2011 CrossFit Games Season

As the 2011 CrossFit Games Regional weekend was approaching, I found myself questioning my training more than ever before. Purely, the part just based on working out and lifting and I think the reason for this is because this entire games season, the workouts have been posted prior to actually having to perform them.

During sectionals, the wods came out on Tuesday and had to be completed before the following Sunday, giving athletes roughly 5 days to complete them as many times as possible to get the "best" possible score. I did wod #1 three times, and soon decided this was not the way to train for the next level. I performed the wods on Saturdays and continued to train weaknesses during the week. While not 100% unknown and unknowable, I liked the format. Ultimately, to get all athletes competing around the world, there was no other way around this method. Plus, 5 days does not give enough time to become any better, faster, or stronger at any certain movement. And judging by the scores and names atop each region, the cream rose to the top.

Now, as the regional wods came out, I asked myself if I should focus on these 6 wods the whole time. With about 4 weeks between the wod releases and the regional comp, I could do each workout plenty of times. So a toss up, do I focus on only the movements needed to get to the next level and neglect all else, or focus on the movements I need more help on and forge along with my current training style which includes strengths, weaknesses and overall functional training. I chose option 2.

To me, CrossFit isn't about specializing in any one movement or wod. It's about being a functional athlete across a broad domain of movements. To win a competition, maybe specialization is the key. That's not why I got into the CrossFit lifestyle to begin with so why start now? My CrossFit games season came and passed but I will be a CrossFit athlete forever.