As members of HCF you get a program that actually makes sense due to the time, effort and commitment I (Shaun) have put into learning and growing through movement and programming to better your overall fitness to build a strong individual and community of athletes.
Each 6 weeks my goal as the head trainer/programmer is to design a workload to better your performance in a specific skill set/loading/time frame, while still getting better at CrossFit as a whole (GPP: General Physical Preparedness).
This specific 6 weeks (Monday Jan. 20- Friday Feb. 28, 2014) our goal is to improve upon standard CrossFit movements and work capacity coming into the CF games open which begins the first weekend of March.
First. What is the Open?!
“The 2014 season begins with the worldwide Open competition. Everyone in the world is invited to compete in five workouts over five weeks, posting their scores online in real time. Last year, almost 140,000 athletes competed in the Open.
Every Open workout needs to be validated to count. Competitors will have two options to validate their performances. They can work out at a local affiliate, where they will be judged in person, or they can submit video evidence of their performance to the entire community. There is no limit to the number of attempts an athlete can make, provided the score is submitted prior to the close of each week.
Competitors will be ranked both worldwide and by region. The fittest 48 men, 48 women, and 30 teams from each region will earn invitations to one of 17 Regionals. This is the first chance athletes will have in 2014 to establish their international standings.”
Currently our HCF team for the open comprises over 30 members and growing everyday. These individuals vary from just starting at HCF through our competitive athletes who have been training with us for 3 years. We will be meeting every Friday night at 7pm to complete/compete in the open workouts every week in March! Get hyped and get signed up with team HCF!
Programming:
To prep everyone for the open and build a strong base of work capacity (aka: get more work done faster) I have developed this 6 weeks to work on those movements and time frames that come up regularly during the open season, those being but not limited to; air squats, thrusters, wall ball, pushups, pull-ups, toes-bar, box jumps, double-unders, burpees, deadlift, presses, light-moderate load olympic lifts and in time frames that range from 6-20 min.
Test/Retest:
To be able to see gains its important that you have a baseline from your start and then retest that baseline after training. So at the beginning of this cycle we tested an open workout from the 2012 open season 12.3:
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 18 minutes of:
15 Box jumps, 24″ box
115 pound Push press, 12 reps
9 Toes-to-bar
After our 6 weeks of training through these different movements and time domains we will revisit this workout and re-test our fitness to see how much improvement we have developed through this training cycle.
*If you have questions or would like to know more about specifics on my programming philosophies or ideas just ask me in the gym or shoot me an email to shaun@hoosiercrossfit.com
Rest/Recovery:
During this cycle you will be experiencing a higher amount of volume of exercises/reps/workload due to the nature of the open programming. Its imperative that you eat, hydrate, mobilize and sleep well during these 6 weeks to stay healthy and performing well during this time.
NOTE ABOUT ACTIVE RECOVERY – The activity selected must be restorative for you. It can also be an opportunity to work on a skill (like swimming or rowing), but the effort expended should leave you feeling energized at the end of the session, not depleted. I would also always prefer to see active recovery done as soon after rising as possible on the active recovery days. It’s an opportunity to start some blood flowing and aid your recovery.
Mobility and Maintenance
* Choose 1-2 Thoracic Mobility Drills from Kelly Starrett’s Mobility WOD and spend 5-10 minutes with them.
* Choose 2-3 Lower Body Mobility Drills from Kelly Starrett’s Mobility WOD and spend 10-12 minutes with them.
* Choose 1-2 Upper Extremity Mobility Drills from Kelly Starrett’s Mobility WOD and spend 5-10 minutes with them.
– AND/OR –
* Body work from a licensed body worker (ART, Graston, acupuncture, etc…)
Inflammation Maintenance
* This could be a lot of things, but think in terms of compression, contrast baths, salt baths, castor oil packs, etc….
Nutrition Preparation
* Ensure that you have quality foods prepared in the appropriate quantities to fuel your efforts for the remainder of the week.
Mental Restoration
* Different for everyone – could be meditation or could be gathering with friends; the key is to engage in activities that make your life full and help you recharge your batteries.
