Transformation of the Open

The announcement of 15.3 tonight led to heated discussion everywhere over one basic question: what is the purpose of the Open?  I know what I think the purpose of the Open is.  After this evening's announcement, I know what Dave Castro thinks the purpose of the Open is.  There is a third option which I do not believe Dave Castro really put much thought into.  But we'll get to all these different versions of what the Open may or may not be soon enough.

Let's start with the workout announcement itself and why it became such a polarizing topic.  Have there been Open workouts with wall balls, double unders, and muscle ups?  Absolutely.  But the setup for 15.3 is such that you start with muscle ups (what I believe is regarded as one of the toughest movements, if not the toughest movement, in Crossfit), then proceed to wall balls, and then to double unders.  And the order of the workout is essential in determining whether you can do it.  (The official format was a 14 minute AMRAP of 7 muscle-ups, 50 wall balls, and 100 double unders.)

I have no idea what percentage of the 2015 Crossfit Open population has muscle ups, but it almost certainly is a tiny fraction of it.  Is it unfair to program something like this then?  Absolutely not.  There are many things in life that I do not like, but that doesn't make them unfair.  If they changed the rules of the game after I signed up, I would find that unfair.  But when I signed up for the Open, I knew that the workouts would be a surprise and that they could include anything.  And that includes all those movements that I can't do, as well as that even larger grouping of movements that I suck at.  Still signed up, still gave them $20.  Completely fair.  Do I think a workout like 15.3 is consistent with how Crossfit HQ portrays the Open though?  That's where I start to have problems with tonight's announcement.

A while back, I posted an article from the Crossfit Games website entitled "What Am I Doing Here?", authored by a guy who finished 70,616th in last year's Open.  He's in his mid-forties and weighs almost 300 pounds.  He goes to his box, he gives it his all, and no matter what the results are, he is embraced by the wonderful community around him.  Like all the folks he works out with, he's simply trying to get a little bit better each day.  The Open is the test of his improvement, along with everyone else he trains with.  This is similar to my view of the Open, one that focuses on the community and testing how much you've improved in some of the basic movements associated with Crossfit.

What 15.3 did was say "sorry, that is not what the Open is about" (we'll get to the Scaled option in a bit).  Anyone who watches the Open announcements or the Crossfit Games knows that Dave Castro is all about Dave Castro.  Huge ego, wants to show that he hangs with the titans of the sport.  Blah blah blah.  There is no doubt in my mind that he's trying to be Crossfit's version of Vince McMahon.  Good for him.  And maybe you do have to cater to the stars of the sport.  Happens all the time in other sports.  But you can't have it both ways.  Either the Open is to support everyone or it is to support the elite.  The Open doesn't lead directly to the Crossfit Games.  In between, there are Regionals to weed out the best of the best.  But now the Open is serving that function.  That is a very different role for this stage of the proceedings.

What is the impact of that?  Here's where I don't think Castro and Co. thought this out very well.  Whether you think of the Open as an event that draws the community together or one designed to separate the elite, it is most certainly a business.  275,000 people ponying up $20 a piece puts a cool $5.5 million into Crossfit's coffers.  Each year, the number of people doing the Open has increased by leaps and bounds.  Will that be the case next year?  I doubt it.  That doesn't mean the number will precipitously drop necessarily, but this move did not sit well with a lot of their clientele.  Why pay $20 for the choice between a workout that you cannot do or one that is weaker than the WOD you do on Wednesday night at the gym?  So you can find out that you're 83,000th in the world?  I think I'd rather keep training and save my money.

The last part that needs to be addressed is ego.  We might not come out and say it, but the Open is kind of an ego stroke.  "I did 100 reps of this last year and now I can do 108!  You may all bask in my glory!"  Putting the muscle-ups at the beginning of 15.3 was an ego destroyer.  Again, are people paying 20 bucks a pop to feel like less than they were?  Unlikely.  I was proud that I did all 5 workouts RX last year.  That was a big part of my progression.  Since then, I've worked hard to improve my weaknesses and now I'm...Scaled?  How did that happen?  Perhaps this is a one year kink of a phenomenon that needs to be worked out, but it is probably going to be damaging.

That isn't the only thing that needs fixing with the Scaled division.  Not all aspects of a workout have to be Scaled because you can't do the hardest workout in the regimen.  Not having a muscle up does not mean I can't throw a wall ball to the 10' mark.  Not having a muscle up does not mean that I can't do double unders.  Somehow Crossfit HQ couldn't figure that out on their own.

I also don't buy the "well maybe you should have practiced your muscle-ups" argument.  Just stop.  That is a very advanced movement.  When I was told that I should have practiced double unders last year, I got it.  When people told me to practice my pull-ups this year, I got it.  Let's not act like muscle-ups fit into that category.  Otherwise, I better start seeing 225 pound snatches and 500 pound deadlifts in the Open.  Can't do them?  Better train harder buddy!

So where do we go from here?  I hope the next step will be more divisions and better branding next year.  Call the levels "novice", "intermediate", and "competitor" next year.  Be clear about what types of athletes belong in each division.  You can still maintain the element of surprise in workouts without leaving them in the dark as to where they should be competing.

To those who can do muscle-ups, good luck with 15.3.  To those who cannot, I hope you tear up the Scaled version this week.  And for those Stud Muffins who are getting their first muscle-ups this weekend, congratulations.