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Introduction: With the CrossFit Open season on the horizon, excitement is building as athletes eagerly check the leaderboard, hoping to surpass last year's performance and outshine their peers. In this article, we'll explore a game-changing hack that not only helps you beat the competition but propels you past your previous Open leaderboard standings.
Analysing Last Year's Open Workouts: Before delving into the strategy, let's take a quick look at some of the challenging workouts from the previous CrossFit Open:
- Workout 23.1 - A demanding combination of rowing, toes-to-bars, wall-ball shots, cleans, and muscle-ups.
- Workout 23.2 - Featuring burpee pull-ups, shuttle runs, and a one-rep-max thruster.
- Workout 23.3 - A time-capped sequence involving wall walks, double-unders, and snatches with escalating weights.
Spotting a Pattern: An interesting revelation emerges when analysing these workouts – the involvement of barbell movements!!! The significance of mastering these movements becomes evident, especially considering that one workout is entirely dedicated to testing your strength with the barbell.
Strategic Approach: Getting Strong for the Open Now, let's unveil the hack – getting stronger with the barbell. By strategically improving your strength, not only can you elevate your performance in barbell-centric workouts, but you can also enhance your efficiency in various other exercises.
Illustrating the Impact: Consider Workout 23.2B, where athletes have 5 minutes to establish a one-rep-max thruster. Adding just 10lbs (4.5kgs) to your score can catapult you thousands of positions on the leaderboard. For instance, moving from 29,987th to 20,247th would result in an impressive gain of over 7,700 points.
The Domino Effect: Strengthening your barbell skills doesn't just boost your performance in one specific workout; it has a domino effect on your overall fitness. As you become stronger, the relative weight of the barbell in comparison to your one-rep-max diminishes. This can significantly impact your scores and efficiency in other barbell-inclusive workouts throughout the Open.
Real-World Examples: Look no further than the top performers in the men's field of this year's Open – Jeffrey Adler and Tola Morakinyo, both renowned for their exceptional strength in weightlifting. Their success underscores the crucial role of strength in CrossFit.
Applying the Principle: Think of strength as your secret weapon. Just as switching to a lighter wall ball can transform your performance, getting stronger with a barbell can make the seemingly insurmountable workouts more manageable. It might not make them easier, but it can certainly enable you to push harder and endure longer.
Conclusion: As you gear up for the CrossFit Open, remember that strategic strength development could be the key to unlocking your full potential. By prioritising and improving your barbell skills, you're not just aiming to conquer individual workouts – you're setting yourself up for a remarkable ascent on the leaderboard and possibly even qualifying for the online quarterfinals. Embrace the challenge, invest in your strength, and watch as your CrossFit journey reaches new heights.