Thanks to Lucas and Epic Nutrients for putting on a great seminar about peaking and prepping for the Open. Here are some tips that stuck in my head from Lucas that I thought I would share with you:
WARMUP
- Foam roll your whole body
- Mobilize with a lacrosse ball / bands to prep for the movements
- Increase your heart rate and get a good sweat going
- Warmup the movements and work up to higher weights than the workout prescribes to help get more motor units firing and helping to lift the weights. (PAP – Post activation Potentiation)
RECOVERY
- Cool down 10-15 minutes with walking, airdyne, row or a mix of them, then mobilize
- Post workout meal – Whey protein (Jakt RX – sold at our box)
- Omega 3 supplement with high EPA to decrease inflammation (Might Omega fish oil – sold at our box)
- Compression gear* or go to the pool (works like compression gear)
* Make sure that your compression gear fits right, tighter at feet or hands and loosens as you move towards the heart. Not recommended to wear compression pants when doing a heavy metabolic leg workout.
NUTRITION
- He did not address Paleo, Zone or any other types of diets as most competitors know enough about nutrition and what works for them.
- Try beet juice to help your performance. Beet juice helps you load up on nitrates, which helps muscles use oxygen more efficiently.
- Creatine
- Magnesium – helps maintain proper muscle function. I like to take it because it relaxes my mind and muscles and helps me get a better sleep at night. During the Open do you stay awake at night thinking about the workouts and going through the movements in your head? Did you know that when you visualize doing any movement, your body does not know the difference between going through it in your head and actually doing the movements. I am not going to go into detail about this, but there have been studies on how a muscles fires when a movement is being visualized. Your body needs to rest when you are sleeping, so no working out in your sleep 😉
PSYCHOLOGICAL STRATEGIES
- Positive self talk – try to start to monitor what you are saying to your self. I like to think about, would I say that to one of my athletes in my workout? If not, I need to stop saying it to myself.
- Think about how you would coach someone. Coach yourself during the workout instead of being a cheerleader.
- You will not be getting any stronger / fitter before or during the Open. You are at the top of your fitness. All you can focus on is refining your skills to help you in the workouts.
- Every-time you do the workout, you will most likely improve. You are getting familiar with the exercises, the combination and learning how hard you can push yourself. Think about a test, every-time you re-write the test, you will improve because you know the questions.
WEEKLY PROGRAMMING
- If you do the Open workout 3 times, don`t do any other working out if 3 days a week is what you are used to. Focus on recovery! Get yourself out of the gym and go for a walk (active recovery).
- If you do the Open workout 2 times, add in one training day. Think about training on Wednesday, hit the Open wod on Friday and Monday. Add in some active recovery for the rest of the time.
- If you do the Open workout 1 time, train a couple times a week on top of it. You could practice the Open wod movements when it is released on the Thursday or do it in a partner style workout. Then do the workout for your score 3-4 days after it.
- Talk to your coach about adjusting the weekly programming for you. Focus on things that will not make you sore or trash you for the Open workouts. Focus on some secondary movements such as glute bridges, ring rows, single leg deadlifts to name a few.
- Split your workouts up to allow recovery. Try to have 1-3 days in between them
Kick butt and take names!
