Am I still in one piece?
This is the question I asked myself a couple of times during these last three weeks. The challenges we faced as a gym are crazy with these workouts. So cool that we were able to do this together.
One of the cool things is that overall we were actually prepared for this Open in many ways. Coach Paloma text me a couple times commenting on how amazing it was that we were moving in very similar patterns as Dave Castro. We did same arm (non alternating) KB and DB work multiple times before the open, we did the same weights on our thrusters last monday and did muscle up drill work the week before. We did double under skill work the week of 24.2. It was really fun to have had such an accessible Open this year for so many of our athletes and that the surprise factor was limited to the double hip extension weeks.
Like I said a few months ago when I first started talking about the power of the Open, “crazy things can happen”. And they did for some of us.
Kai got 2 muscle ups in 24.3, a goal he has had for 4 years.
Some first time/ first time in 6 years, unassisted pull-ups.
Chest to bar pullups for a few of you
A bunch of you did your first Open ever.
Some people RX’d workouts for the first time in the Open
Lost voices from screaming at each other. All kinds of goo things.
There are so many really cool moments. I was impressed by everyone's effort this year and can’t wait to see how it propels each of us forward in the year to come. I even had a conversation with one athlete who said this inspired her to want to compete more because of the amount of push she gave herself. The Open magic dust strikes again. But seriously that is the power of competing, it really does give us that extra boost we might have needed this whole time.
Remember that we are all more capable than we ever thought possible. That is both really amazing and completely shocking. Because how can we go from trying all year and not even getting close to say, a pull up and then all of a sudden we click off 7 of them in 24.3? Thanks Hannah for these awesome photos!
What was your favorite moment of the whole Open? I know I have a few.
Keep Building,
James Cooper
