ARE YOU READY FOR THE CROSSFIT OPEN?
Have you had that experience where your head pops off the pillow in a panic as you realize that [insert whatever assignment, project or thing] is due today? The thing that you had months to prepare for, but did nothing on; and now you’re scrambling trying to mitigate the damage. For a lot of people, and maybe even you reading this, that’s you and The CrossFit Open. Last year you vowed that you’d be better prepared. You would improve your mobility, you’d work on that hole in your gymnastics game or you’d get an Olympic coach and never struggle with snatches again; and yet…here we are. The good news is you still have 2.5 weeks and if you dedicate 15-20 min a day to some specific things you can make real changes and improve your performance still this year. You got this!
01: NO CARDIO EQUIPMENT
This gives us a clue as to what kinds of things we are going to need to focus on. Look, there’s not a whole lot we can do about your cardio and motor in that short time. It also means that whoever is programming this year, R.I.P Dave Castro, has cooked up some other truly diabolical ways to challenge your soul and they are going to use calisthenics, weightlifting and gymnastics to do it. I think this year’s open is programmed this way due to the fact that CF boxes are still closed in parts of the world, the rise of the garage gym athlete and the great kettlebell shortage of 2021. Be prepared to see handstands, pull-ups, push-ups, thrusters, squats, deadlifts, box jumps, ground to overhead, and double-unders, You also may have noticed, not a kettlebell to be seen. This though will give us a some direction as to what kinds of things are going to give us best bang for buck as we try to prepare.
02: LOW HANGING FRUIT
I tell my athletes and clients all the time that you can’t out train, massage gun, or ice bath your way out of inadequate sleep, crappy nutrition, and poor stress management. This is perhaps by far some of the easiest things to fix. I’m not suggesting that you do a total overhaul, but if you change this stuff even in some small degree over the next 2.5 weeks, you will see some real benefits to it.
According to a survey conducted in 2019 the average American gets less than 6 hours of sleep per night. (1) They found that most Americans are sleeping about 5.5 hours per night. I can almost hear you say, “I do great on 4-5 hours of sleep”. You might, but the number of Jocko Willinks out there is incredibly small. If you’re sleeping less 6 hours or less a night you are essentially as if you had a blood alcohol content of 0.05% or legally impaired. (2) Even if you added an extra hour of sleep at night your performance everywhere, not just CrossFit, would be better. The other problem is, when you are sleep deprived your body wants more readily accessible sources of energy. Processed sugar has entered the chat.
I’m not saying you can’t have a delicious treat every now and again or even get after it at In-N-Out. Enjoy that double-double animal style king/queen! Let’s be real though you are not Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and probably can’t indulge in the most epic of cheat days. A general rule of thumb is the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time eat whole grains, proteins, fruits and veggies, and healthy fats. If you eat 3 meals a day, 7 days a week then you have 21 meals. 21 x 0.80 = 16.8 or approx 17 meals. That means you have a 4 meals to enjoy some kind of a treat, but try to keep it within reason. Refined and processed sugar comes with a whole bunch of problems including systemic inflammation. (3) Hydration is another thing I see a lot of people miss the mark on. Muscles cramp for generally 2 reasons: dehydration and exertion. Most people should try to drink half their body weight in ounces of water and tag on 32 oz for every 30-60 min of strenuous exercise. So if you weight 100lbs that’s 0.5 x 100 = 50oz + 32oz for your CrossFit class bringing our total to 82oz or roughly 2.5 liters of water.
03: MOBILITY IS GOING TO BE IMPORTANT
Mobility is possible to improve, but it’s going to be a focused and tactical effort. You are going to want to focus on 2 areas. The shoulders and hips. When it comes to the shoulders you really will want to focus heavily on the structures on the anterior (front) of the shoulder. You are going to want to have the mobility there to help with push-ups, pull-ups (kipping), dips and any other movements that will place your elbow behind your torso. It also will improve your overhead mobility. Here are some you can try to get you started. I recommend at least 2 min per side and you can do them daily if all you need is some shoulder work or do them 3 days and alternate with the hip on the other days.
Barbell Shear Bully Stretch Overhead Tissue Smash PVC Prayer Stretch
You can expect to see a lot of hip hinging movements and so we really should focus on the hips as we prep for the open. There are not a ton of rotational movements in CrossFit, so we will focus a little more on the tissue at the front and back of the hip. Now before you send me hate I understand fully how important hip rotation is to joint, but we have 2.5 weeks here, so I’m gonna go for what I think will help you the most.
High Glute Smash & Floss Posterior Chain Floss Side Hip Smash Bretzel Stretch
04: FOCUS ON STABILITY, IT’S A LITTLE TOO LATE FOR STRENGTH
Let’s be honest. You aren’t going to add 30lbs to your squat or deadlift in the next few weeks. So instead of trying to get stronger lets focus on improving the neuromuscular connection and recruitment of the muscle fibers that help stabilize the shoulder and hip joints. Put work in on the “not sexy” stuff like band work for your hip abductors (side butts), single leg stability, and band work for rotator cuff and shoulder blade stabilizers.
Shoulder: Ext Rot to Serratus Punch Tall Angels Bottom Up Waiter Carry Arm Bar
Hip: Wall Hydrant Deep Iso Squat Lateral Band Walks Modified Copenhagen Plank Copenhagen Plank
05: IF YOU NEED HELP PUTTING TOGETHER A PLAN OR DEALING WITH NAGGIN PAIN
If you need help putting together a plan or want to find out what working with us is like then send us an email or give us a call. We want to help you do The Open or the activities you love to do with the people you love to do them with.
https://www.studyfinds.org/tired-nation-americans-now-averaging-less-than-6-hours-sleep-per-night/
Williamson AM, Feyer AM. Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication. Occup Environ Med. 2000;57(10):649-655. doi:10.1136/oem.57.10.649 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1739867/pdf/v057p00649.pdf
Isabelle Aeberli, Philipp A Gerber, Michel Hochuli, Sibylle Kohler, Sarah R Haile, Ioanna Gouni-Berthold, Heiner K Berthold, Giatgen A Spinas, Kaspar Berneis, Low to moderate sugar-sweetened beverage consumption impairs glucose and lipid metabolism and promotes inflammation in healthy young men: a randomized controlled trial, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 94, Issue 2, August 2011, Pages 479–485, https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.111.013540