Sport
CrossFit Games competition. Photo: CrossFit Games / Charlotte Foerschler
CrossFit Open 26.1: The Pyramid That Broke the Gym Floor
Wall balls. Box jumps. 66 straight reps at the peak. Here is everything athletes and affiliates need to know.
🔍 Crack Castro’s Clues — Tap Each to Reveal
CrossFit’s General Manager of Sport, Dave Castro, dropped two cryptic teasers before the 26.1 reveal. Here’s how the community interpreted them.
TAP A CARD TO REVEAL THE COMMUNITY INTERPRETATION
📊 The 26.1 Workout — Interactive Pyramid
Hover (or tap on mobile) each row to see the coaching cue for that set. The pyramid builds to a 66-rep peak, then descends. Total reps: 284. Time cap: 12 minutes .
⚙️ Equipment Specs by Division
🏆 Live Showcase — Moffett Field, Feb 26
These four athletes were the first to take on 26.1 live immediately after the announcement.
🧠 Strategy Playbook — Choose Your Level
✅ Score Submission Checklist — Tap to Track
The Bigger Picture: What This Workout Tells Us
The 2026 CrossFit Open runs from February 26 to March 16, with three workouts released on three consecutive Fridays. The event is open to anyone aged 14 and above. This year’s announcement was held at Moffett Federal Airfield — home of the 129th Rescue Wing, California Air National Guard, as part of CrossFit’s official partnership with the Air National Guard for the 2026 season. The military backdrop and presenting sponsorship explain both the venue choice and the event’s production scale.
Athletes who want to understand the physical and mental demands of high-rep endurance events can find relevant context in research covered on KarmActive: aerobic training has been shown to lower dementia risk in research tracking thousands of adults, as explored in our coverage of how aerobic exercise lowers dementia risk by 35% and why regular exercise may lower dementia risk by up to 69%. For anyone managing recovery and cognitive function alongside heavy training, creatine’s documented muscle and brain benefits are also worth reading. The mental side of sport performance matters too — the shift in how athletes approach mental health is changing competitive sport at every level.
Workout 26.1 runs on the same principle that drives all elite athletic performance — as covered in our piece on what Olympic athletes and hard work’s hidden costs really mean. For the full sport category and more coverage, visit KarmActive’s sport section and fitness section.
