The Crossfit Open is here!
Here's a a few tips for the season:
1.Sleep can improve your performance & recovery!
The unsung hero of training & performance is getting in quality sleep!Sleep is an essential component of health and well-being, with significant impacts on physical development, emotional regulation, cognitive performance, and quality of life.
Along with being an integral part of the recovery and adaptive process between bouts of exercise, accumulating evidence suggests that increased sleep duration and improved sleep quality in athletes are associated with improved performance and competitive success.
In addition, better sleep may reduce the risk of both injury and illness in athletes, not only optimising health but also potentially enhancing performance through increased participation in training. Prioritise 8 hours of sleep every night!
2. What gear to keep & what gear to upgrade?
Coming into the Open, don’t change it all up with new gear and new diets. Stick to what is tried and tested. If you’ve been using an old jumping rope, stick to this rope for the open, don’t bring new gear that you havent practiced on! Don’t change up your game day diet, eat what you are familiar with, even if its breakfast for dinner ;)
What can you upgrade? Well… invest in some comfortable performance gear, new sweats or a shirt that gives you more freedom to move. Upgrade your footwear, get the new Nanos or Metcons, they are purpose built for heel stability , low heel drops and great toe box movement, chuck the old running shoes, they were made for running not lifting.
Bonus: Get grips, no one can do 50 toes to bar without getting some blisters, we love @gunnargrips
3. Work on your pliability to reduce the risk of injury.
Undergoing muscle pliability work can….stimulate the nervous system, allowing the muscle to contract and relax more efficiently and effectively.Pliable tissue also has a good blood supply, is able to fully contract and relax, and lacks any restrictions or adhesions.
This is the core difference between pliability and flexibility.
While flexibility is strictly focused on stretching out your joints and the muscles around them, pliability focuses on deep-tissue and full-body work that strengthens and heals your muscles. Flexibility is stretching out after a workout, while pliability is stretching accompanied by deep tissue work, nervous system stimulation, hydration and nutrition. It’s more all-around than flexibility, and has more long-term benefits.
The biggest benefit to building pliability is pain-free performance. “In sport, we can’t truly prevent injury,” But, keeping your muscles pliable gives you the best chance to stay injury-free and pain-free because of their ability to absorb and dispense forces, improve muscle activation, reduce muscle tightness and movement restriction, and accelerate recovery.“
On top of that, pliability boosts your endurance, helps you recover more effectively from a workout, and improves the exchange of oxygen in your bloodstream… So get that foam roller out this Open season.
4. Eat a pizza & some more!
This is just a reminder to enjoy the journey…You are going to be smashed after 23.1 , so make sure you put back some carbs & protein after your workout! A Pizza can be a great post workout meal for your body & your emotional health ;) Generally, a slice of pizza contains 36 grams of carbohydrates and 12 grams of protein. A person should ideally be getting 100 to 200 grams of carbohydrates and 18 to 25 grams of proteins. So, 3 slices of pizza will be ideal.
Life is short & you just did something amazing… treat yourself! You deserve it.
5. What supplements can help you perform & recover week by week?
Premium Protein:
Yes, can meet your protein needs through whole foods alone. But if you have a busy life where you go straight from the box to work, or if you track your macros and have trouble meeting your daily protein goals, then a protein shake can be your best friend.
But which kind of powder is right for you? Fast-digesting protein like whey is ideal to take post-workout because it improves your muscles' ability to recover and adapt after strenuous exercise.
13’s Vegan Protein has shown to be as effective as Whey Protein, so when choosing make sure you get a protein that works for you!
During the Open: Aim to get 2g of Protein per Kg in body weight
Creatine:
No surprise here! Creatine is one of the best supplements for bodybuilders, endurance athletes, and for everybody in general!
Why? Simple: Creatine has been shown over and over again to help athletes increase muscle mass and strength levels, boost high-intensity work capacity, and improve body composition. It's affordable, too!*
Speaking to CrossFit in particular, creatine supplements help increase the amount of the specific fuel source, phosphocreatine (PCr) that your muscles need to perform high-intensity exercise—which sounds like just about every CrossFit workout.
Keep creatine simple: 5 grams per day, every day. Make it a ritual!
Electrolytes & BCAA’s:
"75% OF PEOPLE ARE CHRONICALLY DEHYDRATED"
If you’re an athlete, performer, hard-worker, gamer, drinker, coffee-smasher & a go-getter, this stat could include you! 13 Hydrating electrolytes helps you to optimise your performance, fight fatigue & helps you to replenish what gets lost while you hit your goals!
Filled with:
- Sodium to increase fluid & electrolyte absorption, and help to regulate muscle contraction and prevent muscle cramps.
- Potassium to improve your muscle endurance by increasing your body's efficiency transporting oxygen to your muscles.
- Magnesium to increase vasodilation which increases blood flow to your muscles.
- Calcium in addition to being important for strong bones, calcium is required for muscle contraction. Without enough calcium you may experience muscle cramps.
- Zinc is an anti-inflammatory antioxidant that helps to shield your cells from the free radicals that would otherwise cause them to deteriorate.
- Added Vegan BCAA's are essential to stimulate muscle protein synthesis, that helps you build and maintain muscle
- HMB HMB is an active metabolite of leucine that reduces muscle protein breakdown. It has an anti-catabolic role to help maintain muscle mass.
- Inulin is a gluten free probiotic fibre that helps with digestion and gut health.
- No Sugar to keep your blood sugar and insulin levels consistent.
Collagen:
Collagen is a structural protein in the body, with its primary role to maintain connective tissue health. Within tendons, collagen crosslinks aid the tendon structure. During crossfit / training performance, tendons are required to absorb huge forces.
Collagen is the foundation for tendon strength and regeneration of tissue post-exercise. Leading into the tendon is the musculotendinous junction, with injury to this structure common in athletes. The vulnerability of this structure is increased by its structural make-up and the high forces it is exposed to in performance.
Due to the repeated high eccentric loads experienced through the tendon and musculotendinous junction during performance, micro tearing occurs and, without sufficient recovery, can increase tissue vulnerability and susceptibility to injury. This emphasises the importance of maximising recovery in athletes, so you can safely meet your training and Open demands.
Promoting the use and supplementation of collagen to maintain musculotendinous junction and tendon health post-exercise is therefore a key component of your recovery strategy.
6. It’s called active recovery, not a “chill week “.
Lastly… don’t stop training these 3 weeks because of ‘competitions”. Active recovery restores your muscles after exercise. It involves low-intensity exercise –– like walking or swimming –– after higher-intensity workouts. With active recovery, you increase blood flow to your muscles and remove toxins from your body that build up during exercise.
This will help you recover & perform at your peak every weekend. Just “chilling” might leave you stiff, tired & at risk for injury.
NOW GO GET IT!
Wessel Coetzee
Co-Founder & CEO