I am really proud of my ranking/placing 2,152 out of 38,104 within the Masters 35-39 Division this year putting me in the top 6%. My happiness and result both occurred with an alteration to my approach to the workouts this year in the following ways:
#1 One and Done
Every other year I had pretty much repeated every single workout twice. The downside for me was that the first attempt ended up being a softer “feel it out” and would never end up being fun. Not to mention this would be pretty disruptive to my overall training week, planning additional rest and energy for a second go. My good friend Coach Jon helped me to think about this differently, and that if I was repeating just to beat other people at the gym (which I was in the past) then that was really just about ego. Now if I was trying to qualify for Regionals that would be a different reason.
#2 Reviewing Strategy and Prepping
This year I took the time to watch The Outlaw Way’s Tips Videos on Friday mornings to get some strategic guidance. From how to break my bar muscle up sets, to utilizing a wider grip on the thruster, there were a number of takeaways that benefited me when I put them into action. I also really enjoyed the warm-up videos created by The The Movement Fix, and incorporated the suggestions into my larger mobility and day of preparation. I went into the gym on Thursday nights after each announcement to practice a few rounds of whatever the workout was to get a sense of timing to then create a personal goal.
#3 Visualization
After beginning to read the book Mind Gym, I put into immediate action the suggestion of a visualizing my performance and achieving my goal. You may check the book’s template and how I shaped it to fit one of the Open Workouts in my prior post. Mentally taking the ten minutes within the 48 hours leading up to me tackling the workouts made a huge impact. When I was actually doing the movements in the workout, they felt familiar and strong because of how I not only visualized myself successfully performing them, but how I also envisioned how I would overcome setbacks and mistakes.
#4 Identifying My Peak Day
While my gym hosted amazing competitive evenings on Friday nights with organized heats and awesome spirt, I remember never feeling at peak performance on Fridays in the past (or on Fridays in general after a long week), especially in the evenings since I’m a morning workout guy. I recognized that I felt best on Saturdays after a really good night’s sleep so I made those mornings my day. I choose Saturdays knowing what was best for me but still showed up on Friday nights to support my community of incredibly powerful athletes. I also had a blast getting to be the evening MC which I discovered a new talent and passion for.
#5 Extra Rest Day
My designated peak day of Saturdays introduced a little conundrum to my regular schedule working out five days a week and resting twice on Thursdays and Sundays. I reconciled by adding a third rest day and taking Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays off. Since I tend to be of the mindset of training more and harder, I imagined my body was going to feel much better and it did with more time off!
#6 Forgetting About Leaderboarding
While I looked at my own gym’s leaderboard, I chose not to be focused on my own ranking, realizing that in my tenth year of being a CrossFitter (and seven CrossFit Open), I got to focus on my own journey and path. Instead of comparing myself to others each week and oftentimes feeling a bit deflated, I became so much more content with being proud of my performance with where I was and knowing I had given each workout my best shot.
#7 Challenges
My gym setup a House Cup which included the ability for athletes to challenge and be challenged for additional points for the team. While not focused on leaderboarding, I did choose to have fun by challenging other athletes each week. I picked specific athletes for each workout in which I truly believed the face off would be a very fair possibility of going either way and likely be close. No landslide victories!
I’m looking forward to future CrossFit Opens and continuing to utilize the above approach! The photo above was my victory dance move after I hit two Snatches at 185lbs in Workout 17.3.
Did you compete in the CrossFit Open? I’d love to hear about any changes you made that made a difference for you!
Last Updated/Enhanced: March 29, 2017
*Photography by Sasha
