CrossFit Sectional Games

I think everyone should sign up for the CrossFit Games Open. Whether you're new to CrossFit or if you're a seasoned vet… this is the absolute best opportunity to shape yourself into becoming the best athlete you can be. It may not be overnight… but you really learn a lot about yourself through this experience.

Here's my top reasons why you should participate…

• It exposes your weaknesses. We all have goats (HSPU, pistols, muscle-ups, etc) but these WODs really expose the ones that you may not think of like overhead strength, your core, those pesky Toes to Bars, or even pushups. Personally, I learned that mine is endurance. When I start getting tired, I wanted to quit and lay down in the fetal position and catch my breathe. But did I? No. Why you ask… Because I had these amazing people around me that knew that I could keep going and believed in me. As much as I was gasping for air and thought I was going to pass out… I kept going.

• It teaches you full range of motion (ROM). When you have someone right next to you judging every single rep, you learn real quick what full ROM is. Everyone should try to do full ROM all the time… not just during the Games (open up your hips on those box jumps, keep your body in a plank when you do your pushups, hit the bar with your chest on your pullups, get below parallel on your squats, etc). Don't sell yourself short for the sake of the clock… you're the one that really loses out. If you do full ROM for every WOD… it just makes the Games WOD that much easier for you. There's no worse feeling than doing all the work to get a rep in… then not having it count. Long story short… make every rep count.

• It pushes you to your limit… and then some. There were athletes that not only hit PR's in their overhead squat and their clean and jerks… but they took that PR and did it again and again and again in the Games WODs. The next time they try to PR that lift… you know they are going to blow right past it. Almost everyone is stronger than they think they are… sometimes you just need people to believe in you and the Games WODs help you overcome the self talk in your head ("I can't lift that" "That's too heavy" "I've never done that before"…). If you miss a lift, shake it off, and GET BACK ON THE BAR!! If you quit every time you fail… then when will you ever succeed?

• You get to work out with fellow Crossfitters that you may not know or ever see. I'm a late night 5:30 or 6:30 PM girl… I couldn't even tell you who works out early in the AM. I made a lot of really cool friends though these last weeks and was able to be pushed and inspired by people I wouldn't have had the opportunity to really get to know. My CrossFit community just got bigger.

In the end… it doesn't matter if you ever get points on the board for the team. Just being there and being involved helps you, the CrossFit Sioux Falls team, and every other athlete there. There will be some WODs that you smash and there will be others that you struggle to finish and that's what makes the Games WODs great. There's not a lot of circumstances that allow you to overcome various challenges (physical or mental) where you have this huge community, right beside you, pushing you thru it.

And lastly… CONGRATS to CrossFit Sioux Falls for qualifying for Regionals. I'm insanely proud of every athlete that competed and feel honored that I was involved with such a great group of people. Job well done!!