Are you ready to COMPETE?

If you remember a couple weeks ago, we talked about the stimulus of our programming. In that post, we discussed the need to save our competitive spirit for the right time…and that time is now.  
 
The Crossfit Open is just around the corner, February 21st to be specific, and this is the time to bring your best. The biggest Crossfit competition in the world will pit you against your competitive peers from around the world.  Over the next 5 weeks, you will be challenged with some creative and intense workouts.  Events are released Thursday evenings and you, the athlete, has until Monday to submit scores to the Games Scoreboard.  
 
To ensure that you are prepared for the demands the Open will place on your body we have some recommendations. 
 
Friday Night Lights.  
A term that has been used quite a lot in the Crossfit community, Friday Night Lights will be your chance to take on the Open workouts in a truly competitive environment.  The  coach calling out 3…2…1…GO, the song that pumps you up and preps you for a PR, or the crowds just calling your name, the Crossfit community comes together on Friday Nights to cheer one another on during the open. MCF will be hosting the Crossfit Open at our first Friday Night Lights events, every Friday for the next 5 weeks. 
 
What does your competition week look like? 
A post from Comptrain Programming details what the week surrounding the Open events should look like.  If you follow Comptrain at all, you know that this programming is built from Ben Bergeron, the coach of Elite Athletes like Katrin Davidsdottir, and Mat Fraser. Now, before you look at the week, determine what kind of competitor you are going to be.  If you are looking to submit your scores and challenge the top of the leaderboard for the coveted spot in the Games then you should seriously consider the sample schedule coming next. Or If you are competing to see how much you have improved from last year, you should also seriously consider the same schedule. 
 
To look at the Crossfit Open competitive week, we start the calendar on Thursday.  

Thursday is announcement day, preparation day, an active recovery style day.  Fitness is good; however, we want to make sure that we don’t take energy reserves away in preparation for Friday Night Lights!  
 
On Friday, we prepare our bodies for battle.  We know that starting at 4:30 the Spartans go to war.  We remember our nutrition, we remember our mental development, and then we put our fitness to the test.  
 
Saturday, before the effects of battle sets into our muscles, we look at areas that we could be better and work to fix them.  This is the practice and the time to correct inefficiencies in our movements. 
 
Sunday, a much needed day of rest.  We recover, work on mobility, quench our thirst, and meal prep for the next week. 
 
Monday, if you are truly competing for a games slot, this is the day that you will retest Friday’s workout. In this attempt, you will take your experience in the workout, your technique work on Saturday, and your recovery efforts on Sunday and deliver an even more impressive effort into your results.  If you don’t improve, you submit Friday’s effort.  If you improve you submit today’s effort.  One way or another you know you gave your all and you left your best effort on the field.  
 
Tuesday…build a better you. Back to normal training.  Come into the class of your choice. Make sure you arrive on time and go through a full range of mobility movements and warm-up prior to class. Complete the components with your best effort.
 
Wednesday, we are looking for you to be in class, but you may look at a significant scaling variation. This may look like a set with lower weights, a decreased rep scheme, or a lower energy demand.  In many of the competitive communities, this would be considered a tapering period, although short.  
 
…and now, we prepare for the next week's announcement!  

In the Open, you compete against yourself. It's the time to celebrate what your body can do and to encourage others as they push themselves to new heights. 

Let's do this together! The fun starts on Friday. 

Register for the Open at Games.CrossFit.com