Ah, the CrossFit Game Open Season is once again upon us. 

The haze of chalk dust is in the air, sweat drops glisten on the rugged rubber floors. The nervous adrenaline flows so thick innocent bystanders can almost taste it. Dave Castro's cryptic social media vagaries haunt the dreams of top contenders who have been practicing their inverted, underwater, target shooting for months... blindfolded and holding a dumbbell in one hand no less. 

The average Joe's among us have been diligently working on getting our first muscle-up, toes-to-bar and even kipping pull-up in anticipation of moving just a few thousand places up the leaderboard this year. 

While it might work for some people—possibly the more naturally technical folks out there—for many, nothing can replace a real life coach.

A friend of mine Mandy Gill posted a video of her doing bar muscle-ups and chest-to-bar pull-ups this morning. 

The accompanying post said: “Comparison steals joy. Wake up every morning proud of how far you've come and how hard you've worked.”

"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.

It’s no secret that from the moment Nate Beveridge and Robbie Perovich opened Hybrid Athletics, one of their missions was to produce world-class CrossFit athletes—something they’ve managed to do year-after-year.

I’ve spent the last three weeks trying to convince athletes at my gym to sign up for the Open. The two biggest reservations I hear are, “I don't think I’m good enough,” or “Competing is too nerve-racking.” I always tell them, “That’s the point. It’s supposed to be both humbling and nerve-racking. It's about conquering those feelings. Even the top athletes feel stress.” To this I generally receive skeptical glares. Well, here’s proof: Many of the top Canada West ladies admit they will never totally escape the Open anxiety. Veteran Games competitor Angie Hay, who always looks like the most calm athlete on the floor says that even though the Open is further down on her priority list than normal...

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...

Juxtaposed in my mind were two vivid images. One was remembering seeing Lindsey Valenzuela burst into tears as she ran through the tunnel at the Stub Hub Center into her husband's arms at last year's CrossFit Games. The other image was my client beaming, high fiving anyone she could. While she avoided tears, her excitement over 8 tabata squats was the same feeling Lindsey felt when she earned a podium finish at the CrossFit Games.

CrossFit tells us to regularly try new sports, yet the more we get into CrossFit – especially if we compete in competitions – the less likely we seem to be to venture into unchartered waters of often pathetically attempting new sports.

In fact, I asked a class of 25 CrossFit athletes the other day how many people try new sports and I received nearly 25 blank stares. Many of them couldn’t even remember the last time they went swimming.

If you’re a CrossFit coach, here’s why you should encourage your clients to get out of the box now and then and try a new sport!

I’ve never met a person who did the Open who didn’t say she was so glad she did it. Never heard anyone regret to compete, not even my client who couldn’t do a toes-to-bar. The only feedback I’ve ever received are either stories of people exceeding their own expectations of themselves, or stories of athletes learning valuable life lessons.

Here's why your should do the CrossFit Games Open!