My Top Tips When Selecting & Preparing for CrossFit Competition.
So we are all training to get better. And as we have covered in the previous posts, its not sustainable (or adviced) to COMPETE every week with other members in your weekly TRAINING. But using events and competitions throughout the year is a great way to stay motivated and track your progress.
Now competition is very different from dropping into your normal training environment with your regular coach and class. And learning how to nail your CrossFit competition is almost a separate skill that you need to master. But you can start learning how to prepare your body & mind for a CrossFit competition well in advance for your competition.
So, if you are an athlete who has this strong drive to join a CrossFit competition, this blog is for you.
This is your guide on how to effectively prepare for a CrossFit competition and feel confident on that big day.
Joining a CrossFit Competition, which one to choose from?
CrossFit competitions, like any other competition, can be intense. CrossFit, specifically, combines a variety of skill to have a chance of winning. As you may know, CrossFit can go from pulling heavy weights to swimming half a mile. This might be a difficult thing to do if you’re a first-time competitor.
When we compete it’s good to keep in mind that some parts of the competition are going to feel scary and new. But ideally not ALL aspects of it feel overwhelming we want to be running a race where we standa a chance, and don´t get our ass served to us on allllll events.
It’s important to choose a competition and level of category that is appropriate for your level of fitness. So that you will be challenged and pushed in a good way. In the process of determining what competition is a good level for you, check out the workouts for the competition from last year, if it’s an event that has been hosted before, check out the description from the organizers of expected level of fitness and ask around some friends that have done it previously.
It’s also important to consider the amount of events that are in the given competition, and duration. For the average athlete that trains 45-60 min 3x pr week it might be an overkill to join a 2 day competition with 10+ Crossfit workouts. If that is your level then aim for 1 day events with 2-4 workouts. If you are an athlete that trains 4-5x60-90 min each week you can aim for that 2 day event and push your limits.
But, once you have chosen your level of challenge get ready! Below are a few quick tips on how to prepare to give your best performance. Here are the 3 things you have to do.
How to Prepare
#1 Assess Your Weaknesses & Your Strengths
Walking into the competition, it is a must to check yourself & assess your weaknesses, whether that may be in gymnastics, heavy lifts or running for miles. Its important to know where your strengths are, and you will have to play on your strengths to do well on the leaderboard. But knowing your weaknesses and being prepared to do damage control for them is also important and will help you keep your head in the game, even if you are slightly behind.
Depending on how far out you are from your competition, you might also have time to work & improve on your weaknesses. And make some incremental gains at least on your road to turn these weakness into strength!
What to Do: Get honest with yourself and ask for feedback from your coach or any expert in CrossFit. Once you have measure yourself through that. Then, create a plan on how you are going to work on that certain skill or routine.
#2 Prioritize your training.
That brings us to the second thing you need to do – Just TRAIN. And, when I say train, I just don’t mean train-like-you-used-to-before or train-and-do-the-same-daily routines. I mean, insert more deliberate practice & little more intensity into your sessions. Allowing yourself to get comfortable with that little bit uncomfortable feeling from pushing your limits just a little each time.
Of course, the goal now is not just to stay fit. It’s to perform your best in a competition. And with that said, you most likely will need little bit of extra will power to get working on that weakness we found in step one. It is very common to want to avoid working on the things that are not going great, but stick to your plan and do little things each time you are in the gym that bring you just that one step closer to being able to pefrome that skill. If you put in the work, you can get ready to surprise yourself on the day
What to Do: Depending on your routine, you can either just add little 10-15 min practice sessions around your current sessions. For example, if you are doing classes 4 x 60 min a week, you can keep that schedule as is & make it 4x 75 min or if you are working on endurance aspect or something that takes longer you can add a 1 workout each week fx. personal training session to work on skill, long metcon on the weekend / swimming / run.
#3 Prepare For The Day
Part of the whole preparation for competition is also the non-workout aspect such as outfits, gears, accessories, meals & supplements.
If I may say, they are actually just as important. Most often when I do post competition debrief with athletes. The first thing they say is I should have gotten 2 jump ropes with me, one broke and I had to borrow from another athlete as mine broke in the warm up. Or I should have eaten more, I was flat by the 3rd event & a few have said I got so distracted from my shirt smelling horrible by the end of the day.
Getting the proper gear for competition, and experimenting with your nutrition on beforehand can help you perform your workouts with more ease & confidence because you got them right and don´t need to spend energy on thinking what how and when.
What to Do: about 1 month before your competition, test out different nutrition around your session, figure out how long before a workout you need to eat, what combination. Get the gear and gadgets you need DON’T EVER TRY ANYTHING NEW ON GAME DAY. So make sure you are already using everything in your actual training sessions at least 2 weeks before the competition. This also include protein shakes, running shoes, wrist wraps, hydration packs, lifting belt, protein bars, electrolytes, energy gels, vest & bag, bike, knee sleeves, jump ropes, workout shoes and more.
If you are gearing up and need any new equipment make sure to check out LiftDex Equipment You can get a 10% discount on any item by using my code: EIK. Check out their items at liftdex.ae
In the end, competitions are a GREAT WAY to boost your motivation, and you can never go wrong with deliberate practice and a bit of discipline in the preparation when it comes to CrossFit competition. So, chin up & start doing these 3 things! Wishing you the best of luck on your first or next competition, let me know how it goes!
Much Love,
Eik
