Post-Open training: How to focus your efforts during the new cycle
As our first cycle post 2018 Open winds down, you may find yourself wondering “Now what?” Before we hop into cycle 2 of a new training year, let’s review.
During the Open, there are generally three things learned:
- You got better at or got your first rep of a skill or maybe even PR’d a lift.
- There was a skill or weight requirement you were not prepared for.
- There is always, always room for improvement and efficiency.
With that said, most people come away from the Open unsure of what to start with first. CrossFit’s model of fitness and competition has always stuck to its roots: strength, gymnastics, and metabolic conditioning. To be crowned the fittest man/woman on earth, fittest man/woman at EVF or even the fittest man/woman YOU can be, it always involves those three domains. The Open workouts tested you in those domains: 18.2a and 18.4 were the best tests of your strength, 18.3 was your best test of gymnastics, and 18.1 and 18.5 were you best tests of metabolic conditioning.
Where did you fall short and where did you succeed? Keep reading to see where EVF coaches thought they fell short, where they succeeded, and where they will focus for the coming months to continue to improve.
Hopefully this helps narrow your focus in day to day classes to make sure that you’re better in and out of the gym year after year! Happy training.
Q: What do you look forward to the most about the CrossFit Open each year?
“The Open should be a time to challenge yourself, see what you’re capable of — but ultimately celebrate your fitness and how far you’ve come over the weeks, months, and years. I look forward to the weekend throwdown sessions, cheering everyone on, and then tackling the workout(s) myself.” – Coach Patrick
“I love the challenge! It is an opportunity to see what I need to work on and to crush what I’ve been working on. Oh, and, of course, the camaraderie of going through the pain cave with the community.” – Coach Garen
Q: What were your goals from this year’s Open? And did you accomplish them?
“My goal for this Open, as silly as it seems, was to not hurt myself, and I accomplished that goal this year! I focused more on my quality of movement, slowing down my lifts, doing tempo work, and not trying to lift things that are too heavy for me. Whenever I felt my form was falling apart, I stopped and thought about what didn’t feel right, and tried to fix it, as opposed to just blasting through a workout knowing I didn’t look great. Technique is king. And I finished this year’s Open feeling stronger and more fit than ever!” – Coach Prakken
Q: What do you look forward to the most after the CrossFit Open?
“I like getting stronger (squatting) and I like practicing thrusters. In fact, my plan this year is to do thrusters at least twice a week, so that when I see them programmed (or by the time the next Open comes around) I will be able to do them with a smile on my face” – Coach Garen
“After the Open, we have some freedom to work on whatever we want. Maybe that’s developing a new gymnastics skill, maybe that’s joining a softball league, or maybe that’s keeping your head down and working on your weaknesses for next years open.” – Coach Prakken
“Working on skills that I need to improve. For instance, if i placed a lot lower in one or two workouts I did, I will now try improve that movement or system.” – Coach Chris
Q: What skills/movements did you find need some more work this year?
“Strength on the Olympic movements. Technique feels good but the strength, especially on the clean and jerk, needs more work.” – Coach Garen
“I’m very much a conditioning/gymnastics athlete. So my heavier Olympic lifts are for sure a weakness for me. They are such complex movements so there is always room for improvement!” – Coach Prakken
“My lowest score for the Open was 18.1. Knowing this, I need to work on two things: get better at rowing overall and more aerobically fit to sustain long rowing workouts.” – Coach Chris
“Conditioning is a must! I have been so focused on regaining my strength since my back injury that conditioning has taken a back seat. My strength was able to carry me a great deal this Open but I lacked the ability to recover quickly (18.2/18.2a was tough for me) and sustain higher intensity efforts during 18.3 (double unders have never been so difficult!).” – Coach Patrick
Q: For the next 3-4 months, what’s your fitness focus? (Strength, Oly Lifting, Endurance, Gymnastics, etc.)
“Strength and Oly lIfting. I have a goal of a 500 pound deadlift.” – Coach Garen
“Focus more on overall strength, moving properly and aesthetics for the summer.” – Coach Chris
“Breathe a little harder and more often, haha! It’s that time of year where you can have fun with training so you’ll probably see me doing weird movements, pushing/pulling sleds, enjoying the outdoors, carrying sandbags, and maybe giving those dusty stones a few tosses.” – Coach Patrick
Q: What advice/EVF classes would you recommend to someone who completed the Open for the first time this year and wants to improve on their performance next year? Where should they start?
“Regular classes are great. Jenna has such a wonderfully balanced approach to the programming. But definitely Mobility, especially coming out of the Open. I have heard/seen that many of the movements were a challenge because of mobility issues for many athletes. I would also say Gymnastics!” – Coach Garen
“Check out the Crossfit’s pyramid of fitness hierarchy right behind the whiteboard. Nutrition is the foundation, followed by metabolic conditioning. If you found yourself running out of breath quickly during the Open, or needing to take longer breaks than others, hop on a bike and do some interval training! There are many ways to improve your conditioning (or check out our new endurance class). If you feel solid with your conditioning, get yourself into the gymnastics, powerlifting, and/or weightlifting specialty classes. These are so so so important for our form, and creating a strong foundation for those more advanced movements, or heavier lifts. And odds are, you’re probably not as far off from that first muscle up as you might think you are!”
– Coach Prakken
“Just focus on one thing at a time it doesn’t even need to take that long such as 5 to 10 minutes before or after class working on something you struggled with.” – Coach Chris
Q: Any other advice?
“Work on those HSPU!!!!! and make every rep perfect. No rep yourself when you are skimping on standards. If you hold yourself accountable, no outside influence can faze you.” – Coach Garen
“Remember why we come to the gym and work so hard every day: to find healthy movement patterns to make sure we can use our bodies to the best of our abilities. So go outside the gym and do whatever physical activities make you happy! Play a sport, go swimming, ride a bike around the park — whatever else you love to do! For me, that’s shagging fly balls on the baseball diamond. I’d recommend trying to do this once a week, especially since we’ve got warmer days ahead of us very soon.” – Coach Prakken
“Always remember to enjoy the process and ASK QUESTIONS!” – Coach Chris
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