First up Happy Easter to all!! We hope you had a pleasant weekend.

Now that the 2016 Open is over we start to turn our attentions to where we go from here. That is often the $64,000 question! Well first lets start with what we will do next week (starting 4th April). We will be having a testing week of sorts to set baselines for future programming. Don't stress if you can't / don't want to train every day. Just train as normal and you'll have markers set. It also works the other way too you know. Don't over train and end up hitting your workouts at sub par efforts & low intensities. Take your rest day/s as you would do on a normal week & again you will have enough markers to look back on.

(With all that being said we fully expect you all back in to a normal training regime. The open is gone. No more tapering needed! Get your butt in for at least 4 sessions a week if you can. 3 at a minimum).

Before we talk further about any training from next week onward lets just enjoy this week of pressure-free CrossFit. CrossFit should be pressure-free every week but we all sometimes fall foul to inside pressures when particular WoDs turn up on the whiteboard. The Open being a classic example of this where every week we suddenly heap a ton of pressure on ourselves to perform.

Let's put all that aside and just turn up to train and have a good time earning your Fitness back (yes our Fitness is leased, never owned!). We said the week would be fun. We didn't say it'd be easy!

This week we are keeping our loading down to a minimum to allow your bodies to recover from a hard January/February/March. Call it a de-load if you must. Please take advantage of it and please don't get tempted to do extras to make up for it. Not back squatting this week won't suddenly make you weaker next week!! Note: a de-load is bringing the overall loading down from the program. It is NOT however bringing down the intensity levels!! All CF Workouts are hard & most are meant to be pretty potent. Don't avoid putting the effort required in and get the proper dose we are trying to elicit.

Now whilst we are having fun this week we will take a moment each day to reflect on the past 5 weeks at the Rooftop. It was pretty awesome to see so many of you sign up for the CrossFit Open. Some of you coming back for more and quite a few of you entering for the first time. We are hugely proud of each & every one of you.

There were PR's set each week. Demons were conquered. Some WoDs gave you an uplifting experience whilst others smashed us in the face. That right there is what Fitness is all about. There are ebbs & flows to everything in the gym & in life itself, and your abilities being tested like that each weekend is no different.

Over the course of this week take a few moments to review your own 5 week experience before you forget the little things that often define your experience. Analyse the bad things of course. It's the only sure fire way to know your weaknesses and what you need to do to beat them. But also analyse your strengths too and what you did well. That also needs proper reinforcement. This doesn't mean you'll not need work on those parts but it is important to acknowledge where you did prosper. I myself (Karl) will be reviewing my own performance this week and will be being brutally honest with myself so I can learn from 2016's open and then have my data on what needs improving on if I'm to try and better on my own Health & Fitness going forward.

Now onto where we go from here...

We mentioned a testing week earlier. Yep thats right in order to gather data and give everyone markers in which to look back on we need a few workouts where you are being tested on. We will be testing our strength levels in the primal sense (think CrossFit Total) as well as testing our strengths in the more technical sense (think OLY moves). But CrossFit isn't just defined on how strong you are. For sure it helps. The stronger you are the better equipped you are to handle the weights prescribed in workouts. BUT & its a big but here, you are only as Fit as your weakest point in the 10 General Physical Skills. What good is it if you can squat a house but can't row hard without needing a massive rest afterward. Likewise how useful do you think it is to be able to run like the wind but not be able to lift that deadlift? Exactly! We love lifting as much as the next person. We just find the "other side" of fitness hurts that little bit more and will reward you just a much!!

You should be aiming for a well rounded approach to your Fitness. Think of a three headed monster analogy below:

The Three-Headed Monster Your goal is to become a three headed monster. Top athletes will have Strength, Skills and Conditioning. Your goal is to be feeding (improving) all three heads at the same time – every month, every week, every day. If you have a serious weakness in one (one head is smaller than the other two), feed it more till its as big as the others.

Conditioning – We define Fitness as work capacity across broad times & modal domains. Do you have the conditioning and stamina to move quickly regardless how light or heavy the task is, and regardless of how long the effort may take. Lots of dudes can do 10-20 Front Squats at 90-100kg, but what happens when they need to rep out 90-100kg front squats with their heart rate at 190?

Strength – CrossFit does indeed rewards strong folk. Strength is ALWAYS relative to the individual. Factors like body type & bodyweight play a huge role in where your potential lies. What you need to do is simply follow the strength work and try your absolute best each time. The numbers will take care of themselves. And in other words, assuming you have the conditioning & skills to make it to tackle the WoD's put in front of you, the stronger you are will mean you are more likely to fare well in them.

Skills – Few aspects of the program separate the good from the great more than their skill set. Work capacity & strength are certainly vital pieces to success, but it doesn’t matter how strong you are (200kg dead lift), how well conditioned you are (5:00  'Murph' run), or how many burpees and kettlebell swings you can do – if you can’t do big sets of Pull Ups, Muscle ups, HSPU, Pistols, Double Unders, Toes To Bar, etc… If you can’t do the high skill stuff you are going to be stopped in your tracks in a workout thus losing the prescribed intensity.

So as you can see you'd rather be able to squat that heavy load and also be able to knock out that China Town Run / 500m Row in a good time. We want you you to be well equipped to deal with life not just CrossFit. Being as Fit & healthy as you can be will allow this to happen. Your'll be smashing out that 5k run or Stadium Stomp. Or playing that weekend sport you weren't able to a couple years ago. Heck even if the local CF Competition scene is your bag, getting as Fit as possible will help that. Dominating the WoD's we put in front of you will be the key.

For this reason you will see strength tests yes but also the WoD's that people love to hate! The ones that ask you to move FAST (and yet still hold great form & technique) Think 'MAX reps', Think 'For Time', Think 'As Far As You Can Go'.

We will be asking for as much intensity as you can offer that WoD each day. For this reason we ask that you actually allow yourself a rest day in the week somewhere. We won't be listening to any excuses on 'being tired' for why a result may not be where you want it. If they aren't where you want them to be (your CF Total went down 50kg for example) then don't beat yourself up. As we mentioned earlier ebbs & flows are part and parcel of everyday life! If anything the Open may have us a little less Fit since it started as there was tapering everywhere, less training going on & we had a 'match' each weekend which emotionally takes its toll as well as the physically.

Just get through the week with your usual enthusiasm & your results will be natural and take care of themselves. If they are lower than you thought then use it as motivation over the next number of weeks/months! Also if such & such person 'beat' your score then don't blame anyone or anything for it. They were just better at that workout on that day. Simply put in this awesome Vid below just "Keep your head up & never complain". Austin Malleolo's comments may seem a little harsh to some but he is right in the fact that if we try our hardest then we can always be happy with ourselves. full stop.

We truly believe in each & every one of you CBDer's. We believe in your abilities. We believe in your tenacity. We believe that you are ALL capable of awesome, amazing things. We know that you are being coached well and that you show us good ranges of motion. We believe that you are fitter than you believe yourself to be. We believe AND know that in 6 months time you will be Fitter, Stronger, Faster than you are today! We will back you 110% of the way. What we ask for in return is your upmost efforts in each class you take. Follow our program. Listen to your Coaches, take their advice, their corrections & cues and you will leave each class a little bit Fitter, a little bit stronger and a little bit more knowledgable about your Fitness.

We are so pumped for the months that lie ahead of you. No matter what the temperature may read on the dial. We will turn up the heat ourselves! We won't delve into too much details on this post (its long enough as it is!! haha!!) about what the program will look like, we will put out another post next week on it.

But its safe to say that we will be looking at a more classical program allowing good coaching time for you guys. A healthy chunk of named & benchmark workouts. Lots of intensity. Lots of skill focus and less cramming in of stuff just to "get it in".

Don't worry about your strength levels. We know lifting is often the more popularly prescribed WoD. You will be getting a healthy dose of 'Strength Days' as well as those days we will ask yo to lift heavy AND go fast at the same time (shock horror!). One thing is for sure: Whilst the daylight savings may be on its way out. The fun times are only just getting going!! Your Fitness is headed one way and its gonna jump off the Roof!!

So keep tuned to the RoD Blog of all the info you ever need. We are making a commitment to making this Blog a regular source of information on all things CBD and beyond!!

Next Blog post tomorrow will be Steph's conclusion to her Open adventures this year! If you haven't been reading them why not click here & start at the beginning!

Peace out CBDer's!!