"CrossFit is torture." We’ve all heard that before.

And I couldn’t agree more with that statement. 

My understanding of why torture works is that it makes a person so uncomfortable—puts them in so much physical pain—that they snap mentally and end up doing things like revealing information they would never otherwise never reveal. When this happens, the torturer wins.

With the Open one week away, people everywhere are making predictions. Will this be the year of the bar muscle-up? The handstand push-up? The pistol? Will it be heavier than normal? The amount of time we waste thinking about it is actually insane because the truth is nobody knows exactly what Dave Castro will throw our way.  But despite the unknown surprises that are sure to come, there are a couple things I’d put money on: 1. Chest-to-bar pull-ups in high dosage 2. Considering how competitive this year will be with only 20 regionals berths on the line, repeating workouts will be more likely than ever this year Combine both of these theories, and this means hands must be ready...