Over 60 of our members had taken part in the 2019 CrossFit Open this year! Between judges, participants, and coaches alike, all bringing the heat, week after week.

The week right after the Open is a great time to reflect on what this last year of fitness has allowed you to improve on and achieve, while also teaching us where we may need to keep working.

Think back to the past five workouts: where were your strengths, and where were your weaknesses? Are you able to sustain through long, endurance-type of workouts such as one of rowing and wall balls, or thrusters and chest to bar pull ups? Did you happen to learn about your capacity in high volume gymnastics skills such as toes-to-bar or strict handstand push ups? Maybe it wasn’t necessarily a matter of your physical ability, but maybe your mental approach, or strategy before a workout like 19.2, where you “earn” your way to the next part of the workout? How is your unilateral overhead position and strength, as we experienced in 19.3 with the single-arm overhead lunges, and weighted box step ups?

What’s incredible about looking at these 5 short weeks gives us an opportunity to evaluate our fitness gains over the entire year. Aside from certain daily markers of progress such as our mood/energy, weight, sleep quality, stress levels, performance on one single workout or lift, the Open paints a holistic picture of our general physical preparedness, when put to the fitness test. That is: how well are we prepared for a well-rounded, and balanced approach to fitness in our daily lives, and not just THE strongest, or THE fastest person, or THE best gymnast and so forth.

If you’re someone like many of our members, chances are you are already thinking about some goals for the next Open (which is actually in October this year, and from here on out!). While that’s a great outlook for self-improvement, be sure to also take time to celebrate what you’ve done! In what ways did you surprise yourself? In what ways did you surpass your expectations?

As you set goals for the next Open, or even the next year, here are a few ways to think about your limiting factors:

*Was it my aerobic capacity?
*Was it my overall strength capacity or skill set?
*Was it my muscular endurance?
*Was it my mentality towards the workout?

Each of these are areas that we address in our weekly program, don’t always allow us the time or detail to further pursue for example: building up to 50 strict handstand push ups in a workout. However, continuing to show up 4-5 times per week will continue us to improve that general physical preparedness with the variance in training, and compound our progress over the years. In addition, improved fitness = improved well-being, and prevention of illness as well.

If you’re interested in receiving more detailed programming for a specific skill set such as proficiency in gymnastics or endurance, or simply learning in a 1:1 setting, reach out to our coaches at CrossFit Des Plaines. We offer accessory programs as well as personal training sessions to address specific goals for individual athletes.

What’s on your 2019 goals list?