Now that you’ve been CrossFitting for awhile, you might consider entering your first CrossFit competition to test your newfound fitness and skills. Or, if you’ve already done your first competition, you might be looking for some advice on how to prepare better and increase your performance. Before doing anything, be sure to consult with Coach Ted on the best approach.

Here are 5 tips for for approaching a competition:

1. Work on your weaknesses leading up to the competition so you’re well rounded and prepared. If you’re weak on Olympic movements, get technical help from Coach Ted and practice as much as you can. Consider watching a few videos to get technical pointers.

2. Look at the movement and weight standards for upcoming competitions and see what categories you can reasonably be competitive in. It’s likely to be scaled, but be sure to challenge yourself. Every competition is different. Some competitions have “open” categories where anyone can enter and some even have divisions that are unjudged.

3. Speaking of judging, having a judge can be a real eye opener for new CrossFitters. If you’ve never had a judge, get one of the more experienced members to judge you closely on regular daily WODs. You’ll notice a big difference in your output and performance! Make sure to be critical (but positive) of your reps and take the no-reps in stride. This will get you ready for the stress of being judged on gameday.

4. Get plenty of rest, especially the week of a competition. Consider cutting down your WOD volume. Some competitors will do the regular WODs but cut the repetitions in half or loads down to a bare minimum. This minimizes the impact on your body while still keeping you sharp.

5. Practice the WODs! Most competitions will release the WODs the week before the actual competition. See if you can practice the movements or the entire WOD during the week to get a feel for it. Most competitions have oddball movements, stuff that you never practice, e.g. a stone lift or shotput. Try to find the equipment and get in a few practice reps.

Lastly, a lot of competitors have a tendency to overtrain leading up to a competition. This leads to injury. Avoid this rookie mistake and make sure you’re staying safe with your volume, loads, and complexity of movements. If you just learned muscle-ups, don’t blow out a shoulder practicing them to death.

CrossFit Iron Legion is a the fastest growing CrossFit affiliate in Ocala, Florida. To get started, please contact Coach Ted Dreaver at (352) 620-2625 or teddreaver@hotmail.com.