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Soooo... 17.1 comes out in 4 days and most of us will be doing it within the week. What can you do in one week to improve your performance?
Let's make some assumptions before I suggest some guidelines:
The good (and bad) thing about crossfit is that we don't know what the freek Castro is going to announce... or do we? We do know that it is generally pretty basic crossfit stuff. We shouldn't see rope climbs, sled pushes, dead ball etc. So let's prepare for that. We will see box jumps, push press, deadlifts, burpees etc We also know that it's going to go for 5 weeks, and if you're like me you'll do the wods at least twice. So we need to keep up our training for that whole period as one of the main principles of training is: USE IT OR LOSE IT! How long you take to lose something (e.g. fitness, strength etc) will depend on how 'fit' you are at the moment. I try to get everything done weekly - so every basic crossfit movement gets done at least once a week. If we look back at the recovery post, we see that some fitness components take longer to recover from than others. Recall muscular endurance will stimulate a physiological change in your muscles - the wod breaks it down, then the body rebuilds it. This is not something you want going on in your body going into a comp. Which means, DON"T do any high reps muscular sets that leave you sore. Examples are sets of 50 or higher (again this will depend on your state of 'fitness') of HSPU, chinups, deadlifts, pushups - really anything that leaves you with DOMS. This is vital to a good preparation! The muscles should be in a healthy and recovered state. I would still do small sets to maintain that movement. So a WOD like 5 RFT of 3 HSPU, 5 DL, 5 CTB. 5 pushups is a nice little WOD that shouldn't hurt you, but will be enough to let the body know you still need those specific muscles! High intensity cardio, for example 4x500 row at 100% on 5:00 is also having the same muscular effect on the heart. So don't be doing any of those types of WODs. Sure, you can get breathless and get the HR to max, but keep it short - again, just enough to let the body know it still needs the muscle (the heart). I would hit these little lung burners maybe twice or three times in the week prior (the same as my normal week) but keep them short - maybe 2mins in length. A good way to do this is to throw a finisher at the end of your WOD. A 500m row max for example. The way I like to do it is to finish off my normal WOD's very intensely - so save a little in the tank. For example, my last minute of my 12 min AMRAP, I'll put on the burners and give it everything I have - which will always leave me breathless. Exactly what you want. The other components such as Power and Strength you don't need to change too much. The only thing I would do is reduce the sets/reps, and don't go for any PB's. PB's can leave you neurally drained, especially something heavy like a Deadlift which uses a lot of muscle (and nerves). Things like snatches and MU should be fine. As long as it doesn't turn into a muscular WOD. So if your MU's leaves your muscles sore, back off on the reps. You only need to stimulate the system - not wreck it. Some other things to consider:
And lastly, one guideline all good coaches go by..... IF IN DOUBT.......REST Have a great week training and stay focused AND calm! And know that whatever Castro announces, you'll have empathy from 300 000 other people!
2 Comments
16/6/2017 04:00:06 am
Crossfit is a fun and healthy way to improve your body. I've been practicing this sport ever since. My mentor is a hardworking crossfit enthusiast. Your posts have been inspiring and helpful for people like me. I really hope that you do well in your competition. I wish you luck and hope that you get to bag the prize.
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Dion Walmsley
18/6/2017 04:46:50 pm
Thank you for the comment. You're absolutely right - I think crossfit is a fantastic way to get healthy. I get huge satisfaction from watching our clients being able to move better. Simple things like getting up off the floor, or doing their first lunge.
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AuthorDion Walmsley, Head Coach at CrossFit Kanga, Richlands Archives
August 2017
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