Building a Year Long Comp Plan

[sam81]

Looking to enter my first comp one year from now as a masters athlete (will be 35). How would you approach building a plan to prepare?

My plan so far:

I’m considering doing the first 3 months of Gains Lab YoE again (did it 2 years ago with great results) to simply balance my engine out. During these 3 months I’d also attend regular CrossFit class and get some skill work in along the way (handstand walks, etc.)

After that 3 months I’d consider either Gains Lab Dominate/HWPO/Mayhem/etc. competitor programming for 9 months. I’d also attend class, but scale back significantly, maybe 6/10, and prioritize the other programming.

Current stats, not sure this really matters at all: Male/180 lbs

Deadlift - 455
Clean - 265
Snatch - 205 (going to train this to 225 fatigued)
Squat - 415
Bench - 245 (always weak)
Fran - 4:49
Murph - 42:26
Diane - 6:19
Grace - 3:19

Note, I’ve been tracking the recent experiences from some of you around Gains Lab, but let’s assume for the sake of this plan that Gains Lab is operating smoothly. I also still have all the templates from before when I did YoE.

 

[jameszo]

@sam81 Contact Stephen Flamm at Cincinnati Stregnth. Cincinnatistrength@gmail.com. You need a coach to program for you and no one knows masters programming better than he does. He knows how to address weaknesses. He has gotten MULTIPLE athletes to the games including me, 3x

 

[sam81]

@jameszo Very helpful, thank you for this!

 

[devonboy]

@sam81 I’m just going to second the getting a coach part of it’s in the budget. There’s a lot of moving parts for a year long training program. A lot of it depends on you and where you’re starting from and what you will need to be successful at said competition.

It’s far too much to detail out here and not really possible with out more information.

 

[bulfrek]

@sam81 Holy shit, is 35 masters? Got dayum, I just turned 35.

 

[sam81]

@bulfrek Lol, maybe I used that a little liberally. There’s a 35+ age group in this comp so I kind of just labeled it as masters.

 

[bulfrek]

@sam81 It’s ok. I’ll keep my midlife crisis to myself. Carry on.

 

[justasimplea]

@sam81 Your clean and jerk is 265. Your snatch is 205. Your Fran is 4:49. Your Grace is 3:19 and your Dianne is 6:19.

You do not need comp programming.

You need to do class workouts with more intensity. And to dedicate time to your overhead position.

 

[girlintheclouds]

@justasimplea I gotta disagree with you.

The performance of an athlete doesn’t tell you much about what they should be doing in training.

Some people could be of advanced training age (5-10 years of training) and have these numbers. Others could be beginners in training age (1-2 years or less) and have these numbers.

Advanced training age individuals likely need more training to continue progressing.

After about one year, I would say more than half the people I work with would benefit from additional training to continue making progress.

Also, who knows what kind of class this person is taking. I’ve seen classes where they spend one hour doing 5x5 squat which is just an absolute joke if someone has any aspirations of being a good competitors.

Once someone has 1-2 years of consistent training under their belt, they will likely be able to handle 6-12 hours of training per week if not more.

 

[sam81]

@girlintheclouds To provide a little more background, I’m right at 5 years. Those are also current numbers, not all time numbers.

 

[girlintheclouds]

@sam81 Been training for 16 years. Coaching CrossFit for 10. Train on! Train hard. Train consistent. You’ll know when you are doing too much, that’s when you pull back.

 

[justasimplea]

@girlintheclouds This dude blows at doing met-cons. And weightlifting. He should do more met-cons against other people and learn to actually compete.

You need a sub 3:30 Fran at the gym I currently train at to even sniff the first page of SugarWOD.

And everyone just does CAP.

 

[thunderstruck]

@justasimplea Did you get douche on your keyboard when you typed this:

You need a sub 3:30 Fran at the gym I currently train at to even sniff the first page of SugarWOD.

Because that’s an incredibly douchey sentence. Even for CrossFit.

 

[reathua9]

@sam81 Recommend going straight to a competitive program as opposed to starting with engine builder.
Any of the programs you mentioned will have dedicated conditioning while still giving you adequate exposure to strengths and skills

 

[catherine1192]

@sam81 I feel like you should build a bigger aerobic base. Top people in performance will look at a year and format 80% of training to a zone 2 type mode with the other 20% being high intensity.

I feel like if it were me I’d be looking at 6-8 months of building foundations with the remaining time ramping intensity with the ultimate goal of peaking for your competition.

 

[sam81]

@catherine1192 Got it, I’ve also been looking for an excuse to get a C2 bike erg just for Zone 2. I’ll consider how to bake that into the overall plan. Thank you.

 

[straightcurvylines]

@sam81 I'm not a competition level athlete but I'm also looking for an excuse to buy the C2 bike. I'll do it if you do it

 

[seekerofgrace]

@sam81 Find a fun local comp. Enter as intermediate or scaled depending on recommendations. Most of them where I live post the WODs before hand. Sign up, sign up with others in your gym, go and have fun with no expectations. If you place, how awesome! If you don’t, no big deal. A good competition is just doing your best, win or lose.

By next year you will have an idea on what to expect from the next one, what you want to bring, what to wear and how you like the fuel between WODs.

Sitting back and trying to prep for some unknown comp will only give you anxiety paralysis and you’ll push it off. Just do it and start now!

 

[ispain]

@sam81 Not going to help but your level of thought here is pretty incredible!

 

[sam81]

@ispain Thanks, I appreciate it. I enjoy routine/planning and I feel like time is somewhat on my side here, so I want to use it as effectively as possible.