If you're like us, you can barely wrap your head around the fact that 2020 is over, let alone that the 2021 CrossFit Games Open is coming up in less than two months. We know that a lot of you, despite your efforts, feel anxious about the state of your fitness.
For those of us not planning to get to the Games competitively, one of the biggest ways we can improve our performance is moving effectively and efficiently and hopefully achieving a better tiebreak score. This means holding on to the barbell for a few more reps, stringing together longer sets of double-unders and avoiding no-reps.
Whether you are serious about your spot on the leaderboard, or you just want to feel good, move well, and recover, our Open Prep Series offers a chance to polish up your favorite movements.
Every Saturday from 9:00-10:00 am, beginning on January 30 for 4 weeks.
Each session will be 1 hour. We will spend 30-40 minutes of each session working on skill and technique work, followed by a fun group workout!
Week 1: General Pacing including BB/DB/box cycling/WB efficiency
There are skill-based movements that almost certainly will appear in the Open workouts each year. If your technique, mechanics, or pacing in these movements is lacking, getting them up to par is imperative. In this session, we will work on the barbell, dumbbells, box jumps, and wall balls and how to move efficiently and approach them in different time domains and movement schemes. This session will culminate in a WOD to put your new skills to work!
Week 2: Row + Burpee over erg or object skill
The CrossFit Open has always found a way to incorporate rowing, so if you've spent the past year rowing mostly for funsies or casual distances, its probably time to prepare for how the Open will utilize rowing. In competition, its all about calories.
In this session, well go over and reinforce proper row mechanics. Well learn to determine the best individual pace on the row depending on the workout format. Well also practice efficient burpee-over object skills to ensure maximum efficiency, specifically over erg, bar, and box.
Week 3: Hanging Gymnastics (T2B, Pull Up, CTB)
Sure, we all hope for that glory moment where achieving one muscle-up will put you on the right side of a separator in a CrossFit Open workout. But more important are bigger barriers to entry like toes-to-bar and chest-to-bar pull-ups are in many Open workouts.
This session will focus on hanging gymnastics, starting with a perfect hollow/arch on the floor and moving to the rig. We will then look at the progression of knees to elbows -> Toes to bar -> pull-ups -> chest-to-bar pull-ups -> Muscle-up. Afterward, we will help determine whats the best way to tackle a workout with hanging gymnastics depending on how well you can do the movement.
Week 4: HSPU / HS walk & DU
Building on our gymnastic progress of Week 3, this session will start by touching on DU to not only help us with jump rope skills but warm up our shoulders for handstand work. We will then explore the technique and approach for HS hold / HS walk progressions and then use what weve learned there to help perfect the kipping HSPU. If this seems advanced, have no fear, there are lots of progressions that mimic the kipping movement without having to do the full rep itself.