How to prepare for the Crossfit Open.
It goes without saying that how you eat, sleep and drink on the days coming up to a competition will impact your performance.
While a quick Crossfit Open qualifier that ends in 12 minutes is hardly the same thing as an all-day competition, it's often these short ones that leave you begging for a quick death.
Knowing how to prepare your body for the assault is going to bode well for your recovery process.
Eat, drink, sleep, repeat.
When training or competing, blood sugar levels can determine how well you perform during that session. It is vital that the athlete stays on top of their blood glucose level, as a drop in blood sugar can leave an athlete feeling fatigued.
Athletes that perform the best, make sure that they have adequate amounts of glucose in the bloodstream so that they can feel both mentally sharp and physically tough.
Honing into these tiny details can be the thing that changes that score, and we all know how shaving off just a few seconds could mean you make it into a different percentile.
Some sciency stuff.
Both stress an adrenaline can deplete the body's blood sugar making it even more important that we stay on top of the right nutrients at the right time. Adreneline and epinephrine (hormones that are directly involved in stress response and during intense activity) can amplify the affects leaving an athlete to feel weak and shaky. Yuck. Unless of course, you thrive off that kind of energy.
In these circumstances, caffeine as a pre-workout stimulant might be a great tool to counter these effects.
Some things you can do to make sure you perform your best
One day before
Make sure you get adequate protein
Consume adequate carbohydrates based on your training volume. This will be key to fueling your body correctly.
Sleep 8 hours - Get the nerves and can't sleep? Try some natural remedies like Valerian and great sleep hygiene like dimming the lights, minimising caffein 4 - 6 hours prior to sleeping, and avoiding screen-time 2 hours before sleep.
Meditate - Mindfulness isn't just for hippies, just ask the top performing athletes in the world. Everybody needs down time prior to an event.
On the day of the qualifier
Its important that athletes do not attempt to try new foods, supplements or hydration techniques on the day of the event. You need ample time to learn how your body will react to each new practice, so stick with the basics.
2 Hours prior to your qualifier, eat normally. Stick with your normal food sources, now is not the time to be trying new foods.
Hydrate adequately an hour before. You risk falling behind your peers when going into a competition even slightly dehydrated. Water is sufficient enough however if you prefer, you can add pre-workout glucose, but again make sure you aren't attempting anything new and risk upsetting your stomach.
Caffeine can be a great tool as mentioned above but its important you know your tolerance levels as too much can leave you feeling like a tweaked out mess, and end up resulting in you feeling completely sapped.
Time your carbs right. Slow releasing carbs are great a few hours prior to training, but won't be much help if you're consuming it right before training. Likewise, fast releasing carbs hours ahead won't do your performance much good either so plan ahead.
After completing the workout
There is a reason why post-workout meals are also called recovery meals, its arguably the most important one. This isn't necessarily the time to be celebrating with alcohol and donuts, although absolutely nothing wrong with that, but if you want the right nutrients to recover so that you can perform your best consistently, your best bet is your carb intake.
This is especially important if you plan on doing a retest in a few days' time.
Let’s begin the countdown……
