Note – The heading for this little article makes the broad assumption that 16.5 (previously known as 14.5, or satan’s warm up, or F*%#ing  S#$& stupid F*$%^ by many) doesn’t actually kill you, as it nearly did to many, 2 years ago.

If you weren’t one of the lucky 30 men or women that made it to regional’s, the relief that 5 weeks of testing your skills and fitness may quickly be followed by a feeling of ‘what now?’. High intensity ‘CF’ style workout’s are probably feeling a bit overdone at this stage, but this isn’t a reason to kick back until next open season. Here are some things to consider doing to keep that momentum rolling right on into the colder month’s

Get strong! – This is the obvious one. The top athletes will do the same, after a short break and an (1) ice cream sandwich, they will back the conditioning work off, and focus on building their base strength. You can do the same, and the programming will be shifting slightly to let you do this.

Work on a weakness – did you get caught out in a workout during the open and just wished you had done some more work to get those, say, HSPU’s or bar MU, or even linked DU’s? Now’s your chance. Let the frustration fuel regular attempts at getting them sorted out for next year.

Set a goal or PB to attempt – Chose something specific to aim towards. This should probably be a max lift, like a 60kg full snatch, for example, rather than ‘I want to get a sub 2 minute Fran’, and just slog it out til you get there. Really focus on your technique and mobility to allow you to reach this goal, do everything you can to get there. Work on accessory movement’s in the part of the lift you are weakest in. Scrap one of your normal CF classes so you can get along to oly or gymnastics (depending on your goal) so you can hit it fresh. Get a coach to check out your current attempt so they can give you some guidance.

Try something different – we always say that Crossfit build’s strength and fitness in the gym, to use outside the gym, so now is the time to use it! Ride a bike, play soccer, do a triathlon, try strongman ( wink wink), climb a mountain. Your general physical preparedness will give you the fitness and confidence to have a good go at lots of different things, so while the pressure of a week of high intensity workouts and the open has subsided a little, give it a go.