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. 

The CrossFit Open is here! For some, this is just another walk in the park. For some, this is a fun community event where they get to throw down shoulder to shoulder with other members of their community and compare themselves to the best of the best. For others, this is the start of what they have been training for over the past year(s).

There are many variables to doing well in the CrossFit Open. However, my goal is to touch on four topics that can yield a huge impact for you.

Here are some ways that coaches and athletes can prepare themselves for the CrossFit Open. This is definitely not exhaustive, but will surely help to get you focusing on what will put YOU in the best position to perform at your best. As always, having a Coach to help guide you through the X’s and O’s will always be your best resource, but for now, let’s call this a close second.

Conquer Athlete had quite the showing at WZA in Miami last weekend. Here are the athletes who represented Conquer, results, and highlights.

One major problem I see with “proving” if CrossFit is an effective program lies in one of its foundational principles of preparing for the unknown and unknowable. The application of it is different for everyone. Because there is no centralized delivery of workouts, it’s up to the affiliates to interpret the method and put out a product. It is up to both the program design side and how you the athlete decides to complete it that determines if it’s a “proven” and effective program.

A common question that coaches are asked is whether or not they should seek out Remote Coaching or In-Person Coaching. In truth, there are very compelling reasons why either could be more serviceable so it’s not a matter of if one is better than the other, per say. What needs to be determined is which is the best option for the athlete at any given point in time.