The Tier Three Fitness Competitors Program (Part 5)

The open is upon us and this is the final stage in our year long competitors program. This is our peaking phase into our competitive season. If you’ve been following along, you’ll no doubt be faster and stronger than you’ve ever been, and with this last part we will sharpen that edge even further.

This part is 7 weeks in length. In it we will taper from the very high volume we’ve become accustomed to into a higher intensity lower volume program that will more closely mimic the requirements of the a fitness competition.

We will also be discussing some methods to help increase our performance for the duration of the open, and how to best prepare to attack individual open workouts.

Part 5 Goals

First let’s discuss what this portion of the fitness competitors program and what it will do for us.

1. We will be increasing our power output.
2. We will be adapting to the 8-12 minute time domain specifically.
3. We will hammer our anaerobic system with hard interval training

The Downloads and Other Resources

Click here to download Part 5 of the Fitness Competitors Program

If you like this kind of programing but want to learn the step by step method, including the metrics I use to create custom programming, then check out my ebook below!

The Peaking Phase

This phase includes weeks 30 – 32. You’ll notice this is only two weeks of hard training and then we will take a deload a week early. This will allow us some additional recovery to prepare us for the open.

The lifting volume is much reduced from our early days of the program, but it is still very heavy. Remember that when we say Tech Max, we mean work to the heaviest weight that you can move technically correctly. We don’t want any back rounding or crazy spine bending here.

We’ve also reduced the total volume slightly as well, but I want you get in the habit of attacking each piece as hard as you can. This will help mimic the open.

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This is our last really heavy week prior to our competitive season opening. The priority is going to be with the WODs and conditioning. The strength work is there to help maintain our strength, nothing more.

This is our deload. It’s pretty easy by our previous standards. Resist the urge to go hog wild and add in some extra work. That’s going to back fire big time.

The Competitive Season

This section will look much different from our previous cycles. There is much less work throughout the week, and that is by design. This is our competitive season.

There is no more improvement there is only maintaining what we have built. However, as a side benefit, you’ll notice your WOD performance has increased because you are not chronically tired going into a session.

I’ve designed this to start on a Monday with the last workout day being a Wednesday. Thursday is a rest, and Friday is the Open WOD. You should modify this as you see fit. This won’t work for everyone’s schedule, but you should take at least one day off before the open WOD.

The same scheme will be maintained throughout the open. This will help you have some predictability with your training so the only thing you really have to worry about is what craziness Dave Castro will throw our way!

No changes here, but by now you are probably feeling a bit tired in the Open. That’s fine, it’s more nerves and constant checking on the scoreboard than you actually being physically exhausted. Remember this is about 40% of the amount of volume you were doing just a month ago!

These last two weeks are more or less Ground Hogs Day in terms of programming. Sure the moves change but the volume is the same.

Competitive Fitness Tips

There are a few real concrete advantages you can give yourself to take your performance to the next level. Theses aren’t just guesses, they’ve been well researched and I’ve personally tested them on myself or the athletes I coach.

Tip 1: Eat Carbs

To many athletes this is anathema. “Oh, we don’t eat carbs Jake, those are bad for us!” Well you are wrong. Too many carbs are bad for us, but we aren’t doing this all year.

In this article, I wrote about how increasing our carb intake just prior to a competition can improve our performance up to 10%. That’s a huge increase from something as simple as bread.

If you are a 150 pound athlete who normally has around 150 carbs per day then then the day prior I want you to increase your carb intake 50 grams. The day of you need to increase it another 50 grams.

If you are doing a Friday Open WOD, then on Thursday you will be eating 200g, and Friday you should have 250g. If you a larger athlete you might go 75g jumps each day. Remember we are only doing this for two days, not the whole month!

Tip 2: Creatine and HMB

I generally don’t endorse supplement companies. Not because they don’t work, because often they’re products are ok, it’s just that most of the benefit isn’t worth the money, and most athletes would do better just eating real food.

I do endorse Creatine, and HMB, and Blonyx does have an excellent product that I’ve tested myself. It’s shown to increase power output and maintain muscle mass in a variety of athletes.

You can read about my test here. If you click on the image below you will receive a discount. Or you can use the discount code TIERTHREE.

Tip 3: Have a Plan

This is by far the biggest issue with the Open for my competitive athletes. They often go into these WODs with let’s see how it goes mentality. This isn’t a good way to maximize your performance.

By now you should have a good idea how many of each type of movement you can do per minute. You can use that knowledge to back plan. This is critical because 9 times out of 10 you will start too fast, kill yourself, then get a 10% lower score because you sprinted out of the gate.

In my own testing the fastest times and best scores are always done at a steady initial pace with an increase towards the end. This is how winning running races are won, and it applies to functional fitness just as well.

I will also be provided guides to each workout so make sure you sign up for our newsletter above so we can help you with your planning.

Parting Thoughts

You have done an immense amount of work this year. You have hard data to show you are fitter, and faster. Trust in the process and you will crush your goals in the open.

As always if you have any questions, or comments put them below where I can answer them quickly.

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