The shortest off-season in the history of the world’s new favorite fitness competition is coming to a close as athletes all over the world are prepping for the 2020 CrossFit Games Open.
Workout announcements will coincide with a head to head throw down between Games veteran Scott Panchik and 4-time Games champion Rich Froning. The workout is taking place in Austin, TX
Only 67 days separate the announcement of workout 20.1 and the closing ceremonies of the 2019 CrossFit Games. The last ten years of Open competition has ran primarily during the month of February, giving athletes six months to train, recover, and prepare for the national competition.
CrossFit director and programmer Dave Castro will announce a new work out to be performed by registered Open athletes. Athletes will submit their score online and recover while they wait for the next week’s workout to be announced.
Participants hoping to have their scores qualified must validate video submissions by following guidelines available on CrossFit.com. Any athlete registered for the Open is also subject to random drug testing.
After five weeks of the Open, the top men and women in each eligible country are declared national champions and qualify for the CrossFit Games. National champions and the top 20 from the Open compete for the title of Fittest on Earth at the CrossFit Games, held in Madison, Wisconsin.
Though qualifying for the games is at the forefront of Open-season discussion, most of the athletes participating in this year’s Open are doing so in the spirit of self-betterment. This is the same spirit that drives performance on a daily basis in affiliate gyms across the globe, but the inclusiveness of the Open competition provides participants with a universally singular focus.
Most of Castro’s favorite movements in Open competition are body-weight exercises. Chest-to-bar, toes-to-bar, and double-unders have been the trifecta of the Open, programmed in every competition since its inception in 2011. Thrusters are the only bar-movement included in every workout in the Open’s ten-year run.
Workouts can be accessed online and conducted any place that has weightlifting and fitness equipment.