It’s that time of year again when all of us fitness enthusiasts decide that we are ready to get our feelings hurt again: the CrossFit Games Open. 

It’s too late for you to do anything to improve your Open performance, but it’s never too late to stop yourself from dropping even further down the leaderboard. Here are things that you should definitely 100 percent avoid doing between now and the start of the 2018 CrossFit Open. 

Eating Nothing But Cake

This one is obvious, but let’s try to avoid unhealthy food in the weeks leading up to the Open and throughout the five weeks of the competition. 

Travel

Yes, traveling and seeing the world is great, but maybe you shouldn’t book that cross-country trip between February 22 and March 26. Remember what happened to Armen last year when he hit every Open workout in a different city?

Introduce New Gear

Whether it’s new lifters for the workout that includes heavy barbells or a different jump rope for double unders, the Open is not the platform to debut your newest gear. Try to get a few workouts under your belt with any new equipment you plan to use during the Open.

Switch Up Your Nutrition

“Well the Open starts next week, so it's time to crack down on my nutrition and start eating better.” 

Sound familiar? Yeah, us too. Weirdly enough this isn’t the best move, because while eating healthier and cleaner is normally a solid decision, what’s most important during the Open is maintaining a routine. You’re already going to be under enough stress during this time watching your frenemies fake their Open scores, there’s no need to add in a sudden change to your diet to stress you out more. 

Changing Gyms

Maybe your current gym isn’t that great, or a new, cooler looking gym just opened up that’s closer to your house and work, but now is not the time to jump ship and start going to a new affiliate. You’re going to have a better shot at having a solid performance at gym you’re already comfortable competing in, a place where you know which stall has the two-ply toilet paper and which barbell has the most spin. 

Fixing All Your Weaknesses In One Week

I hate to break it to you, but it’s not going to work, bro. Your best bet is to accept your shortcomings and instead focus on the areas you are solid and work to make those strengths even more efficient. By programming and doing too much extra work you’re just going to feel slow and sore when it’s time to actually do the Open workouts.

Mimic Fraser’s Pace

How many times have you watched one of the Fast and Furious movies and thought, “Hey, I can probably pilot my car off of this overpass going 90 miles per hour and effortlessly land it on the highway below.” 

Same rule applies here: the Games athletes doing the workouts during the Open announcements may be great to reference to know that the workout is possible, and you may pick up a couple tips while watching them, but trying to match their pace is a terrible idea 100 percent of the time. 

Ignore All Workout Details Until You Get To The Gym

One of the best things you can do for Open workouts is to have a game plan in mind well in advance of actually doing the workout. Know the movement standards, the reps, the rounds, the time cap, and when and if you will rest during the workout. 

Visualize what you will do and how your set up at the gym will look. Where will you be on the rig, where’s the clock, who will be your judge, and where will you set up your camera if you’re recording. Get the small details out of the way (“what angle is best for my IG video?”) so you can focus on the big details (“how am I going to PR my clean by 40lb during this next Open workout?”).

These tips won’t magically make you a Games athlete, but they’ll definitely stop you from bombing out. If not then don’t blame us. 

Happy Open season, and good luck out there.

By Chase Long