For the uninitiated…
“The CrossFit Games Open Qualifiers is a six week, worldwide competition in the sport of fitness. The Open is the first step in the CrossFit Games season and takes place from March 15 until April 24. There is one workout per week for six weeks, and athletes compete to qualify for the CrossFit Games.”
(From The Games site.)
The challenge – to peak your fitness over a six week period.
The ‘constantly varied’ nature of CrossFit can give us some clues into how best to prepare for the six week competition. We know that the programmers will aim to test athletes’ proficiency across broad time and modal domains. They are trying to get the fittest athletes through to the next level of competition. With CrossFit favouring the generalist, expect to see a huge variance in weekly events. Ironically, this constant variation allows us to predict upcoming events with increasing accuracy as the event proceeds. Variation is the only constant. Contrarian.
Let’s assume for example that the first week’s event is a one rep max deadlift. This falls squarely in the domain of absolute strength. With only five more weeks to funnel the world’s fittest athletes, the chances of another one rep max are slim. How about a high rep pull-up workout in week two? Not much chance of repeating this movement for high reps in weeks three to six. The same can be said for time domains. If the CrossFit gods offer up a 10km row in week one, there’s a reduced chance chance of another 30+ minute workout for the remainder of the event. AMRAP two minute clean and jerk? Expect nothing else in this time domain.
In essence, the WODS that come up are not predicting what upcoming WODS will be, but rather, what they WILL NOT be.
This extrapolation of future events can help the athlete tailor their training towards the events that are statistically more likely to appear later in the event. The further the event progresses, the more data we have, the more accurate our extrapolation.
If the one rep max deadlift appears in week one, a benefit can be gleaned from not training this time or modal domain for the rest of the six week competition.
A six week competition is highly tactical. A weekend event is easy (comparatively) to prepare for. You perform constantly varied, high intensity functional movements across broad time and modal domains and attack your weaknesses in the months leading up to competition, then spend the week before the event tapering. If you follow the same process for a six week event, you are likely to perform well in the early events (due to your taper), but then drop off towards the end as your general physical preparedness diminishes. So how can we use our extrapolation to maximise preparation? After all, the athlete is looking to maximise performance over the six week period, while still maintaining their training.
Events are announced at the start of the week. You have until the end of the week to complete them. The first step in maximising your outcomes is to perform the WODS at the end of the week. Logic would determine that you should spend the week practicing this WOD. On the contrary. If your preparation is sound, you should be able to rely on your General Physical Preparedness and cope with anything they throw at you. Rather than practicing the time and modal domain that appears in the WOD, YOU SHOULD DO EVERYTHING BUT. If the one rep max deadlift appears in week one, the last thing you want to do is spend a week maxing out on your deadlift and hammering your posterior chain. Your training should already have provided you with a strong deadlift. So, you taper this specific movement, and focus on different movements and different time domains. This will allow you to continue training at a high intensity throughout the six week competition without it jeopardising your performance.
What are your strategies for The Open? How do you best approach a six week competition? Post thoughts to comments, and please, share this article!
‘Like’ Range of Motion on Facebook and stay tuned for more CrossFit Open commentary over the coming weeks.
Dan Williams
Accredited Exercise Physiologist
Level One CrossFit Coach
Director, Range of Motion
