Five Alarm Fitness

Bloomington, Illinois

competition

Friday Night Lights is Back!

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Friday Night Lights is back! Yes, you read that right. 3 weeks of fun, fitness, and friends beginning Friday, February 17th. For those of you who have never participated in this event, you’re in for a treat. For those who have been through it before, we hope you’re as excited as we are for its return. Check out the rest of this post for additional details including the registration link! 

Friday Night Lights is a 3 week, inner gym event where athletes will complete a workout (provided by the CrossFit Games Open), earn points for their team, and enjoy cheering for and hanging out with other Five Alarm athletes. The event begins on Friday, February 22, runs for 3 weeks, andends Friday, March 3.  Our schedule for those 3 weeks will look like this: 

  • 4:30pm Regular Group Class
  • 5:35 pm athlete/judges briefing w/ performance tips, judging standards, and heat assignments (please do NOT skip this!!)
  • 6:00 pm heats start and continue until finished

*** Please note, there will NOT be Open Gym access during the event. 

In addition participating in the workouts, we will have a friendly, inner-gym competition. Athletes will be randomly drafted onto teams captained by Coach Ryan and Coach Leah. Each week, athletes will have the opportunity to earn points for their team. More details on this will be released as we get closer to the event. 

Every Thursday night, after CrossFit releases the workouts, athletes will sign up for the heat they would like to participate in. You’ll be able to find that heat link on fivealarmfitness.com/events or on our Five Alarm Athletes Facebook page. Heat assignments are first come, first serve but don’t worry, everyone will have a chance to do the workout that night.

Registration Costs (1 time fee for all 3 weeks)

  • $20 – current Five Alarm members 
  • $25 – non Five Alarm members

NOTE: If you’d still like to see how you stack up against the rest of the world, you’ll either have to calculate and keep track of where you would have finished on the CrossFit.com Leaderboard, or register separately on open.crossfit.com. 

So are you ready for the fun? If so, click the link below to sign-up. Still have questions? Ask your coach or send us an email and we’ll help you out!

Register Here

FAQ’s

How is Friday Night Lights different than a regular Friday class? 

For the event, the gym is set up in more of a competition style format. Athletes will have their own “lane” for the workout along with a judge that will help count their reps, write down their score, and encourage them to keep the standards of the workout (squat depth, chin over bar, etc). This is also a time when we encourage people to push a little harder than they might in a group class or spend extra time trying to get that first pull-up or lift a slightly heavier barbell (don’t worry, we won’t encourage you to do anything we think will injure you). You might be surprised what you’re capable of when in this type of environment. 

What is the Open?

The Open is an online competition hosted by CrossFit HQ that gives the fitness community a chance to see how they might stack up against the rest of the world in the sport of fitness. The top finishers in the Open will get a chance to move on to the next level with the best of the best making it to the Games (CrossFit’s version of the Super Bowl). Every Thursday night for 3 weeks, CrossFit HQ will release a new workout for athletes to complete. We will be utilizing these workouts during Friday Night Lights but athletes do not need to participate in the worldwide competition (for those that wish to, you’re welcome to register for both). 

What if I can’t do some of the movements/weights, should I still register to compete?

Absolutely! This isn’t about what you could or couldn’t do last year. It’s not about what other people in the gym can or can’t do. This experience is about YOU. We want you to push outside of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. Besides, who knows when you might get that first Double Under, HSPU, Pull Up, etc.? Also, because this is an inner gym competition, we can help you modify the workout to your ability level if something comes up that you are unable to do.

Register Here

Practice vs. Training vs. Competition

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Practice- Performing movements and exercises at a low heart rate with the intention to move perfect.

Training- Performing movements and exercises at an elevated heart rate with the intention to move well while building endurance and strength.

Competition- Performing movements and exercises with at high to max heart rate with the intention to finish the most rounds or with the fastest time.

Which of these do you do most often when working out? Which of these should you do most often? The answer might seem obvious, but when you think about it, are you Competing more than you realize?

For most people (those not competing in a sport), we do not need to Compete at all. It definitely can be fun to do on occasion, but Competing too much can be detrimental to our progress and health. Moving with proper technique is better for our bodies and allows us to become faster, more flexible, and stronger. It may not be bad to have your knees cave in slightly on those front squats for one day, but when that happens each day it can result in injury. That might present as soreness, a mild strain, or a major injury, but all can happen when technique is compromised to get a better score.

To put things in perspective, in Ben Bergeron’s podcast Chasing Excellence, he explains that Katrin Davidsdottir (2x CrossFit Games Champion) only Competes during Regionals and the Games; which is 7 days out of the year. Every other day throughout the year is spent either training or practicing. Now, for us normal folks we can handle a bit more competition as we aren’t striving to be the best CrossFitter. It is healthy to Compete once a week. Pick a day where you want to go all out and try to beat a certain somebody. The rest of the week should be spent Practicing or Training as those serve you the best in overall health and wellness for the long haul.

Practice and Training will give you the best results. You will be able to work out more, you won’t be as sore, you will see continue to see improvement both cardiovascularly and in your strength, and it can help your mind relax. Don’t get caught up in competing constantly. Practice movements, Train them to be perfect, then use them to Compete.