With the blood, sweat, and tears of the 2011 CrossFit Games season still fresh in our minds and hearts, it’s time to embark upon another year of competitive training. There will be a series of events available to participate in for the 2011-2012 season:
- Zone Games V – mid September
- Taranis Winter Challenge – early November
- Zone Games VI – late January 2012
- CrossFit Games Sectionals – likely March-April 2012
- CrossFit Games Regionals – likely May-June 2012
Those of you who have participated in Zone Games and the Sectionals last year know how competition can inspire you to achieve performances you didn’t think were possible while putting a new perspective on training, nutrition, and recovery.
Last year to prepare our athletes for the Sectionals and Regionals, I formed a Zone HP (High Performance) training group. We met typically once a week on the weekends to challenge ourselves with not only tough workouts, but with movements and modes of training that were different than we usually encounter “inside the box”. The result was a series of tough challenges and I believe better preparation for our athletes heading into major competitions.
I am going to be starting Zone HP up again, with Sunday August 14 being the first session. If you are interested, ask yourself these questions:
- Do you regularly complete our Zone WODs at the Rx level?
- Are you committed to registering for the Taranis Winter Challenge?
- Are you committed to competing in the CrossFit Games Sectionals 2012?
- Do you train regularly on a weekly basis and are free of injury?
Make no mistake, the Zone HP sessions will be tough, with minimal (or no) scaling available. If you are not at the level to challenge our top 10 male or female athletes in the gym then continue to train and improve your abilities until that is a reality.
If you think you ARE ready, then zip me an email at cam@crossfitzone.ca and I will forward you the details of the first session.
Turts.
QOD (Question of the Day) – what are your competitive aspirations for this year? List any and all, from entering Zone Games for the first time to taking Scoots’ place at the CrossFit Games 2012!
Today’s Workout
Buy-in: 4 rounds of – 10 kettlebell swings, 10 pvc dislocates, 10 step-down box jumps, 2 turkish get-ups
- followed by deadlift and handstand pushup practice (find appropriate scaling) – 12 min
WOD: “Diane”
Classic. If you’ve got your hspu’s down, no problem. If you haven’t, be sure to scale appropriately!
21-15-9 Rep Rounds for time of:
- Deadlift (155/225)
- Handstand pushups (head to floor, kipping allowed)
Zone 5: Scale deadlift to 135/205
Zone 4: Scale deadlift to 115/175, handstand pushups to 15lb plate
Zone 3: Scale deadlift to 95/135, modify hspu’s as needed but stay inverted
Zone 2: Scale deadlift to 65 / 95lbs; modify hanstand pushups as needed
Zone 1: Scale deadlift as needed
Cash-Out: Double under practice – try fast and slow ones or just try stringing them together
- if proficient, try for 100, 200, or 300 for time
I would like to participate in the next Zone games at the intermediate level, with aspirations to take part in the sectionals this year, just to benchmark. I still have a long way to go in strengthening my lift technique and certain 'staple' items (pull-ups, hspu's and muscle ups, kettle bell swings).
It certainly helps having a ton of talent to chase at the Zone. Inspiring and humbling for sure 🙂
yeah budday. just remember to take some WODs "easier" to focus on technical efficiency – your strength and power are awesome, we just need some refinement and you're good to go!
This year: 1) Zone games in September 2) Powerlifting competition in Vancouver in November 3) Improve on 2011 Open rank in the 2012 Open 4) Compete for a spot on a Regionals team and give another team that shall not be named a run for its money
1- get stronger to actually be able to compete with the big dawgs in the Winter Challenge
2- Take a shot at "The Open"
3- Continue my programming while away with work.. No Excuses!
Do much better in the next Open. And I'd love to go to an olympic lifting competition if there's another one this year.
I've got "themes" and "specifics" for competing this year
Themes:
– train high intensity less, lower intensity more
– focus on joint health (last year's training gave me tendonitis in both knees)
– eat more (I must be ANABOLIC!! 🙂
– get stronger (10% boost in major lifts)
– don't get injured a week before regionals!!
Specifics:
– Back Squat up to 345, Deadlift to 455, Clean to 265… etc etc
– top 15 Winter Challenge (not a huge priority but it would be good to finish reasonably well)
– top 60 Sectionals doing each WOD 1x only (I did the first wod twice this year)
– top 15 Regionals
Overall – I trained A LOT last year, with my motto being "I will NOT be undertrained!". As a result, I most likely overtrained as I was averaging 9-11 sessions per week for 4-5 months and only took 3 weeks "off" training the whole year. This was coupled with a very heavy work schedule. My fitness was higher than it ever was but my body definitely got worn down towards Regionals. This year, more rest time, more skill/lower intensity work, and a goal of peaking my performance at Regionals.
Turts
make sure you're getting tons of sleep Cam – got to give your bod time to rebuild!
Jim, you're so right. Last year through the fall and winter I had commitments to train teams 2-4x per week at 6am… for me that was a huge stressor as I tend not to go to bed early! Definitely the value of proper sleep cannot be underestimated. I've made a couple of changes that have helped a lot – trying not to eat after 10pm (I'm usually in bed around 12), and making my bedroom as dark as possible!
Darkness (or, at least, limiting light at the blue end of the spectrum as bed time approaches – affects your melatonin production) is important. But going to bed by midnight is probably not early enough, young man!!
You might find "Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival" by Wiley & Formby an interesting read. (it is a horribly written book, but has some good stuff in it.)
Additionally, I've found, recently, that adding magnesium to my supplementation has coincided with some of the most awesomest sleep I can recall. As well, it appears to help me stay calm and focused. Granted, not a scientific test – but there is supporting information out there on the interwebs. See this link:
http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia…
(thanks to Kath for that one.)
My Goals for the next year are to get my body reset and healthy like it was pre CrossFit by keeping up with chiro, massage, acupuncture and my physio exercises. After my body is moving the way it needs to, I plan to ease back into the wods and putting more focus on stretching, mobility, recovery and consistancy in my training. This way I will be able to train harder and more often.
I had a timeline of goals built leading into the Open, which was supposed to start the middle of June. But, I will have to re evaluate as soon as I am back to training regularly.
My main goal is to compete in the Winter Challenge on the team, Qualify for Regionals and be on the Regionals team and get our team to the Games!!! Another goal I have is to get as many of the Zone athletes ready and comfortable, feeling like they have a fighting chance in the Open. And… to get Heather Cameron to the games in the Masters for 2012. Yes Heather, I think we can get you ready for 2012!!!
My goals include qualifying for regionals as an individual (aiming high) and, like Dee, competing on the team with the goal of getting to the games. If you break it down by wod, we were very close this past May, and the Zone has the talent to put a winning team together (it’s up to me to be included in that talent picture). Overall, my strength in major lifts needs a minimum 20% increase all around, and I have obvious skills deficiencies that I’m working on. The big challenge for me will be in trying to stay healthy as I push my strength up. As mentioned by Cam, I’m looking at my intensity levels and trying (it can be hard!) to not treat every workout as a competition. I’m also eating a little better, less wheat, more broccoli.:)
I have been eating more broccoli too, Adam! I think it's working…!
love seeing people putting their goals down… good stuff everyone!
perhaps my competition goal isn't specific enough, but i want to "compete" at regionals (or whatever they call it this year)… last year i wanted to "be" at regionals and i think my performance reflected that mindset.
my current training goals are based around this goal, but that is a whole other story. i hope to have a couple of smaller competitions between now and then, including the OPTathlon in october and maybe something non-crossfit related? not sure…
competing is such a great way to learn about yourself and having that competition really enhances your training…. everyone should have a competition goal for this year!!
This has been great reading everyone's goals – so inspiring! My goals are to improve on bodyweight stuff (ie gymnastics). I've having thoughts around this that in order to improve in this area it would be very helpful to lose weight (strength to weight ratio)…but I'm trying to sort that out. Words of wisdom from you gymnastic type would be welcome. A huge goal is to work on technique (clean and snatch – BLAH!). I will compete in Sectionals again next year with the goal of improving on last year's placing. I will continue to power lift and sprint because I LOVE IT!
As Jim said, magnesium is gold – great sleeps.
And finally, I would like to support Heather C however I can (meeting for extra WODS, track stuff, Yoga) in her run for the 2012 masters.
Hey Kath, if you want to get together and do a few mobility and stability exercises together sometimes let me know. If I have to choose, I would say those are the biggest contribution to my gymnastic skills.
When I was going through the personal training course, I met a guy name Matt Fisher at PISE. His credential is probably better said by Cam but I believe it's pretty impressive. Anyway, he gave us a nice list of exercises for shoulders, hips and ankles. When I first started doing them, I can really see the improvement in my lifting quality.
May I would love that, thank you. I'm off tue – Fri next week. Meghan and I are WODING Wed at 0930 and there's some thought of a track workout on Friday mid day ish. We can chat at kbrandsma@shaw.ca.
I am interested in participating in the team competition, though I don't think I'm quite there yet. I would say I Rx the WOD about 60-70% of the time. Most of the scaling are the heavy lifting stuff especially snatch and shoulder press.
I'm working closely with Dee now to make sure I've got a strong foundation to build on, and tackling down my weaknesses. I'm still hitting a few small PRs almost every week so I'm not plateauing yet.. If I could enter the Zone Game at the advance level and survive, I think I will have a better chance at getting into the Zone team.
It would be nice to be able to compete as a way to commemorate my 1 year CrossFit anniversary. My ultimate goal though — as best said by Cyndi Lauper — "Girls just wanna have fun".
getting strong and quoting cyndi lauper are mutually exclusive, sorry may….
hahaha
how about Miely Cyrus? she really gets me lifting heavy!!
oops, Miley, not Miely
My goal is top 10 at regionals next year. In order to get there I have some "themes" as Cam calls them (which I like as a name because they aren't actual, specific goals):
* Get stronger. I definitely need to increase my lifts, especially those of the squatting variety.
* Run faster. And faster longer.
* Love rowing (erguing…) by doing it more.
* Get my head on straight. Learn more about what I need mentally to get prepared for CrossFit competitions. So, taking part in competitions – Zone Games, Winter Challenge – to help me figure this out.
* Keep having fun. I love all my training right now & I want this to always be fun. Even the stuff I hate doing or the days that don't go as I want are awesome. When it stops being fun, I think I need to worry. So I want to keep having fun.
* Also, I want to do an olympic lifting meet at some point, whether that is a CF meet or a real life oly competition.
* Finally, keep my stress levels down by (a) not taking on too much at school, (b) sleeping lots & going to bed early, & (c) learning to let go of things I can't control.
I'm looking forward to another year of competition at all levels with the Zoners!!!
Hey Linds – I'd love to be of support in the "run faster longer goal." I too suffer in that area.
Wow, great comments gang!
Mike! I forgot about the OPTathlon… coming up quick… better log some miles on the old airdyne!!!
For everyone looking to compete this year – if you put the time in to refining skills in non-fatigued settings you will get a lot closer to where you need to be. Remove excuses and goats by committing to practicing on a regular basis – one thing about competitions is that they have a trend of exposing weaknesses… so start not having any!
Looking forward to seeing everyone's results this year – if you have any questions or concerns that I can help with, let me know.
Turts
I think I basically need to become a gymnast…ugh.
i think i basically need to become sarah…. everything is relative
Long Term – compete at the winter challenge as an individual, top 60 in our region for the 2012 open, compete on team/individual at regionals, stay injury free
Short Term – run more 🙁 , loose 5-10 lbs, and like turts – try and tone down intensity on certain workouts.
ID like to participate in Zone games in fall, due to injury missed out on last zone games..still not at 100% and too many goats but look forward to participating never the less.
When people say they want to lose weight, I'm assuming they specifically mean they want to lean out (ie reduce their body fat percentage)? The absolute value of one's weight shouldn't matter should it?
(not trying to be obtuse here – just wanting to understand!)
Just read Dub's comment about losing 5 – 10 lbs and I had also posted on weight loss. Jim and I are having an interesting discussion/disagreement here and I would love some feedback. I maintain that if I lose weight (fat) I will more effectively be able to do (weighted) dips, pull-ups etc. If I'm lighter, there is less of me to move when I run, so perhaps I will be faster. I'm thinking strength to weight to ration here – I assume Dub is considering the same things.
However Jim maintains that he's gained weight in the past 6 months, and is better off for it. So, the weight figure isn't what matters – what matters is body composition.
But I feel that I simply want my body composition to be such that my strength/weight ratio is kick ass. Thoughts?
It totally depends on who you are and where you are coming from. To respond directly to Jim above, I think it's safe to say that anyone who is mentioning losing weight is referring to fat/reduce BF%. Within reason, then, I guess this person would be happy if they gained 1lb of muscle and lost 1lb of fat for 0 net loss. But it totally depends on who you are. If you feel you have "enough" muscle but are not as lean as you want to be, it is a legitimate goal to want to lose weight (with a view to keeping your muscle mass). There may be a tipping point in terms of how big you want to be if your goal is crossfit style gpp (though there are some great crossfitters who are 210lbs +).
Some people need to lose weight to get fitter, some people need to gain weight to get fitter. Leaner is pretty much always better.
Good response Mike, agreed on all points. The way I look at bodyweight for competitors is that leaner is better AND lighter is better (generally). If I take myself as an example, right now I weigh around 190lb (usually a bit above) however at both this year's and last year's Regionals I competed at 183lb and feel I was more efficient because of it. Definitely I had a little less muscle but a whole lot less fat (and fat really doesn't help you do anything in crossfit).
In a perfect world for myself, I would LOVE to be in the region of 170-175lb but only if I could hold onto my strength at that bodyweight (i.e. 15-20lb lighter than I am right now). The reality is that I would likely lose too much strength if I got down that low but it is possible to maintain the majority of it.
If I can get below 180lb at Regionals this coming year but still reach my strength goals, that would be ideal.