Range of Motion athletes completed a comprehensive self assessment following the 2013 Primal Throwdown. Here, we examine some of their responses.
There follow some of the key statements made by Range of Motion athletes following a complete review of their performances over the 2013 Primal Throwdown. All names have been withheld. Read them, and improve your own performance by learning from the successes and mistakes of our athletes. Look for common themes.
The major issues that have been identified which we will work to improve are:
- Increase the use of movement alternatives to become familiar with unusual movements.
- More emphasis on a structured pre- and post- workout routine.
- Mental skills and strategies – particularly pertaining to confidence.
- Weakness eradication is key.
- More individual organisation of nutrition.
Biggest Lessons:
“That I need to work on more varied things…” Use the Movement Alternatives in My Fitness File. This will maximise your adaptability.
“Strategy is key, while I know this already, it was reaffirmed in a big way.”
“I need to devote time to practicing skills and alternative movements.”
“I need to be better prepared in terms of what I bring to a comp – foam rollers, broomstick, more food.”
“That I am capable of so much more than I think.”
“Don’t take a knee jerk reaction to a wod that’s out of my depth.”
“Realise there are others in the same struggle with weaknesses.”
“It hard but it’s ok to fail. From failure you gain knowledge.”
“Keep moving, rolling, stretching throughout the day”
” I’m capable of more that I realise”
” Importance of positive attitude.”
“That even though I am strong doesn’t mean that it will be easy and I won’t get beaten by others who arent as strong. My head has lots of self doubt.”
“Don’t rush. I was really disappointed with wod 1 as I wanted to smash it, but wasn’t composed at all and made too many mistakes.”
“ALWAYS eat substantial amounts of food between workouts.”
“Don’t go too hard too early in any workout.”
“There’s definitely another level of effort and endurance I can tap into when working out, and it’s 90% mental.”
“How to mentally think over the course of the competition, including how to compete to your highest standard over a 2 day competition – feeling sore and tired.”
“Consistency is key. Keeping your shit together and sticking to the plan works. Sometimes stuff goes wrong on the day.”
“I can hold my own (and then some) with the best of the best in WA.”
“I still have plenty of work to do on my weaknesses”
“Believe in myself.”
Nutrition:
“…maybe my food intake was a little down on what might be recommended. I am quite content that my nutrition is well thought out but it might have been ‘neutral’ in that it probably didn’t help or hinder, but fuelled me enough.”
“I probably should have eaten more at lunch time between WODs 2 & 3.”
” Probably could work on more of a wholesome lunch food…”
“Well hydrated. Grazed all day. Paleo snacks carrot sticks nuts and protein shakes kept me going. It probably needed more fuel loaded food. It did not appear to hinder me.”
“…towards the end of the day I felt that I hadn’t eaten enough and that impacted on my capacity to perform.”
“Think my nutrition was good, was prepared and organised for the day. Think that Ive done enough comps to work out what I need to bring and eat on the day. Drank heaps of water.”
“I need to organise my food and have a setout menu for competition day.”
“Really only ate small amounts of fruit between workouts. Not feeling hungry and as a result not eating hindered me greatly.”
“When I only had short times between WODs, I ate little amounts and if I had a larger gaps, I ate full meals as advised. Saturday night, I came home guzzling water, ate a good meal and hit the sack. It helped, I did not feel that I had no energy due to nutrition.”
“Game day nutrition good. Nice and organised with post-workout nutrition, snacks and mini meals. Same breakfast Saturday and Sunday which
sat well with me, and pre-prepared dinners for Friday and Saturday night. Definitely glad I took the day off on Friday to help prepare and minimise stress in the lead up. Drank 3-4 L water during competition day, plus more in the evenings to top up.”
Psychology:
“I think my attitude towards the comp helped me to take each step at a time and to take in as much as I could from a learning perspective as well as enjoying the moment a bit.”
“I think my mental state was really good. I was excited, but not stressed. I was aware of the crowd, but I was still calm during the workouts.”
“Mental state was struggling from the word go. It needs work. I need to understand its triggers that set the spiral. It was a hinderance cos focus was not all there.”
“I would like to be able to improve my mental process throughout workouts, be able to push that bit harder, get that extra rep.”
“My mental state needs alot of work. Went into this comp feeling more relaxed than I have done in the past, maybe because of my injury, I was using that as an excuse not to push myself. My head lets me down alot, need to be able to think more positively and get more focused before each workout.”
“Wasnt really thinking alot about the workouts, and there was no planning in my head about what I was going to do and how I was going to approach it. Was just really going through the motions.”
“I’m a bit of a self defeatist naturally, so I always second guess my abilitys and am cautious approaching any task. But I found the encouragement on the day invaluable and once I was competing, that was my focus, I broke everything down into small blocks and found it easier to cope with the pain/effort to keep going.”
“First time I really worked on my mental state, which helped a lot.”
“Mostly I had a good balance between staying calm and a natural amount of nerves/adrenalin before workouts. I did find myself dreading particular workouts and looking forward to them being over (e.g. shuttle run/burpees) which may have slightly hindered me. Most of my self talk was positive though, and I played my own game and tried to turn things around when it didn’t go to plan.”
Game Day improvements for next time:
“Make time to warm up better if possible.”
“Get more sleep and have less stress in the week leading up to the comp.”
“Bring more food.”
“More sleep.”
“Find that zone and absorb myself in my game plan without distraction.”
“Stay positive and enjoy the ride.”
“Eat More.”
“Spend more time thinking about the upcoming workout.”
“Establish some verbal triggers to use throughout my performance (ie “go! go!” instead of “fuck it”).”
“More mental preparation, going over workout in my head and knowing what im going to do before it starts.”
“Doing more warm up movement before my event, more practice.”
“More stretches post event to help recovery.”
“Proper hydration.”
“More sleep.”
“Correct eating.”
“Warm up more before workouts.”
“More specific warm up exercises and WARM DOWN! a bit lacking in that department atm…”
“Need some pump up routine/tunes to amp up and get excited just before competing, was walking into each WOD a bit flat and hesitant.”
“Don’t underestimate myself.”
“Be a bit more structured in the time between workouts. Figure out how long it will be until I next compete, then plan when to eat, rest, watch other heats and start warming up. I did this to an extent on the weekend but still found myself starting warm up too early sometimes (partly coz I got restless) and not being sure how much I should be eating.”
“Soak it up. Spend more time in the moment enjoying being able to compete and watching others, rather than looking forward to it all being over. This may not improve my performance, but would definitely improve my enjoyment of competitions as a whole!”
“Be better prepared mentally from start.”
“Plan my training a bit better. Was pretty sore and tired from training and work.”
Long term (training etc.) improvements needed:
“I would really like to be able to have more skills-based training…”
“Spend a lot more time on complex Olly lifting movements.”
“Get comfortable with heavier weights.”
“Continue my program and add more practisable weaknesses within the week.”
“Consult with coach on tips for positive thought practises.”
“Learn from others and train with others.”
“Develop self awareness, more reflection (become more aware about my performance in workouts, develop WOD strategies, how my body will react, what to do at which point of the workout, which pace to go at).”
“Set goals (increased dedication to training, keep hungry for next achievement).”
“More training with movements that are my weakness.”
“I need a coach.”
“Practice uncommon movements (KB c+j, pistols, sled pushes) in order to gain more confidence and experience with those movements.”
“Working on weaknesses which I have outlined, this is my major set back to stepping up to Intermediate.”
Strengths:
“I felt I did really well in preparing myself for each wod I needed to do. Took Dan’s strategy into account and ran it through my head as to what I needed to do.”
“Preparation.”
“Stress-free organisation of workout gear, food.”
“Great night’s sleep.”
“Being able to refocus and and have that belief in myself.”
“This year I felt I was better able to mentally stick to a game plan in a WOD. I was also reasonably consistent in my placing in each event. I wouldn’t say any of the movements that came up were specifically strengths of mine but nor would I have called them major weaknesses either.”
Weaknesses:
“Mental focus on negative aspects of previous performance, instead of focussing on upcoming workout.”
“Mental strength – unable to maintain positive attitude and push through the pain as much as I wanted to.”
“Underestimating my ability.”
“Being able to refocus and and have that belief in myself.”
