To Repeat or Not to Repeat?
That is the question, isn’t it? To repeat or not to repeat the workouts from the CrossFit Open?
Well the answer will be found within another question: why would you?
You can find yourself in 1 of 3 camps here when it comes to doing the CrossFit Open. In Camp 1, you sign up to throw down and participate with the community around the world with no expectations other than to do your best, or potentially better than you placed last year. But in this specific group, you have no expectations of making it to the next stage of the qualifiers (AKA Quarterfinals).
Camp 2 is the group of people who are on the fringe of being a top 10% athlete in the world. These athletes are somewhere between 13% and 8% and find that the most subtle improvement of skill throughout the year or the slight change in approach to a workout shifts them hundreds if not thousands of spots in the Open to where their general level of fitness lies. For this group, repeating Open workouts is going to likely be a necessity in order to know you really left your best effort out there and attacked each workout to the end of your abilities.
Camp 3 is the group of athletes that could choose to coast through the Open if they wanted to. This group of athletes is more easily solidified into the top 10% of the world and they know that even on an “off day” they will post a score that will allow them to qualify into the Quarterfinals and allow their season to be prolonged. This group of athletes should show up to compete however, they must know their name and fitness will still be measured by the score they post, and if they want positive momentum based off the Open to roll into the next stage, then they should do the best they can.
If you are in group 1 or 3, then why would you repeat any of the workouts? If the answer is anything other than it would mean the world to you to improve, or that you feel as though you can learn something from repeating the workout then it should be a hard “NO” to repeating. If it comes down to peer pressure, or the fact that you are concerned with what others from other gyms, your gym, your region, your country, or your family will think of you then the answer is a loud “NO.” But why? Well, as a coach in this space and a current masters athlete, I’ve been around for a while, and I know what it looks and feels like to let pride lead your choices. I want to protect you and my athletes, not just from identity issues within a sport but identity issues in your life!
Does doing better on a workout feel good? Yes. Does improving your score make you feel more resolute? Yes. But only if you are doing it for you, only if you want or need to prove it to yourself. I’ve got a handful of athletes this year that will repeat each workout, and that is ok. They know they can learn from this, and they have only been around the sport long enough to understand that more exposure to competition style nerves and jitters will only help them when the stage is bigger and lights brighter in the next stage of competition. If I thought for a minute that any of them were doing it to prove something to someone else, we’d have long heart to heart about that choice.
The stance I would take would go a lot like this:
You are enough, your effort is enough, and we train our faces off to trust that. When we compete it is our job to seize the moment we are presented and do our best! When we fail at that, we can learn and move on and apply it in the future. Your performance does not reflect your worth. CrossFit is a sport and fitness program, it doesn’t define who you are. CrossFit is something you do, and the day it becomes more than that or becomes something other than “fun” overall, then that is a time we must really search our heart and ask ourselves, “Why we do we do it?”
So tell me now, why do you need to repeat a workout? If the answer takes us anywhere else outside of your own expectations and your heart’s desires, then answer needs to be, “you don’t.”
Crush the rest of this year's Open! Give it your best, that is all you need.
-Coach Conway