Why do we keep doing The Open?

Written by Annie Set

The Open 18.3

The 2023 Crossfit Games season is soon to be underway. Starting on the 17th of February, it begins with an international competition - The Open, featuring a series of workouts organized and released by Crossfit HQ over the course of 3 weeks. With Scaled and Rx options, as well as categories for age groups and those of differing abilities, The Open is meant to be accessible to all - providing the opportunity for anyone interested in testing their fitness against the rest of the world. 

For Miko, a member at Mobilus Clarke Quay, the chance to be ranked on a global scale serves as motivation. Reflecting on her first Open in 2022; 

Miko Tan - Mobilus Clarke Quay Member

Miko: The Open seemed exciting to me because…the whole world was doing the same event and I could actually look at my score and compare it to, like, Tia-Clair Toomey’s score. 

“The Open is a way to see how much progress you’ve made, what kind of skills you can hit”

Like if a pull-up came up in the Open, to see whether you actually got a pull-up after you trained the last few months for one. So to me that was a way to test where you’re at right now in your fitness journey. 

Similarly for Ying Tai– a member at Mobilus Chinatown– his first Open was about doing something with his community and testing his fitness. 

Lo Ying Tai - Mobilus Chinatown Member

Ying Tai: When I did my first Open I was super fresh…everything was new to me, there was no pressure at all, so it was quite fun. The first year was a lot more about community and supporting each other and finding out what the Open was really like. 

“…we just support each other, seeing how far we can go in a workout despite being very new. When I first joined– I don’t think I could even do one pull-up. ”

However, after a year of more consistent training, his 2022 season came with some expectations.

Ying Tai: And then the second year came and there was a bit more pressure…cause then you kind of know where you stand?...I kind of know that I’ve acquired skills along the way…more of me pressuring myself to do better than last year. I did improve a lot - standings wise, and my weights and PRs went up a lot from the first year– and I think it showed in The Open. 

I think that’s what makes Crossfit very addictive. Once you learn a skill, you want to keep repeating it again and again and again, and then you see the weight keep going up and there’s a lot of satisfaction. 

When I did Scaled in 2022 there was a certain pressure from myself and…from the community to do well for Chinatown (Mobilus)…it was good pressure!

Ying Tai’s pursuit of excellence in his skills, as well as the added support from the community paid off; in 2022, he topped the leaderboard for the first event, and finished all 3 events ranking 2nd overall on the Scaled Men’s leaderboard in Singapore. 

Ying Tai: That’s quite addictive, and that’s what makes The Opens very interesting.

“I think Mobilus, the community is very very special in a sense that people can get really competitive, while being really supportive. ”

19.5 Friday Night Lights at Mobilus Clarke Quay

The Open is ultimately a competition, and after 3 workouts over 3 weeks,  the competitors are whittled down to the best of their respective regions- with athletes advancing to The Quarterfinals, The Semifinals, and finally- The Crossfit Games, where the best of the best battle it out for the title of The Fittest on Earth. 

Only the top 10% of each continent will advance to The Quarterfinals, of which the top 30-60 move on to Semifinals, and finally, the top 40 to The Games. 

With 90% of participants ending their season with The Open, what drives them to compete? What makes The Open a worthwhile pursuit for those of us who might not consider ourselves ‘competitive’?

Between our two locations in Chinatown and Clarke Quay, Crossfit Mobilus has repeatedly come out on top with the most number of registrations for The Open in Singapore. In 2022, we kicked off The Open with a total of 201 participants. 

Mobilus member - Atom Zou, competing during CrossFit Games Individual Quarterfinals 2022.

While we have proudly sent both individual and team athletes through to the Quarters, Semis and even the Games over the years- the question remains, ‘why do so many people sign up?’

Miko: Some people might feel intimidated, because of course there are people here who are really good and very competitive, and there’s also some people who are just here for fun. Some people might feel like ‘why do I need to join if i’m not trying to compete?’ cause most of us- like 90% of us are not trying to get into the Quarterfinals.

For me…the main reason (was),  I could see where I’m at and I could join other people in having fun and being inspired by other people who are really good, and see how good people can be when you push yourself and really train. 

I definitely come not just for me to participate but also to watch friends that I’ve made since joining.

“You don’t get many chances to see your friends push themselves further than they’ve been before…it inspires me to do better, even outside of fitness. ”

For Miko, cultivating the right mindset is key. Last year was the first Open for both her and her husband;

Miko: He wanted to join scaled at first…when the Rx standards came out he said let me just try…it was very nice to see him go all out and try Rx and overcome that initial fear where he felt he might not even be able to pick up the weight…I like that kind of mentality where you’re like ‘Ok la just go for it, what can I lose?’ 

It’s not about being afraid that my score is bad, or my position will be bad. I like that someone sees it and thinks ‘Maybe I can do it, let’s give it a shot without caring about results. Maybe I end up at the bottom but nevermind, just do.’ 

This year, Ying Tai will be joining the Rx division–  this time looking to take the pressure off and practice his newly acquired skills in a competitive setting;

Ying Tai: I’m not expecting much…it’s the first year of Rx, so I have little to no expectations, but I’m expecting myself to use the skills I’ve acquired– I’m not even going to look at the leaderboard this year. Sometimes it just gets to you then you’ll tend to say ‘I’m going to do this workout 3 times’ and again and again and again- which is what I did last year! I’m feeling good, feeling excited. Especially because I’ve been working on form for a lot of the olympic lifting…hopefully that translates.

Ying Tai competing during The Open 2022

After her first Open, Miko set goals for the 2023 season– while those goals have changed- she still plans to participate within her ability. 

Miko: Ever since last year, I thought I’d join this year…I learnt my weaknesses, had issues with my pull-up in 22.3 and I made it a goal to spend that one year trying to get my first strict pull-up…6 months into the year I managed to get my first pull-up…then I found out I was pregnant…thought I wouldn’t be able to do the Open. 

But I continued to come for WODs, and surprised myself that I’m still able to do quite a lot of movements. Might as well just join and see what the movements are like, and do the Foundations category if I have to.

“but at least I’ll be with everyone and participating and just have fun. ”

We asked Miko and Ying Tai what advice they had for folks thinking about signing up for their first Open season this year;

Ying Tai: I would say definitely try it out, but don’t geh kiang (act tough) la. Open workouts and general program workouts are very different. General programming aims to improve your capacity and improve your skills– but Open workouts are a test, so your fatigue levels are very different. I would say it’s the kind of workouts you would never get in the usual programming,

“so it’s nice to have that kind of test and see how you benchmark against the rest of Singapore and the world. ”

The community during the Open is also very different- for usual workouts it’s ‘hi’ and ‘bye’, random small talk- but during the Open you see the full strength of this community supporting each other, which is something you don’t often see on an everyday basis. 

Miko: Just join lo. Sometimes there’s no need to overthink it- I mean it’s something the community is doing– globally, not just here–  your idols on YouTube are doing it too. No need to overthink, just jump in and you will probably surprise yourself with what you can do. 

“ It’s going to be a lot of fun, everyone is going to come together to the gym and just have a lot of fun cheering each other on, and that in itself is very memorable, on top of whatever result you’re gonna get; just having everyone here and doing it together. ”

The Open 19.5 at Mobilus

As we look forward to the first workout this Friday , Feb 17– whatever your goals or motivations this year– we hope you all get to enjoy another round of being inspired and encouraged by your fitness community and get the best out of yourself this season. 

Go to games.crossfit.com to register yourself for this year’s Crossfit Open. The first workout will be released 4am Friday 17th February (12pm Thursday PST), registration closes when the first workout score is due.