Every year, the string of five CrossFit Open workouts test an athlete’s tenacity in multiple capacities of strength. The workouts test an athlete’s mental, emotional, and physical capabilities, and sometimes these physical capabilities include performing new feats of strength such as muscle-ups or big PRs.
CrossFit Open Workout 18.3 was far from easy. In fact, only a handful of athletes completed the amount of work in 18.3’s 14-minute time allotment, but that’s not the focus here. Our focus is on the athletes who hit a huge milestone in the workout, and that comes in the form of a first muscle-up, whether it was on rings or the bar.
A muscle-up can seem almost incomprehensible when one begins working out. It’s an upper body feat that requires power, strength, coordination, and hell of a lot of grit. The top performances were awesome to watch, but there’s something about watching someone’s pure happiness after doing the incomprehensible that makes it all worth it, in this case, it’s something CrossFit athletes refer to as “Open magic”.
Below we featured ten athletes who got their first muscle-up during CrossFit Open Workout 18.3, and hopefully they bring you as much joy as they brought us!
1. Kristin Ashley – CrossFit 267
In Ashley’s Instagram video’s description she writes, Holyyyyyy f*ckkkk I got my first ring muscle up during 18.3 It was fugly but guess what IDGAF (I’ll work on that later) for now I’ll be crying like a baby with pure joy. I had dreams last night about getting one and I DID!
2. Daniel Ball – CrossFit FHF
In CrossFit FHF’s video they write, “Nothing beats that excitement! Huge shoutout to Daniel Ball for getting his first ring muscle up #intheopen#cfg183firstmu”
3. Bill Charbonneau – Champlain Valley CrossFit
Champlain Valley CrossFit writes in their description, “You know it’s big when the judge goes wild! First muscle up! #FirstMuscleUp”
4. Gina Decker – CrossFit Crowntown
This video could best be described as pure grit, check out the fight from Decker at the top of the muscle-up. Well done!
5. Shelbey Miller – CrossFit Anywhere
This video doesn’t need muscle explanation, in fact, Miller’s post muscle-up victory dance pretty much sums it up.
6. Katti Horng – CrossFit Davis
Horng missed her muscle-ups in 18.3 on Friday and Saturday, but came through on Sunday finally nailing it. CrossFit Davis write in their video’s description, “Another magical moment brought to us by 18.3! Congrats @kattihorng on your first ring muscle up! This is what the Open is all about!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgNQg5flLpW/?
7. Jason Woods – Muskegon CrossFit
Check out Woods, who didn’t only get his first ring muscle-up in workout 18.3, but actually ended up getting three in the workout.
8. Audrey-Ann. D. Lambrinos – CrossFit 604
In Lambrino’s Instagram video’s description she writes, “18.3, Woke up early to hit our last session of gymnastics with @louiseebertsgymnasticsthis morning and couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit disappointed to tell her that I hadn’t gotten a single Muscle Up on my first attempt. After reviewing my videos, she enthusiastically said “Oh you’ll get it today, I feel it We went straight to work and jumped on the rings to get my FIRST RING MUSCLE UP!!
Yes, I cried”
9. David Oliver – CrossFit Skylands
In CrossFit Skyland’s Instagram video they point out that this was Oliver’s last 18.3 workout and this was his final muscle-up attempt.
10. Emily Geisler – CrossFit Ten Twenty
In Geisler’s Instagram video’s description she writes, “FINALLLLY!!! Have been striving for this for YEARS!! Had sooo much support and good energy my way from my training partners ❤ Annnd I suppose thanks to @thedavecastro for the workout.”
Hopefully these videos brought you as much joy as they did us. Whether you’re a powerlifter, weightlifter, strongman athlete, or CrossFit athlete, we can all relate when it comes to the sheer joy that proving ourselves can bring.
Feature image from @natygraciano Instagram page.
