Nutrition Tips for the CrossFit Open

By Zak Nothing - Renegade Nutrition Coach 

We are about a week away from the CrossFit Open. Now if you're only just starting to think about your preparation and nutrition for it you may have left it a little bit late to qualify for regionals this year.

In saying that there are a few fundamental nutrition practices to help you perform your best. 

These done right can make a big difference to not only how you perform but how you back up for the next day of training and the rest of the week.

For us mere mortals that will most likely not be qualifying for regionals we should only be doing the open workouts once (in my opinion), in that one attempt, we need to set ourselves up mentally and physically to give it everything. "One and done."

Use these three easy to apply tactics to improve your performance:

1. Eat more carbs the day before 

By eating more carbs the day before (in technical terms) increases your levels of stored muscle glycogen.

In simple terms will improve your ability to be able to do more reps in a workout. (What we are all trying to achieve.)

Depending on how many carbs you usually eat we would recommend adding an additional serving over the day - Around one to two cupped hands worth. If you weigh and measure your food, we would recommend about 1.5x what you have on an average day.

Now keep in mind what your overall goal is, if weight loss is your priority then this will be counterproductive to your goal, and you may only want to only up your carbs a tiny bit.

2. Be careful of salt

If you have increased your carbs a lot, you are likely to retain a bit more water or feel bloated especially if they have been salty. Retaining water means that you will be heavier which isn't ideal for workouts that are high in gymnastics volume. So choose your carb intake carefully, Rice, Potatoes, and Kumra (sweet potato) are my recommendations  

3. Limit fats close to workout times 

We recommend staying away from the fats just before workouts, Fats are slower digesting, and therefore too many of them can leave you feeling sluggish. A bit of PB won't slow you down too much we are just trying to avoid the heavier meals that will sit in your stomach.

We still want fats in your diet just not right before you workout.  

Nutrition is such a big part of performing well in CrossFit that is often overlooked, implement these three basic tactices to improve your performance in this years open!

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.