It is always kind of sad when the Open is over because for many of us that signals the end of our active participation in the Games.

But that shouldn’t mean the fitness journey is over. Our training for life continues, and your results from the Open can be a great opportunity to taken a new look at your fitness goals.

When I review my Open results, I divide the top number by the bottom to find my relative standing. That is a great measure to see your progress from year to year.

The next thing I do is look at where I placed on each workout. I want to identify the lowest scores and examine what movement or aspect of that WOD caused me the most trouble. That shows me what I need to target with some goals.

It doesn’t matter if you signed up for the Open or not. Take a look at your results and find where you had trouble. It might be many things, but pinpoint that one item that caused the most trouble.

In my case, the second WOD this Open was my worst placement. The culprit was double unders which have long been the bane of my existence. I struggled with other movements in other WODS too. But the dubs tripped me up in a WOD that I otherwise could have handled well.

Once you’ve found that one thing, set a realistic, measurable goal along with a strategy to achieve it. Maybe you need to develop more upper body strength to get your chest to the bar. You may need to master one of the gymnastic skills, although “get a muscle up” isn’t a great goal unless you have a strategy to get there.

So a great goal for me is to complete 20 unbroken double unders. A strategy to reach this goal would be to commit to practicing double unders every day as part of my pre-WOD warmup.

If you’re having trouble with this part, just talk to one of the Bombers coaches. We are all happy to help.

Using the Open in this way can ensure your fitness journey continues even if you didn’t make Regionals.

-- Coach Daryl