2010 Games Preparation – March 20^th, 21^st

by Lars Bredahl

Given the nature of CrossFit, training specifically for a single competition can be difficult to handle. You never really know what you’re going to get. At best you find out a few days before hand what you’re going to do, and by that time if you don’t have your shit together it’s too late. You can’t learn a muscle up or put 30lbs on your clean and jerk in a matter of a few days. That being said there are some questions you should ask yourself:

• What do I need to work on/improve?
• What are my limitations?
• What can I realistically do in a matter of 10 weeks?
• What are my strengths/weaknesses?
• How do I fare in the 3 metabolic pathways? Phosphagen, Glycolytic, Oxidative
• Do you need to lose weight?
• Gain strength, muscular endurance?

Let’s tackle these items one at a time. First off, how do you know what you need to work on? There are plenty of charts and sources available that will give you a good idea how you fare in different areas. Let’s say for example you are a male, 175lbs, and can strict press 115lbs, your Fran time is 5min 20sec, and your 5k run time is 20:30. A quick look at this individual would tell me that this person has very good aerobic capacity (oxidative), reasonable glycolytic capacity, and lower then average phospagen capability (explosive upper body strength). It would be in this individuals best interest to spend a little bit more time over the next 10 weeks to increase their explosive power (2-3x week), improve there glycolytic capacity (1-3x week), and NOT lose there aerobic capacity in the process (1-2x week). We don’t want to lose our strengths in the process of becoming a better more rounded athlete.

Now to break this down even further lets look at the 10 general physical skills

1. Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance
2. Stamina
3. Strength
4. Flexibility
5. Power
6. Speed
7. Coordination
8. Agility
9. Balance
10. Accuracy

Like it or not all of these skills are important to have. Do you see any that stand out and may perhaps be a current limitation? Some of these may hold some higher weight then others, but still something worth considering when looking at your current fitness level and seeing what things you need to work on and improve in your current regiment. Let’s look at something often overlooked or taken for granted: Flexibility. Some people just seem to be flexible, and others not so much despite there best efforts. Of course this is something that everyone can improve on with the time and practice. First off does your flexibility limit anything that you currently do at that gym? How is your squat depth, does your back round, do certain movements hurt if you try to do full range of motion (ROM)? All of these could be signs of poor flexibility. Unfortunately if you don’t have full ROM at a CF event, the movement will not be counted, so making sure you do have a certain level of flexibility is very important.

I’ve got 10 weeks to ‘get in shape’  what can I expect to do in that amount of time? First thing that comes to mind is what level you’re currently at. Someone who’s been pushing themselves hard over the course of a few years may not see much improvement in such a short span of time. However someone who has just recently got back into things may notice a significant improvement in such a short time. There’s also something to be said for ‘muscle memory.’ Let’s just say 5 years ago you were in the best shape of your life, competing in several sports, but got into the working world and let things slide. This individual would likely bounce back quicker then someone who’s never really been there. That being said, hard work, pushing yourself on a consistent basis, and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is what EVERYONE needs to do.

Look at the board, how do you compare? Do you start to see where you need to improve? If you haven’t done some of the benchmark workouts and aren’t too sure how you would do, do them! Find out how you would do in Elizabeth, Nancy, or Annie. Do you have the necessary skills to do the specific WOD’s? Can you do double unders? Chest to bar pull ups? 2 Pood Kettle bell swings? GHD sit ups…etc Start to make a list of things to work on and don’t avoid those things you can’t do, because there’s a good chance that you’ll be stuck doing them. So take the time to practice your rope climbs, row 5k, and pushing yourself harder and harder.

Are you one of those people that start a workout with an intense pace, but find yourself crashing 3 minutes later? Only to realize you’ve got 3 more rounds to do? If so, start to learn to pace yourself. If it’s a workout like Murph, don’t start it as if it’s a 100m sprint, you’ll never make it. Learn to control your emotions and find out what level you can sustain over certain WOD’s. Having said that, it can be tough to hold back when competing against other people, but you’ll be better off in the end, and some of those people may just drop right off like the example above.

How is your recovery time? Does it take you 20 seconds to start doing pull ups after you run 400m? If so, it’s probably in your best interest to pace your run just a bit so that you can start your pull ups right away. If you slowed your run down 10 seconds, but could start doing pull ups immediately wouldn’t that be better?

Also what you do post workout and between events can make or break you. Do you take the time to refuel, and rehydrate? How much time do you have? 1hr or 3hrs? This may dictate how much you eat drink, rest and relax. Personally I find taking the time to come down between WOD’s is crucial. If you stay in that ‘flight of fight’ mentality all day you will be bagged and will suffer later on in the day and possibly in day 2. May I suggest taking the time to escape the competition to gather yourself, stretch and refuel. When it does come time to go cheer on a friend or watch the competition try to stay low key, this again is very taxing.

My workout starts in 30 minutes, how do I get ready? Hopefully by now you’ve got some sort of routine or habit that you like to do before you start your WOD’s. If you haven’t nailed anything down yet, get going on this. This can mentally and physically prepare you in many ways, it should bring you back to a place of comfort so that when you hear ‘3,2,1, GO!!!’ you’re ready. Ready yourself accordingly to, don’t just go and try to lift 150lbs overhead without doing some sort of similar movement beforehand and with a relaxed attitude – I’ve done this before. Get mentally prepared, set up a strategy and learn from those around you. If you’re not in the first heat, you’re lucky…watch and learn. You can pick up a lot from watching others, and how they go through the WOD’s. This may help you with pace, and help you see where you can make up time.

What can you expect to see at the competition as far as WOD’s go? That’s a tough call…it could be anything unfortunately. You can look around and find previous competitions and try those workouts, but the likelihood of doing that exact one again would be slim. I would hazard a guess though, that you would see a representation of all areas including some sort of strength based WOD, a short 2-5 minute WOD, something in between 5-15 minute and possibly a longer aerobic/oxidative WOD 20 + minutes. In my experience they’ve weighed a little heavier on the shorter to mid range WOD’s, but don’t assume anything.

I’ve never done more then one workout in a day, should I be worried? Nothing has meaning except the meaning you give it! This competition means as much to you, as you want it to. If you’re going into this competition for fun and to challenge yourself then don’t worry about it, you’ll get through it. If you’re entering this event to win, then you better start doing more then one WOD in a day. Not to say that you should do this everyday, but once and awhile challenge yourself by doing 2 or 3 WOD’s in a day. Space them out if you can, don’t do them back to back. Come in for a morning workout, and then later in the afternoon for a second one, but of a different type. Maybe you could do some lifting in the morning and the daily metabolic conditioning WOD in the evening.

How is your form and technique? Are you constantly being told to get that chin over the bar, or get that chest to the ground, or to lock those arms out? Just make sure you do all movements properly and don’t waste your energy doing 90% of a movement and not getting the rep counted, trust me that sucks!

This is a very important time to be very honest with yourself and your current conditioning level. If you know you’ve got 10lbs to drop in 10 weeks and you need to improve in several areas, this is the time to step it up and get real. Don’t sugarcoat things anymore, get serious and get training. There’s no easy way to the top, and everyone that does this sort of stuff should realize that hard work and dedication is what is going to get you there. Sure some people seem to be more genetically gifted, be a few years younger, or don’t have that old nagging injury, but you don’t really know what people have gone through to get where they’re at either.

Lastly as you may have heard once or twice before, CrossFit is about becoming a “Jack of all trades and master of none.” Therefore, don’t worry about winning every event, the cream will rise to the top, but make sure you keep yourself in the position you want to be, and avoid being the one hit wonder. It’s great if you can win an event or two, but if you end up placing 20^th in the other events, the chances of you moving on are poor. Staying in the mix of things and doing reasonably well at everything is what CrossFit is all about. If you can win an event, that’s awesome and you should now try to hold onto the extra points that got you.

You’ll notice this doesn’t specifically cover any one person or skill, and given the number of people that have signed up it is too hard to direct this in any given way. It’s now up to you to come up with some sort of game plan and monitor your progress. See what works and what doesn’t, make adjustments as needed and most importantly, don’t overtrain, have fun, listen to your body and stay fit.  Now say your prayers, take your vitamins and get some rest!