The CrossFit Open is Over…Now What?

The excitement that came with the five week competition known as the CrossFit Open is, like the Open itself, now a thing of the past. We are so amazed by everyone who participated, and had so many highlights I couldn’t even begin to put them all in this single blog post. Each week brought with it new PR’s, a stronger sense of community, people going RX for the first time and what was shone above all else was the sheer will power and determination from each and every member. Northlake is truly made up of a group of athletes with a tremendous amount of mental fortitude.

Now that it is over, it should be a time to reflect on your accomplishments and start planning your goals for next year. Questions to consider asking yourself are:

• What do I need to work on?
• Which workouts did I perform really well on?
• Which do I never want to see again?
• Did I live up to the healthy expectations I set for myself going into the season?

You could continue with different questions, but one thing I would encourage all of you to do is set short, medium and long term goals for yourself to accomplish throughout the year. Update the goal board in the gym, and get accountability partners and coaches to help you achieve them. Don’t make the mistake I made my first few years of competing and try to work on every single thing at once. Pick one focus at a time, practice until you find success, and then move on to the next item.

 

Remember – CrossFit’s specialty is not specializing.

We need to make it a point to get better at everything, and not just the things we like to do. Make sure you check out the monthly skill clinics we are offering and commit to practice what you are learning. Were double unders problematic? Buy a rope and start working on them in your driveway 10 minutes a day. How was the clean and jerk? Come to some Olympic Lifting classes with Tom and commit to writing down your numbers throughout the week to help you make bigger gains. Did you have a hard time with your endurance? Come out to an endurance class and work your conditioning.

Consistency is the key!

Make it a priority to get into the box on a consistent basis, put in the work, and the results will start to speak for themselves. Above all else, keep having fun and keep competing. And be careful not to let perfectionism get in the way of having fun (yes, good advice even for myself!). I remind myself on a regular basis that this is a hobby and a passion and that I need to stop worrying about the skills and things I don’t do well, and focus on the process and how far I have come. I encourage you to do the same. If the competition bug has bitten you, I encourage you to explore it. There are so many local competitions and Jason and I love helping people mentally and physically prepare for and do their best at them. Grab some friends from class, sign up, and push yourself to do your very best.

Mark your calendars – Regionals are May 15 – 17!

I am proud of each and every member and cannot wait to see the amount of people involved in the process next year. Oh….. and if you aren’t busy the weekend of May 15-17, come on down to Atlanta to cheer on the Northlake Team at Regionals because every single one of you helped in the process to get there.

~ Amy