The Open is almost here!
And while it’s a wild and wonderful 3 weeks full of community and testing ourselves. I would generally say that it’s too late to implement anything that is going to help your results at this point.
The proverbial hay is in the barn.
You’ve shown up and done the work over the past year. You are more prepared that you would otherwise be.
But your resident CrossFit nerd has been pondering a post in the past few weeks and I realized that what I want to chat about can actually help you improve your open performance.
The Warm Up!
On a few recent occasions I’ve had the pleasure of listening to some of our coaches go over the detailed daily warm up. A discussion was had on why warm ups are important (more on that in a minute), and ended with a please do the warm up.
(Listen, we have had a member in the past that was stiff as a board but strong as an ox. He could roll up in the gym eating a gas station burrito and throw down with the best of them. But yall. The open is something special. It’s the atmosphere. It’s the test. It’s a chance to really give it what you’ve got and see where the chips fall. A gas station burrito and a workout 47 weeks a year. NO problem. During the Open that fella visited the sidewalk because no one wanted to do wallballs and handstand push ups in that. (Back then the open was a special kind of 5 weeks).
From the mad scientists in 2013. “We need a warm-up that will increase body temperature and heart rate, provide some stretching, stimulate the entire body and major biomechanical functions, provide practice for basic movements, and finally, prepare for rigorous athletic training.
The essential features of our warm up are that they include a stretch and major hip/leg extension, trunk/hip extension and flexion and pushing and pulling movement. The combinations are limitless and might include more challenging movements. The movements will largely depend on your athletic development, but over time the more challenging movements can be included without being a whole workout. “
(Yes, ladies and gentleman – we are talking about practice).
“In any case, success with high-rep calisthenic movements like the pull-p, squat, dip and sit-up will make you stronger, improve your stamina, and won’t come without regular practice. Not all of that practice need be max rep but it will need to be regular and the warm-up is the perfect place for that practice. “
So, what does that have to do with you? And how will it improve your open placements?
What it has to do with you is that by regularly doing the warm up you are practicing skills, drills, techniques and movements that we use in the workout. Doing your warm up as written, will improve your technique, flexibility, and stamina. You will be ready to tackle a workout without redlining 19 seconds into it and thus will have a better chance to achieve the intended results and stimulus of the workout. (assuming you’ve also listened to your coach, and chosen scales (up and down) that will help you improve that day.
And that is precisely how it will improve your open performance.
The open workouts are hard. But they aren’t any harder than what you do daily. You will just push yourself to the limit, the redline, the dark place that you don’t often want to go.
And to do that more successfully, you need to prime your body for what’s about to happen. Is a rigorous warm up easy? No? But it will get you ready to tackle a workout. Your heart rate, your respiration rate will take a little longer to spike. Your work capacity will be higher.
It can be hard to want to take the time to warm up. (You have no excuse during a regular class that we do everyday, it’s part of your hour of fitness). Friday night lights will tempt you to talk to your friends. Strategize about the workout. Even Help judge (which is hugely important too). But if you do all the things and don’t warm up. You’re doing yourself and your true fitness level a disservice.
Ridzo Athletes are fit. Yall show up. Work hard and kick ass.
Give yourself the best chance to see where you stack up in the world with a good warm up.
The open is here. 22.1 Is released on Thursday at 3 eastern.
Get ready to have some fun.
Originally posted on the CrossFit Ridzo FB page.
Hilled It 