Thriving in the CrossFit Open
Written by Conquer Athlete Coach Ryan Bucciantini
The CrossFit Open brings mixed emotions for most athletes. Some thrive under the pressure, while others crumble. How you plan for the start of the competitive season can play a major role whether you thrive in the OPEN or you just survive.
When I’m working with athletes, I think of competition in three phases, before, during and after and each phase has specific skills attached to it. As athletes, the sooner you realize and embrace that competition is a skill the sooner you’ll begin to thrive in it.
Pre-Competition Phase
Check in where you’re at mentally. Are you nervous, excited, or stressed? Ask yourself why you’re feeling this way… is it hurting or helping you? If it’s hurting you, what do you need to do to get your head right?
Equipment Prep: Give all your gear a good once over. Oil anything that needs oil, check your jump rope for frays, do you have your accessory gear i.e. wraps, sleeves, proper shoes, etc.
Camera equipment: Redundancy is your friend here. 2 is 1 and 1 is none.
Judging: What’s your plan? How experienced is your judge? I recommended not leaving this as a game time decision. Ask someone you trust and who has legitimately knows the standards and requirements of the workouts.
Visualization: Start thinking about your workout “pre-checks.” Read the workout… What are your initial thoughts? Based on you and your training, how would YOU break things up? Where are the speed bump points? What’s going to challenge you? What are your strengths? These are all important things to know when devising your plan.
READ THE WORKOUT BRIEF AND SETUP, THEN READ IT AGAIN!!!!! I can’t stress this enough.
Competition Phase
Environment: Do you do better in solitude pre-workout or do you want to get amped up? Know what works best for you and adjust accordingly. There’s nothing worse than someone screaming in your face when you’re trying to keep yourself calm.
Manage your stress day of. You’re already going to expose yourself to very high levels of stress, do your best to “quiet” the rest of the noise in your life so you can focus on being present and devoting all of your energy to the task at hand.
Inputs + Mood + Thoughts = Mindset. Be mindful of what you’re taking in the day. Social media, music, the news, etc. can all impact your mood, which will form your thoughts, which will impact your mindset. Be sure you’re taking in things that match your goals and elevate your mood.
Performance Visualization: Watch your future self in your mind completing the workout and set the intention of how you want to perform i.e. set your internal strategy.
Post-Competition Phase
Reflect on your performance. What did you learn, what can you refine?
Understand that setbacks are going to happen, it’s the nature of the sport. Injury, poor performances, training fatigue, changes to your environment is something you’ll all experience at one point or another. What lens you look at those setbacks through matter.
You can choose to be a victim or you can own the situation and adapt. It’s that easy, you choose how you feel, you’re the only one responsible for your emotions. Do what you need to do to flip the script 180 degrees to allow yourself to feel the way you really want to feel and grow from what you’re presented with or you can let it impact future performances.
Personal celebrations, a small mental “pat on the back” acknowledging yourself for what you put yourself through is important even if you didn’t get the result you wanted. You’re constantly on the grind to be your best and if you’re always mentally beating yourself up, it’s going to take a toll on you.
Refuel, Rehydrate, Recover - and get ready for the next test!