2009 was the first ever Regionals in Australia and anyone could register to take part. From 2010, there has been a huge growth and the qualification process has become increasingly challenging. The road can be tough, with lots of sacrifice; however, it’s a goal that has given my training plenty of purpose over the years. I have managed to get this done every year since it started; this year, I JUST scraped in, qualifying in 30th place.

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A friend of mine suggested that I write this article and pass on some tips for what it takes to crush the Open and so here are my “7 lessons from 7 regionals”. Enjoy!

1.   Know your weaknesses

Know your current limitations and know what stats are required to compete at regional level. There is obviously no shortage of previous Open results and other data available online to see how you compare against other Regionals-level athletes. I found the below article from HQ very useful. https://games.crossfit.com/article/evolution-regional-athlete

Average 2015 regionals athlete (worldwide):

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Male

Back Squat 431lbs – 195kgs

Deadlift 499lbs – 226kgs

Clean and Jerk 318lbs – 144kgs

Snatch 256lbs – 116kgs

Max Pull-ups 57

Fran 2:23

Helen 7:41

Grace 1:44

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Female

Back Squat 272lbs – 123kgs

Deadlift 321lbs – 145kgs

Clean and Jerk 203lbs – 92kgs

Snatch 161lbs – 73kgs

Max Pull-ups 42

Fran 2:57

Helen 8:39

Grace 2:02

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This is not an exhaustive list and these numbers are not the be-all-and-end-all but they should serve as useful performance indicators to guide your training. If you are more than 20% shy of most of these numbers, I believe you are probably going to need at least 2 more years of training under your belt. If you are within 10% of most of these numbers, you might have a shot of being at a level good enough to qualify in the next 12 months.

If you are interested in making a team for regionals, these are some reasonable numbers that I think your team members should shoot for, based on my experience of being involved with multiple teams at Regionals and the Games over the years:

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Male

Back Squat 353lbs – 160kg

Deadlift 441lbs – 200kg

Clean and Jerk 276lbs – 125kg

Snatch 220lbs – 100kg

Max Pull-ups 45

Fran 2:45

Helen 8:10

Grace 1:50

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Female

Back Squat 220lbs – 100kg

Deadlift 265lbs – 120kg

Clean and Jerk 165lbs – 75kg

Snatch 132lbs – 60kg

Max Pull-ups 34

Fran 3:40

Helen 10:00

Grace 2:30

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Analyse these things and work out the various skills and fitness domains in which you need to become more competent. Recognise WHY you are struggling at that particular thing. Is it technique or strength-related? Most of the time, it is a combination of both, which means there is an opportunity to tackle the problem from both sides. For example, butterfly chest-to-bar capacity can be improved with technical drills for timing and patterning COMBINED WITH strength training such as strict weighted pull-ups.

2.     Have a planned approach to your training.

For the CrossFit purists, “periodisation” may be a dirty word, but all it means is “having a plan” so that you can perform well when it counts. The CrossFit mantra itself of “constantly varied” does not mean being completely random and spontaneous with your workout design. I’m not saying you have to know exactly what WOD you are going to do on Thursday morning in 5 months from now, but you should know tomorrow’s session plan and how that fits into what you are trying to achieve that week and that month, based on your overall goals.

Planning training in advance helps us to:

1. Optimise our overall performance at a pre-determined time point (The Open)
2. Structure training interventions to target the development of specific abilities (weaknesses)
3. Manage the training stressors so as to reduce the potential for overtraining 

4. Promote your long term athletic development through correct sequencing of training for ongoing improvement and longevity in the sport

Start with the end in mind by putting together a basic annual plan. This doesn’t mean planning every single workout for the next year. It means looking at your calendar and taking into consideration things like your competition schedule, work schedule, holiday times etc and then breaking up into smaller chunks of weeks and months. During these smaller chunks, target some weaknesses, set some goals and focus on them for a few weeks, measure improvement then move on to the next thing. This doesn’t mean abandon all other areas of your training; it just means that you have now prioritised working on your weaknesses to optimise your overall performance. Remember, “plans are useless but planning is indispensable”.                      

3.     Create a support network

Firstly, if you are planning to invest all the necessary hours of hard work in the gym, this is great – but make sure your partner, close friends and family understand that sacrifices may need to be made to achieve your goal. These people will be affected by your commitment to training in one way or another. It’s ideal if you can gain their support and understanding so that they don’t think you are neglecting them and you can maintain healthy relationships with the important people in your life. Training will be obviously be a major focus, but some relatively healthy balance needs to be maintained between training, work and life outside of the gym – otherwise, external stressors will build up and manifest as negative influences on recovery and performance.

Secondly, surround yourself with people who have a positive influence on your training. Ideally, you will have:

1. A coach or mentor who can help you plan your training and give you valuable feedback
2. A training partner or group to challenge you and help motivate you on those days when you really need the extra push

Done right, this support network will foster a positive environment that helps you learn, develop and most importantly, enjoy your training. We are a product of our surroundings. Try to train with someone who can challenge you and help you learn as an athlete, even if it’s only once per week.

4.     Mental game.

As they say, “get comfortable with being uncomfortable” and “no excuses”. Develop your ability to:

1. Consistently get the work done without excuses
2. Always bring intensity to that work.

As I said above, it is ideal to have training partners to help you “race” in workouts, but it’s also just as important for you to be able to push yourself this hard when nobody’s watching. This is a trait that separates the good from the best. My friends Chad Mackay and Patrick Fitzsimons are prime examples of this. These guys are outstanding athletes, and one thing that is really evident when you observe them (independently of each other) is their relentless work ethic and their willingness to consistently get in the hurt locker and stay there for a long time. I recently attended a workshop with Kahn Porter and Ben Garard who said a similar thing. Basically, they said that you need to have the ability to hit those hard, nightmare workouts completely on your own, when nobody is watching, and still maintain maximal intensity. Like those times when it’s late at night after a big day of work and you’re alone but you have to get your session done – those are the times when you need that internal drive. Some athletes find this easier than others, but in most cases, this is a characteristic that has been developed over time and built through consistent effort and desire to improve.

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5.     Figure out what nutritional strategy works for YOU.

I’ve seen many of different approaches work for many different athletes. It’s a complex topic that is affected by so many physiological, psychological, behavioral, financial and sociocultural factors. I’m not going to go too far down that rabbit hole today, but what I will say is that it takes time to figure it out for yourself. You need to take an active interest in educating yourself and using trial and error. I tend to focus on 4 key areas of importance. Often people obsess over one or two and forget about the other two or three…

• Food quality: What your food actually contains of or lacks in terms of things like micronutrients, vitamins, minerals, additives, preservatives, sugar, salt, different types of fats etc and what this can mean for your health and performance.

• Food quantity: Have a general idea of not just your overall daily energy intake but also how much of it comes from each macronutrient (protein/carbohydrate/fat/alcohol) and the amounts of these macronutrients in particular meals. It’s important to have a rough idea about the number of calories in the typical food that you eat and also how many of those calories are coming from protein, carbs or fat. Knowing this stuff is the first step to being able to adjust something to get a better result from your training.

• Meal timing: What you eat at what particular time of day can have a massive impact on the effectiveness of your training. Throughout a 24 hour period, there are continual changes in things like activity levels, stress, blood glucose, hormones, mood, mental acuity and appetite- just to name a few. When you choose to eat as well as obviously what you choose to eat can either enhance or improve your performance, adaptation and recovery. I recommend sitting down with your weekly schedule in front of you and taking note of when you normally eat, including post-workout and pre-workout. Chances are you will find something in your weekly habits and patterns that you can fix to allow you to recover better. For example, I did this recently and realise that the reason I always trained poorly on a Wednesday AM session was because my dinner on a Tuesday was always earlier than other nights. Once I added a second dinner into the routine I found I was much better on Wednesday morning. This is just a simple example but it can be a game-changer especially if you are a shift-worker or have an irregular schedule.

• Body composition relative to your diet and performance: As we all know, performance will be affected by levels of body fat and muscle mass. This will be more of an issue for some athletes than others. If you are someone who is naturally larger or smaller than the norm, or if your body composition fluctuates easily, it is particularly important to have a handle on your nutrition. Take regular measurements by DEXA scan or skinfold and compare these results with against any adjustments you are making with your nutrition. Over time you will discover what works for you, but if you are not collecting some data points, it’s all just guesswork and you are far less likely to get the best result. Finally, don’t obsess about changing your body composition. Body composition isn’t perfomance. Performance is performance. Let performance and recovery be your guide and use physical measurements as extra information to help decisions.

6.     Move better

In most sports, movement quality trumps raw strength, power or work capacity. CrossFit is no exception. You can get as strong as you want, but if you are not mobile enough to get into the right positions, you are going to hit a ceiling on your Olympic lifts. You can have the most highly developed aerobic system known to man, but if you can’t coordinate the timing of your kip consistently on HSPU, you will lose to the guy with an mediocre engine but better skill every time. Progressively develop the movement patterns and positional strength necessary to prevent injury and participate in rigorous training and competition.

7.  Repeat Open WODs if necessary

I know there are people out there who don’t believe in repeating workouts. I guess this “one and done” mentality stems from the CrossFit philosophy of “unknown and unknowable”. I respect this philosophy 100% and it is a big reason why I was attracted to CrossFit, “the training programme”, in the first place. However, when it comes to CrossFit. “the sport”, I disagree. I play within the rules of the sport and I expect the rest of the competitors to do the same. Repeating WODs for competitive advantage is a normal part of the Open. I admire those top athletes who only need to do the Open WODs once and then carry on with Regionals training. I used to be one of them myself, but the competition is much tougher these days! This year, I repeated 15.5 no less than 4 times in 72 hours, to eventually scrape in by a few seconds to secure a spot to regionals. My quads are still recovering!

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Most importantly, enjoy the journey of progressing in your fitness; don’t get overly caught up in the outcome, rather, value the process of improvement.