CrossFit Games 2015
It’s an exciting time for CrossFit athletes and fans at this time of year as the CrossFit games get under way. Starting from 26th Feb athletes from all over the world will put themselves to the test in the first workout of the 2015 Games known as 15.1.
The Games were created to fill a void—no other true test of fitness existed. From Ironman triathlons to the NFL, all other athletic events neglected to accurately test fitness. Even decathlons, while testing a relatively wide range of abilities, missed vital components of physical fitness.
The CrossFit Games events are made up of a broad range of functional movements. Functional movements move large loads, long distances, quickly. These movements also form the basis of our exercise programme. Make no mistake—the CrossFit Games are designed to test, not train, fitness. The goal is to find the fittest athletes.
The Games season is broken up into three stages. The first stage is the Open. This five-week, five-workout competition is held in the early spring in CrossFit affiliates and garage gyms around the world. Workouts are released online each Thursday, and athletes have until the following Monday to submit their scores. Anyone who's at least 14 years old can sign up, and join in the first stage of the CrossFit Games season. As mentioned above this year's Open kicks off on 26th February 2015.
The top athletes from each of the 17 regions qualify for the second stage of the competition—regionals. The regionals are live, three-day competitions that are held over three weekends in May. The top athletes from two or three regions combine, and compete for the five qualifying spots for the CrossFit Games.
The season culminates in the 2015 Reebok CrossFit Games at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. At this point in the season, the field has been whittled down from hundreds of thousands of athletes in the Open to the fittest 40 men and 40 women in the world. The CrossFit Games rank the world's fittest, and determine which man and woman may be called the Fittest on Earth.
A key element to a fair test of fitness is the unknown and unknowable. Athletes cannot train for what they do not know. At each CrossFit Games, the athletes engage in a series of challenges unknown to them until right before the competition. The combination of highly trained athletes and unknown events makes for an explosive mix.