What an opportunity that has been presented to you all right now!

12 days and 12 "Named" WoDs”. Everyone loves it when a Girl WoD or Hero WoD pops its head up! For some its a chance to re-test your Fitness and for others doing it for the first time, its a time to hit up one of these famous workouts that you have heard your CrossFit buddies talk so much about.   To have the chance to log results in so many Benchmarks in such a short period of time doesn’t come around very often, (if at all!), CrossFit is a results driven program and everything we do is Observable, Measurable & Repeatable. As Coaches we observe & measure everything you guys do in the Gym. This helps us with programming for you all. Knowing what weakness need to be addressed. Knowing where we can ramp things up and target certain things & focus on an improved result. The Repeatable part is where you, yourself can look back at how far you are coming along in your Fitness continuum. To repeat is to prove if you are getting somewhere or not. Note: its not always black & white. If you took a 2 month break from CrossFit & then don’t beat your Fran score on your return then don’t get all miserable about it. You surely cannot expect your body to perform if you haven’t been putting in the time in the lead up to it. Likewise if you had a niggle or injury the same thing applies. Just be happy that you are able to do the WoD and know that you are in a healthy state. We are 7 days in & These 12 Days are going to be some of the most fun you will have in the gym & a super way to see out your 2017 effort. It will also give you knowledge on what needs working in 2018 too (start planning those goals NOW!). BUT in order for you to enjoy yourself and get some good WoDs in you will need to be smart about it. You won’t be able to do multiple Benchmarks day after day if you just rock up hit it hard then slope off to work/home and let your body seize up. It just won’t happen. Simple as that! You will need to be looking at all points of your Fitness, both inside the Gym & outside too. Here are some handy tips that will help you thrive throughout. P.S: If you plan on attempting to do most-to-all the Benchmarks then read on and make sure you apply the principles. You’re not a superhero you know! (FYI: We will still advocate at least 2 rest days, Inc Sundays where we are closed, in order to fully experience the two weeks in the vain the workouts were originally designed). . Tip 1: Fuel & Recover properly. There are many aspects to recovery (its not just the stretching afterwards y’know!). There is your sleep and your mobilising. But lets touch on the nutrition & hydration side of things. Yes it is December. Yes you have work do’s you want to go to (and your partners. Your floor at your building. Your main department. Your sub department. The postman’s one, etc, etc). But be sensible. Limit just how much alcohol you consume this December, & drink a sh*t ton of water along with it. And ask yourself do you really need to get sloshed on that Wednesday if you are also going out on the Friday too??? We are not saying you can’t enjoy your time up to Christmas but just be sensible. (BTW don’t bother turning up to hit a Benchmark, or any CBD session for that matter, if you are still "under the influence”. You will be turned away if you are). Next part is the food. Make sure you eat healthy balanced meals as much as possible (we are talking proper quantities of Protein, Fat & Good Carbs). Food is after all fuel so why not think about upping your intake a little bit over this period if you are upping your training frequency (remember we are talking about upping it with quality whole foods, not a dozen fruit mince pies!). Sticking to Greg Glassman’s original prescription below should find you well suited. (“Eat Meat & Vegetables, Nuts & Seeds, some Fruit, little Starch & NO Sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat”).     . Tip 2: Getting enough Sleep! Yes this is something that both Susan & myself (both of us each becoming new parents within 6 weeks of each other!) struggle with the most, but sleep is often the most overlooked aspect of recovery. And yet for a lot of us on the RoD it would be the easiest one to do! Sleep helps us recover from hard workouts. Its where we release all the growth hormones & where the body actually repairs itself! Try as hard as you can to get good quality sleep over the next two weeks. Think 7-8 hours of proper sound sleep as a minimum. Set your conditions up for this by making the room as pitch black as possible & keep the phones, tablets, laptops out of the room too. Maybe use this as way to form a habit you an take forward into the new year??   . Tip 3: Mobilise: This one should be a part of your daily routine whether you are in the gym or not. It is normal to feel stiff & sore after a few days straight of WoD’s but with this being the 12 Days you will start to feel like a truck has hit you if you don’t pay attention to your body & mobilise regularly. You can help alleviate problem areas with focused mobility work. We will integrate more cool down time to help us ‘down-regulate’ your system but this alone won’t be enough. Organise yourself so you can get 10 mins before AND after your class to do some mobility. Grab one of your class mates along with you to make it ore social & fun. Think about incorporating it to some of your evenings too (great idea on rest days). Yes your class is 45 minutes long but you should be budgeting more time in your day to fully look after your body. If you are currently guilty of turning up to class just on time & rushing out the door straight after you might want to think about re-looking at how you organise your daily schedule. This can be one of your goals / resolutions for 2016! 🙂   . Tip 4: HAVE FUN / MAKE FRIENDS !!! As we have stated over & over, this is a truly unique time in which you get to hit up a load of famous Benchmark Workouts all close together. Its a really fun & enjoyable experience. Yes it will be tough & yes you feel sore after a week of this (even with all the mobility! ha!), but this experience is as much about your enjoyment and having a good time as it is about the actual results themselves. Take this moment to go to a class mate you don’t know that well & strike up a conversation. Make friends with new folk and don’t always get caught up talking to the same person over & over.  Use the 12 Days as a common bond & share your experiences with one another. As you get to the end of the challenge you will be wondering why you have signed up for this, but come the 13th day when its all done you will look back on it with fond memories knowing that you pushed yourself in each WoD and rose to your potential. your’ll also create some cool memories with some old & new friends along the way too. It will be a cracking way to see out 2015 & usher in a new dawn for 2016! Set those goals & come back chomping at the bit!!