Many times when you see a WOD, you start to come up with a “plan” of how you are going to attempt to complete it. Sometimes that plan is thrown out the window within the first few reps. I love talking with athletes about how to manage rest times, when you should be breaking, when you should be starting again, and how to avoid that dreaded feeling of needing the dreaded puke bucket. Many times athletes hit it HARD out of the gate, get exhausted and can only manage one rep at a time. In a workout that is not efficient and that is what we are looking to be!
In order to perform better in a WOD you need to psych yourself into your performance sometimes. It will take time for you to learn how to push through that mental threshold and keep going but I can assure you that I can teach you ways to be timely, efficient and strong the whole way through a workout!
First off, rest when necessary and only as long as you need to start. Always go at least 20 seconds BEFORE you think you are ready to go. The mind is a powerful force and you need to practice mastering your transition times throughout the workout. I learned how to make myself efficient by creating “deals” with myself. I pick a number of reps that I can do unbroken, do the set and then rest only as long as I need to complete another unbroken set. I keep rest to a minimum and keep focused on being fast. This helps to keep your mind and body focused on the task and not the amount of workload you need to do.
You don’t need to go to failure EVERY set. This will ultimately create an unattainable pace that you will NOT be able to keep up with. Rather than go until you can’t try to keep moving in a steady pace. You want to continue the forward progression but not cut yourself short by being exhausted from the first set.
With the above being said, you also want to maintain a strong pace and learn where you need to divide the workout into sections. You want to stay strong throughout the workout but not hit the dreaded wall! Try to finish the workout faster than you started. Whether you actually accomplish the task or not is almost neither here nor there. What’s important is that you don’t make the easiest mistake in the book and try to do too much too soon.
Embrace the ODD numbers. It’s easy to just go to 5 or 10 reps but going to 7 or 11 challenges your mind and body a little bit more. You will tap into your fitness more, limit you less by your mind and having you call “Time!” faster.Don’t underestimate the power of your mind to affect your performance. It’s up to you if that effect is positive or negative.
Learning to push yourself mentally is key in completing a challenge and longer duration workout. Planning out how you might devise up the reps is a great starting point but you will soon change that up when you see the workload that you need to have. Challenge your mind and body with these tips and crush the next WOD !
Reference
http://www.theboxmag.com/article/ways-trick-performance-10174
