Going into the final event of the 2015 Crossfit Games Matt Fraser had the lead over Ben Smith.
If he could stay ahead of Smith, Fraser would be the Fittest Man on Earth, a title he had nearly held the year before also until Rich Froning proved again why he is the best. But Fraser fell apart on the deficit handstand push-ups and Smith went on to win it all, leaving Fraser in second again.
No reps are the quickest and most punishing way competitors lose.
However, for all but the most elite it doesn’t happen at the Games, it happens at the Open or Regionals or a local meet. There isn’t the accumulation of insane volume, as at the Games, it is not completing the required range of motion due to a lack of preparation by the athlete. No reps cost an athlete in several ways, some obvious some not so obvious.
No reps cost an athlete the effort it took to perform the rep that did not count. On a box jump this may not be much, but a muscle up? Ouch. That might mean standing and staring at the rings for up to 30 seconds to a minute. How far back will that set you next time you attempt Amanda?
Next is the time lost from the no rep. In a set of double unders, a no rep costs at least 5-7 seconds to recover and start again. This is assuming you are not fatigued which might push the time to restart much further. On average, an athlete can do 30-40 double unders in 20 seconds. That adds up very quickly if you foot foul 2-3 times per set.
It may be the difference between podium and pouting.
The mental stress of the no rep is very real, not only on you the athlete, but to your judge. As an athlete who misses wall-balls or pull-ups you begin to worry about each rep, putting more effort than you might normally to ensure it doesn’t happen. This will reduce how many reps you can do in any given workout. Also, for the judge, it is a simple reality that they are judging potentially dozens of athletes in a day and they cannot focus 100% all the time. But they will quickly focus on you and every single rep you do. That means any gray area or benefit of the doubt you may receive is now gone.
CrossFit Competition: Eliminating No-Reps for Good
-
Know the standards inside and out.
The standard for handstand pushups at the 2015 Open clearly got to Josh Bridges when he went head to head with Scott Panchik. He only had a few minutes to learn them but it illustrates the need for athletes to know the standards for every movement they might perform.
-
Chase perfection in your movements while training.
Little things like not quite locking the elbows those last couple muscle ups or not standing up the last overhead squat to full hip extension are habits everyone has at some point. Unfortunately in CrossFit competitions we fall back on these habits and they are very hard to change in the heat of the moment. So while you are training, make it a mission that every rep could be filmed and shown as the demonstration of how to perform. This will ensure that you now only move with quality mechanics, which leads to better scores.
-
Have someone judge you on your workouts.
It may be just a random workout your coach wrote for you (you do have someone else writing your programming right?). But having an impartial eye judging you will reveal how accurate you are doing in following the standards. We all think we move well. But a judge is there to be calm and just watch what you are doing. You can have anyone at your gym judge you. You may have to explain the standards but they will be able to give you feedback you would never get otherwise.
Another option for judging we use regularly for weightlifting: video yourself. Watch what you did and see how it lines up with what you thought you were doing.
Getting no-repped is common and should be expected from time to time. But, no-reps are costly and as athletes we train way too hard to waste that effort without the reward.
Take the time in your training eliminate this sneaky score killer.
The post CrossFit Competition Tips to Keep you Contending appeared first on TrainHeroic.