing it and I would probably follow you all off a cliff at this point.” *IBCF Best Answer Award
IBCF: OK, so what was the BEST Open workout of 2015?
Meg McConnell: “16.3, I like snatches! And it was interesting learning the chest to bar
progression for scaled.”
Kelly McGinley: “...the 1st one. It really challenged me.”
James Simons: “16.3: Everyone was fully expecting muscle ups to be a part of one of the workouts, but I think we were all expecting ring MU, myself included. Earlier in the week of 16.3 I hit my first bar MU and was really happy about it. I never thought I would be able to string them together and get as many in as I did. The pressure of competition pushed me to get multiple MU along with many others who hit their first BMU that week.” *IBCF Best Answer Award
Jeffrey Thomas: “16.4 It wasn't the easiest workout, but I like the variety of movements. The load on the DLs was heavy, but not un-doable.”
Jake Cummings: “I enjoyed 16.2 the most. I liked the game of trying to get to the next 4 minute interval.”
Steve Grotsky: “16.5 was the best workout for me! I loved the thrusters at that weight and love burpees even more. You didn’t have to pace yourself as you can just hit the “go” button and go.”
Anthony Lehn: “Best open workout was 16.5. It certainly wasn't fun but I scored the best on 16.5 by placing 567 in the southeast.” (IBCF: Ant - you and Steve are two peas in a pod...the only two in that pod.)
Jenny Kelly: “I loved the 16.2 workout the best! It tested ttb, which has been an struggle but I've been working on those a lot. Double unders are one of my faves, and cleans are one of my favorite lifts. I struggle with weight in a workout, but I can push with cleans. I'd love to repeat this in the future to seeing I could get into that next round!”
Coach Andrea Duer: “16.2 was my favorite. Mainly because that was the only one with a heavy barbell. It was also a workout that was built to show off more than brute strenght. It challenged body weight movements, cardio, but most of all, mental fortitude. By completing each round, you just made yourself suffer more by having to do another, heavier round. Being able to take that challenge to willingly push yourself to another round of pain when you could have easily ended it is something great in and of itself.”
IBCF: Of course we want to know which you thought was the worst…
Nate Jones: “16.1. It was my first Open workout, and inexperience combined with a lack of
overhead mobility made me wish for a quick death.”
Joey Vazquez: “16.1 was the worst. I hate walking lungs without weigh, so with weight overhead was the absolute worst. I would be OK with never seeing it again.”
Coach Megan Flora: “16.2 crushed my soul and spirit. Hence, it was the worst. Every year there is always one WOD that makes me question EVERYTHING (oh and cry, haha) and this was the one. Hitting absolute muscular failure in all three (stubborn) attempts was devestating. However, I am really looking forward to trying this workout again in the coming months; it will be a great test of progress for me!”
Chris Hooley: “16.3 – had bar muscle ups, lost bar muscle ups…score = 10”
Ann Gallacher: “Surprised burpees appeared twice. Yay burpees, said nobody ever. HATED,
therefore, 16.5.” *IBCF Best Answer Award
Everyone Else (except Anthony and Steve!)...16.5! Jeff summed it up best: “It was the worst in 2014 and the worst in 2016. Thrusters and burpees are the two worst movements invented. Period.” - Jeffrey Thomas
IBCF: What movements do you all want to see next year? To name a few from our community….
OHS, Heavy Deadlifts, KB Swings, Tall Box Jumps, Ring Muscle Ups, Handstand Walks,
Running, and Pistols
IBCF: What do you movements NEVER want to see again?
Thrusters, thrusters, THRUSTERS, burpees, thrusters, and thrusters….
Nate Jones: “Overhead lunges. I still have nightmares.”
Anthony Lehn: “Unfortunately, the two movements I'm the worst at T2B and HSPU will always be in the open. So gotta keep working with Potter on the T2B and Andrew on the HSPU and just get better on them.
Joey Vazquez: I never want to see lunges again, ever.
Coach Andrea Duer: I don't love when rowing comes up, but I deal with it, other than that, doesn't matter to me!
Stay tuned for more from the athletes tomorrow. We'll get goals, favorite moments from Friday Night Lights and All the Feels!
