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What's Next after the Open?
Hey Vic City,
The Open is closed, and for some that might leave you with some emptiness in your life. You need to figure out what is next for you, and that might differ from person to person.
Step 1: What I would recommend for everyone following the Open, is to destress, and not get too hung up on competing or scores or winning for the next week or so. Not only does the Open leave us feeling sore and tired, but mentally it takes a toll as well, one that is much harder to see. Take some rest time, or just take things a bit easier, and try to shake that 19.5 soreness.
Step 2: Evaluate your performance. Go back through the leaderboard and see how you did on each workout. I'd suggest looking at the ranks across Canada or Worldwide to get a massive pool of athletes to compare against. Don't worry too much about the exact placing of the workout, but note which were your bests and which were your largest opportunities to make improvements. What held you back in workouts? Was it the skills of toes to bar, strict handstand push-ups, or bar muscle ups? Was it conditioning and moving through 15 minutes of rowing and wallballs? Was it the strength and being unable or struggling to lift the squat clean barbell? If we want to make improvements we need to understand where are strengths and weaknesses lie.
Step 3: Set a plan and attack your weaknesses. If you had one workout, that really set you back, work twice as hard to get that up to speed with your other fitness. If you had four workouts within 5% of each other, but one was 30% lower, it is a good indication you have a substantial weakness (you might have already known, you might not - but now you certainly do). For example if you were within 50-55% in all the workouts expect 19.3, where you couldn't get a strict handstand push-up and ended up in the 30th percent, set out a plan to get handstand push-ups in your arsenal. Maybe once a week add progressions and strength building for handstand specific work. Set a plan, and eliminate weaknesses.
Step 4: Practice higher movement quality. Do you consistently miss the wallball target in class WODs but count them anyways, did that negatively effect your 19.1 score when you had a judge actually 'no-repping' you. Are your squats borderline too shallow or hands too wide for handstand push-ups? Take the time and do the movements right.
Step 5: Step outside your comfort zone. For almost everyone the Open isn't the most comfortable place. The combination of being judged and working to exhaustion on super challenging workouts is beyond the comfort for the large majority. Between now and the next Open get out of your comfort zone more often. That might mean different things for each individual. For some it might mean getting comfortable with the variety of movements that might appear in future Open WODs, and others that might mean signing up for a local competition to get a bit more competition experience.
If you follow these steps, it will help you develop as an athlete and make you better down the road. If you love CrossFit competition and want to get in another one, check out the CanWest Games. Last year Vic City represented very well across almost all the division. There are divisions of teams and individuals as well as elite and intermediate.
Check the link for more info, including suggested fitness requirements. Registration is already open, and qualifier WODs start on April 4th for individuals, and April 25th for teams.
Ask a coach if you have questions.
Great work on the Open! It was great to see the participation in the classes and on the Intramural Leaderboard. Stay tuned for final results.
Adam
(The face you make when you find out the Open is already over)
Training Wednesday - Thursday
Warm-up: EMOM9
1-3 Wall walks
6-9 Cal Assault Bike
12-15 KB Deadlifts
Skill: DB or Barbell Push Press
4 x 8 with 20 air squats immediately before E2:30M
Start light!
WOD: Partner Mini Nurwor
Rx -
3 rounds for time of:
500m Row
400m Run
*Switch when both partners are done
FG - Scale distance