The idea behind the CrossFit training methodology is to have varied training so that you’re ready to take on any challenge. This is what CrossFit calls “fitness.”
For the “normal’ people who do CrossFit, the CrossFit Open is chance to test your fitness and see how well you can perform a challenging workout.
Workouts are announced on Thursday and you have until Monday to submit your score, meaning that you don’t have time to “prepare.” This is the test of how well you’ve been preparing all year.
Each year, the workouts change. Although certain movements tend to repeat, the structure, sequencing, and combinations are often different.
For example, in 2024 burpees were paired with single arm dumbbell snatches.
In 2026, burpees were paired with thrusters and cleans. A lower volume of alternating dumbbell snatches paired with overhead walking lunges and a gymnastics progression.
Same movements, but the different structure, sequencing, and context created a different stimulus.
This matters because skills, strength, and stamina can differ depending on context.
The 20 alternating dumbbell snatches in each round of 26.2 is a completely different stimulus than the rep scheme of 21–15–9 single arm snatches in 24.1.
Pull-ups paired with overhead walking lunges and snatches in 26.2 felt very different from the pull-ups paired with thrusters in 24.3.
What feels like a limiter in one workout may not be the limiter in another.
This is part of the test. CrossFit is asking: can you perform no matter how the pieces are arranged?
Can you figure out how to pace 12 burpees per set when alternating with thrusters and cleans, and how that might be different from pacing two sets each of 21–15–9 burpees in 24.1?
Arguably, the higher your level of fitness and the better your skills, the less the structure and sequencing impacts your overall performance. Top athletes will do well no matter the combination.
That’s the leaderboard argument. But that’s not addressing your fitness compared to yourself.
If the test keeps changing, its difficult to know if you’ve actually improved, or just performed better under a different set of conditions.
For assessing true improvement, nothing beats repetition.
If you want an accurate assessment of how you’ve improved in a particular area — whether it’s skill, strength, stamina, or strategy — redo the same workout.
Keep the variables constant and then see what’s changed.
That’s how you measure your fitness relative to yourself.
Love it? Hate it? What do you think? Don't hold back...