We are less than 14 days out from the 17.1!

So should you taper for the Open?

Assuming you have been training hard over the past weeks/months and have therefore accumulated significant fatigue in your system, then YES, you should have some sort of taper in your training plan over the next 2 weeks. Exceptions to this would be people such as those looking to peak for Regionals or beginner CrossFitters who don’t really train high volumes and are still acquiring the skills needed.

What exactly is tapering?

Tapering is basically just a reduction in the overall training load in order to create a peak in performance prior to competition. This reduction in training allows for the dissipation of fatigue which masks the underlying fitness, thus creating “readiness”. Its used in all sports, and, when done effectively has been shown to improve performance by around 3%. This doesn’t sound like much, but in the context of the Open, this would translate into a big difference on the leaderboard.

Training load can be reduced by manipulating the following variables: Intensity, Frequency, Volume, and Duration of the taper.

Here are some recommendations based off my own experience and also what the research says from studies across multiple sports:

+ DURATION

The Taper should last for around 8-14 days, and should be progressive in nature, rather than a sharp drop-off in training.

+ VOLUME

Training volume should be reduced by around 40-60% over the course of the taper. As a really basic example, if you normally do 10 WODs per week, then you should only do 6 WODs in the first week of the Taper and then only 4 WODs in the second week of the taper.

+ INTENSITY

Intensity of training should pretty much be maintained throughout the taper. In the last few days, be careful not to completely “go there” with maximal efforts, but generally your training should still be quite high intensity, especially early in the taper.

+ FREQUENCY

The number of times/days per week that you normally train should be maintained all the way through. This keeps your body and mind in its normal rhythm. As mentioned, the training volume will be reduced, so sessions will probably be a little shorter, or there may be more skill work or mobility work in place of the normal sets, reps and load with barbells, gymnastics etc. 

Good luck for the Open from all of us at Starr Strength,

Cheers

Luke

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This article is aimed to be a general guide for peaking for 17.1. There are other factors to consider in the taper such as strategies for maintaining fitness and strength during the 5 weeks of the Open, but they are not within the scope of this article.

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