The CrossFit Games are the world’s premier test to find the Fittest on Earth (TM). The Games season is a grueling multi-stage journey that culminates in the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games on July 13-15 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.
Fitness means being ready for the unknown and unknowable, so the workouts change every year and are not announced until just before the events start. For more information, see the History of the Games.
Stage One: The Open
The Games season will begin with the Open, a worldwide online competition with one workout per week. The Open will run for five weeks, from February 22 to March 25. Anyone can compete in the Open, regardless of fitness level or experience. More than 26,000 athletes from around the world took part in the 2011 season, and 2012 promises to be even larger.
In order to participate in the Open, athletes can do the workouts at their local affiliate or film their attempt from their garage gym. All scores and videos are then submitted to the Open website, which allows athletes to track how they match up with athletes in their region and around the world.
Athletes can choose to compete in three categories: Individual, Team, or Masters.
Individual athletes and teams that perform the best across the five Open workouts will earn a chance to compete at the second stage of the Games, the Regionals. Masters athletes (beginning at 45-years-old and older) will compete to be among the fittest athletes in their respective age division. The top Masters will earn an automatic spot at the Games in July.
Stage Two: Regionals
The top finishers in the Open will earn a spot at their respective Regional competition. The Regionals are organized by CrossFit HQ, and will run athletes through a series of workouts over the course of three consecutive days. Each weekend from April 27 to May 27, we will host multiple Regional competitions all over the world. Similar to 2011, athletes, teams, and spectators will gather at one venue and watch as the competitors hit the workouts shoulder-to-shoulder with the fittest in their region.
More details about dates and locations for the Regionals will be announced at a later time on the Games page.
Stage Three: The Games
The 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games will be held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., for the third consecutive year. Competition takes place July 13-15.
At the center of the arena, the Games competitors will have to prove they are not only fit, but capable of handling the unknown. No one knows what the events will be. Every year the events are different. The best movements to test for fitness are a combination of gymnastics, powerlifting, Olympic lifting, jumping rope, climbing ropes, runs, and a vast amount of pure grunt work, such as getting sandbags over a wall. But athletes never know what is required.
In 2008, there was the hill. In 2009, there was the spike drive. In 2010, athletes had to do ring handstand push-ups and clear a 12-foot wall. In 2011, there was an ocean swim and a handstand walk.
Only one thing is certain -- each athlete will be thoroughly tested on their journey to be named the Fittest on Earth (TM).
Fans from around the world will be able to keep up through constant coverage on the CrossFit Games website and live streaming of the events. Details of events, guidelines, and standards will be featured on the Games site when the 2012 website is launched.
Besides that, train hard and prepare for anything in 2012!
What is CrossFit?
CrossFit is an evidence-based fitness program. We define fitness as increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains. Capacity is the ability to do real work, which should be measurable. Life is unpredictable (much more so than sport), so real world fitness must be broad and not specialized. Our workouts are designed to maximize this broad, inclusive fitness.