The week before the competition???

[Joshua Desmond]

I am competing in the Mid-Atlantic Hopper challenge, which will be my first crossfit competition. As such, I was wondering what the general consensus is out there for the week before competition. I was thinking of doing CFT on Mon to gauge my lifts, and then take it easy the rest of the week with some stretching, maybe a little running, and just relaxing in general. Any suggestions?

[Sean Dunston]

A true CFT demands a huge neuroendicrine response and takes a heavy toll on your body, which will be felt by a lack of strength for a short while (several days) afterward.

I would suggest that you do not get anywhere close to 1RM -- especially on 3 different lifts in one session -- that close to any competition.

you should be in a good taper for at least 10 days or 2 weeks before a competition.



PS: Good luck and have fun, Josh. I'll be one of the judges there.

[Christopher G. Woods]

Josh,

As Sean said, CFT less than a week out is definitely a bad idea; I'd bet on at least one ME lift during the course of the weekend, maybe two. At less than a month out, if you don't know where your lifts are, now is the time to figure it out; you are not going to make any significant strength gains between now and the Hopper, so your time would be better spent on your conditioning. At this point, I'm focusing on my metcon, only lifting heavy once or twice a week, and I'm doing two-a-days on three out of five days a week. I'll probably drop the two-a-days the week before; week of, I'll do light metcons on Sun-Mon-Tues and then rest Wed-Thur-Fri.

[Tamara Cohen]

Originally Posted by Joshua Desmond

I am competing in the Mid-Atlantic Hopper challenge, which will be my first crossfit competition. As such, I was wondering what the general consensus is out there for the week before competition. I was thinking of doing CFT on Mon to gauge my lifts, and then take it easy the rest of the week with some stretching, maybe a little running, and just relaxing in general. Any suggestions?

Yeah, definitely skip the CFT. Honestly, the odds of there being a max squat or press are pretty freaking slim, so I would not worry about those numbers. I'd take three full days of rest before and not max any lifts in the week before. Stay loose, keep stretching, maybe some relaxed rows in the three days before.

[Jakob Schmidt]

Yeah, I was wondering about this too. I've decided that after the 26th of this month not to do anymore strength work and work more on metcon and skill work. Three days before the competition, I'll rest, stretch and work on skills. Nothing strenuous.... except for maybe working on my term paper which is due right after the competition... crap...