how to analyze your 2024 open and quarterfinals performances
The 2024 CrossFit Open and Quarterfinals are in the rear view mirror. While some incredibly talented athletes are moving onto the next stage (Semifinals), the majority have started their offseason. Many athletes who come to us looking to improve on their performances don’t always know where to start. The first step towards building new goals this offseason is analyzing what was accomplished in the past year so that you can learn and improve in the future.
How do I view my season?
First and foremost, it’s important to remember that part of the ethos of this sport is the unknown and unknowable. The the mystery of the workouts build excitement and anticipation during the Open and Quarterfinals. On the other hand, because every year the tests change and you don’t know what you’re preparing for, the reality is the vast majority will fall into a mix of things you excel in and some that you don’t. For some athletes, especially the professionals, you may get lucky and they are all in your wheelhouse.
The quantity of tests also can play in your favor or not. With only three workouts in the open, they could all play to strengths or all play to weaknesses. Those who are more well rounded and don’t hit as many home runs may improve with more total scores as consistency is the strength.
Regardless of the programming and structure, in order to understand and analyze yourself this season, you need to look at the leaderboard objectively and see where points are being won and lost. Examine your best/worst placements, which movements were most/least challenging, which time domains played to strengths/weaknesses, and how execution/repeating workouts panned out. The data doesn’t lie. If you placed 240th, 300th, and then 8,000th, it’s evident where the biggest priority is.
How Do I Determine Success?
As coaches, we recognize how challenging it can be to assess your placement on the leaderboard as your only metric of success or failure. It’s equally important to compare your results from this year to the goals that you set out for yourself last year. We saw a shift this year in programming selection that may have played in your favor or not. Understanding that the sport can bias itself towards complex movements and heavier barbells for many years and then shift to simpler tests that bias aerobic monsters is a reality that can be frustrating, but it’s part of the sport.
This year, 24.1 (Dumbbell Snatch/Burpee) and Quarterfinals Workout 2 (Wall Ball/Burpee Box Jump Over) exposed a lot of individual’s capacity in high volume burpees. Both of these workouts were simple with low barrier to entry, so someone with a high capacity in those movements and strong conditioning were able to excel. It’s common to look at the outcome of workouts like this and automatically think, “I’m not fit enough” but it might just be something you’re not good at this year. Maybe you spent more time working on strength or higher level skills like handstand walking that bottlenecked you in a workout previously but this year it didn’t show up.
Another trend in the programming included lighter barbells that tested capacity at lighter weights than previous years. For example, last year in Quarterfinals men were required to clean and jerk a 275lb barbell for reps vs this year the heaviest barbell was 245lb. In this case, being strong enough to lift quickly and under fatigue was extremely important. If your 1RM C&J is 300lb then cycling 245lb under fatigue at over 80% of your max will be more challenging compared to someone is lifting at a smaller % of their 1RM. On the other hand, we also saw the strongest athletes in the sport with the highest 1RM’s did not have the top scores because there was a conditioning element that biased strength endurance over pure power. Again in this instance, if you are aerobically fit, strong enough, and train CrossFit regularly, you can be very good at simpler style tests but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can be successful at an Elite level in live competition.
Regardless of the outcome, it’s important to have perspective and making peace with knowing that the selection of tests can play a large role in results. If you’re someone who spent all year working on your strengths and got better, but you weren’t able to showcase them, you can still be proud. Make sure that you celebrate the victories you had this season.
How Do I Approach the Offseason?
The first step is determining your current level and future goals. If you’re trying to be a competitor, you need to be willing to work on the things that you are not good at. Our TTT Compete program is built to be as well-rounded as possible so our athletes are getting better in all areas, but all athletes have differences in priorities. We created the below buckets to help you define and bias your larger weaknesses in the offseason:
Strength Limited: I need to improve my 1RM’s and strength or muscular endurance capacity in weighted movements and/or gymnastics
Endurance Limited: I cannot breathe well or my heart rate gets so high I cannot sustain paces especially in longer or high volume workouts
Skills Limited: I have some skills, but not all of them. Or, I can do all of the skills, but I don’t have the capacity/endurance in perform them in high volumes or under fatigue
Once you determine what areas you need to work on, you can begin to tailor programming to your specific needs. Our TTT Compete program is designed for various levels of athletes that meets you where they are. The first offseason cycle is underway with the details outlined below.
Full TTT Compete Cycle Overview: 4/29/2024 - 7/14/2024
For detailed cycle information, click here.
Which Path is Right For You?
The Elite | Peak for Semifinals division is designed for Games & Semifinal level athletes who can train multiple times per day for competition and plan to peak for either the semifinals or games.
The RX | Peak for Quarterfinals division is built for athletes who are very competent in all the skills of the sport of CrossFit, who want to fit their training into a 90-120 minute single session with the occasional two-a-day. This athlete has goals of crushing quarterfinals with the hope of making a semifinal. Also included in the RX is an Option 2. Which is the same template but reduced volume and intensity for those who are short on time or energy for the day.
The Masters | Peak for The AGOQ division is pretty clearly built for the wisest athletes among us. Those who simultaneously refuse and embrace the aging process. Our year revolves around maximizing your ability to compete during the age group qualifier.
The Intermediate | Peak for The Open division is for athletes who need help developing the skills and strength required to move into the top 10% in order to qualify for the CrossFit quarterfinals.
The Beginner | We have an exciting announcement for 2024: A brand new beginner program for those who are just getting into the sport of CrossFit but have a desire to compete at any level. This program is a 12 week program that will focus on building foundational strength, gymnastics skills, and endurance so the athlete can then graduate into one of our other competitive divisions.
Program Additions
Strength Bias Path: We’re excited to bring back this offering for those who need a stand-alone strength development program. This path is for athletes who are limited by their strength in the Sport through weightlifting and gymnastics exercises. It will consist of three 8-week training blocks that includes 5 days/week of strength work with minimal conditioning. Each block will include a handful of test/retests to measure short-term progress in a variety of lifts & gymnastics movements.
Skills Limited/Extra Credit: This training cycle will have FOUR different Extra Credit progressions so you have options based on your current limitations and needs.
STRICT PULL-UP + MUSCLE-UP: At the start of our off-season program, we want to focus on building your absolute and gymnastics strength. This extra credit program will build your strict pull-up and strict muscle-up strength over the 8 week cycle.
CORE ENDURANCE: An important part of developing real strength is building the necessary core strength and endurance needed to support heavy squatting, deadlifts, and olympic lifts. This extra credit program is an ideal accessory program to support our off-season strength progressions.
HANDSTAND WALK + BALANCE: Our Handstand walk and balance extra credit program is the starting point to building a better bodyline, spatial awareness, and shoulder endurance that is needed to be at an elite level with skills like handstand walk, hspu, and pirouettes. This program will help you master all three.
12-Week Programs: We are excited to introduce THREE NEW fixed length skill programs to help you improve on a variety of skills that are often tested in the sport of CrossFit. This is IN ADDITION to the 22 skill programs you already have access to in the app. You can easily add these onto your current training path and, best of all, they are FREE to anyone who is signed up for our TTT Compete program! The following skill programs will be available on April 29, 2024.
Movement & Mobility Path: During this next cycle, the Movement and Mobility Path will continue to use the 4 week blocks that will vary the exposure to movement development so you can work on getting into better positions for training.
Corpus Animus Podcast
If you want to learn more about how you can analyze your 2024 season and build goals for this offseason, watch or listen to the below podcast episodes on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.