Today I’m going off script with my blog post. Typically I write for the person who’s looking to start working out, or has had failed attempts before and needs some motivation to get going agin.
At my gym, we do have the folks who are beginners and are just getting started on their fitness journey. Though we also have folks who enjoy working out in a competitive manner with their friends. They’ve got a few buddies who are at similar fitness levels to them that they’d love to out-do in every workout. This is really what makes group fitness fun.
I’ve been doing “scored workouts” for a decade and a half, and have gotten decently fit myself. I know a thing or two about how to go about getting a better score in workouts than the other guy, or girl. Listen up!
In order to beat someone in a for-score workout, oftentimes it takes just begin fitter than that person. However, there are some instances where fitness isn’t the determining factor. Here are 5 ways you can out-do your buddy in your next workout.
- Out-Attend them.
- This comes down to pure volume of exercise. Don’t confuse this with “out work”. The reason this isn’t labeled Out Work, refers do #2 below. If we have the mindset of outworking, we may fall victim to thinking every session needs to be 10/10 max effort.
The person who does 300 workouts this year should get fitter than the person who does 250 workouts just by volume alone. Attend as many workouts as you can and get as much exposure to different types of stimulus as you can. Show up early to practice movements that you’ll be doing in the workout and stay after to work on recovery or mobility. - Having more time under your belt leads to not only more fitness but also more experience. I don’t believe in the statement “no days off” when it comes to exercise. Your body definitely needs rest. However, if you’re taking “less days off” than your friend, you’re closing the gap – or extending it, depending on which side of it you’re on.
- This comes down to pure volume of exercise. Don’t confuse this with “out work”. The reason this isn’t labeled Out Work, refers do #2 below. If we have the mindset of outworking, we may fall victim to thinking every session needs to be 10/10 max effort.
- Be smart about your training effort.
- It’s quite easy to think that every workout – strength or conditioning based – needs to be 100% maximum effort to get the best results. Wrong! The body won’t respond positively to continuous exposure to maximum stress. Rather, understand the intention of the workout and adjust accordingly.
- If the workout is a conditioning piece that should be an aerobic effort, aka 6-7/10 RPE, then you shouldn’t be redlining it and trying to get the fastest possible score every round. To get the true endurance benefit here, you want to go slower and build the aerobic system by not jacking up the intensity and tapping into your anaerobic systems.
- If the workout is designed to be 10/10 “go-hard” then don’t leave anything on the table. Something you can tell yourself before the workout that helps me is this: “I don’t want to think to myself later on that I could have went faster.”
- For strength training sessions, understand that training to failure isn’t something you should be doing every time. If the rep range calls for 10-12, shoot for 12, and adjust accordingly. Don’t go so heavy that you barely squeeze out 10 on the first set then have to drop weight. Look up any successful athlete in a strength sport, power lifting, strong man, weightlifting, and their program won’t show max effort every day. Most strength progress is made in the 80-85% range.
- Become a technician: Master movement efficiency and transitions.
- In the early days of CrossFit, Chris Spealler was one of the top athletes in the sport. In a field of competitors that averaged 185-200lbs, he was about 145lbs, yet managed to consistently beat the bigger stronger guys. Granted, at maximal strength events, the bigger guy has the advantage. Though an often overlooked area to really maximize your score is with both movement efficiency and workout transitions. Spealler was a technician when it came to moving well.
Movement efficiency is how much energy it costs you to perform a movement. The better your technique, the less energy your body has to spend on performing the movement. Imagine 2 people doing 30 clean and jerks for time at 135lbs. One person is significantly stronger when comparing 1 rep maxes, though has poor technique. Every rep he does will drain him more, than the person who’s technique is really dialed in. Through the first 10-15 reps, there’s probably not much of a difference between the two. Though on the back end of this workout, the person who’s movement quality is poor will start to suffer. It’ll be much harder for them continue performing the reps, as they’re getting tired, than the person who’s movement is sound. Movement efficiency exists in every single exercise. Stop worrying about how heavy or how fast, and start thinking about how fluid and effortless can you do each rep. This will pay dividends over time. An added bonus to help improvement movement efficiency, is improved mobility. Working on your overhead position, your front rack, your squat, will go a long way with functional exercises.
Workout transitions are a secret killer.
When I say transitions, think about how long it takes you to physically move from one movement to the next.
Examples:- At our gym there’s about a 40′ walk from the garage door to the main gym floor. After a run, most people stop running at the door and walk back to their station. The person who chooses to jog all the way back will save a couple of seconds. Over multiple rounds, they could have easily gained 10, 20, 30 seconds on someone who was walking.
- Getting on and off the rower. Learning how to quickly get set, and also remove your feet from the rower will add up. Especially in workouts where you’re on and off multiple times (like the 20 minute AMRAP in the 2024 CF Open).
- Stepping away from your barbell when you drop it, versus not stepping away. The person who steps away will most likely take an extra 2-3 seconds before getting their hands back on the bar compared to the person who doesn’t move their feet. These seconds add up every set.
- Counting, and minimizing your steps. While moving from one implement to another, are you taking the straightest path to get there with the least amount of steps? Again, by moving in an unnecessary manner you may be losing a couple seconds every time. If you can minimize how much movement is required, you can maximize your time working and gain ground on the person who’s not paying attention to the details.
- In the early days of CrossFit, Chris Spealler was one of the top athletes in the sport. In a field of competitors that averaged 185-200lbs, he was about 145lbs, yet managed to consistently beat the bigger stronger guys. Granted, at maximal strength events, the bigger guy has the advantage. Though an often overlooked area to really maximize your score is with both movement efficiency and workout transitions. Spealler was a technician when it came to moving well.
- Learn to pace:
If you were a fan of CrossFit in the Mid-2000’s you’re well aware of the Rich Froning Effect. Rich would win, a lot. It wasn’t uncommon though for him to not be in 1st place the entire workout. In fact, he may hover around 3rd, 4th, 5th or even further down near the beginning. As the workout progressed, due to his uncanny ability to pace perfectly, he’d slowly pass people as they fatigued and he didn’t. Oftentimes he wouldn’t take over the 1st place spot until near the end of the workout. Then right at the end, he’d win.
Pacing requires you to develop a very specific understanding of how hard you can push on movements before your fatigue slows you down. There are many factors to this, and it takes awhile to master, but here are a few places you can start.- Know what rep # is smart to break on. Going unbroken isn’t always the best strategy.
- Example: Theres a set of 50 wallballs in a workout. Lets hypothetically say you do them unbroken, and it leads to an unplanned 15 second rest while you transition to the next movement. Then, when you get to the next movement, say it’s a rower, you’re taxed so you’re rowing at a 2:00 pace, when normally you’d row at a 1:52 pace.
The person beside you chooses to do 20 + 15 + 15 on the wallball, taking a 5 second break between each set. So while the guy who finishes 50, 15 seconds faster, the person who did 3 sets, now only takes a 5 second transition moving to the rower. The “unbroken guy” is still a bit ahead. Though now the guy who paced the wallballs gets on the rower feeling stronger and pulls at the 1:52. They both get off the rower at the same time, and the guy who did multiple sets has a bit more energy and passes him on the next movement. - So, just because you “can” do it unbroken, doesn’t mean you should. How will it affect not only the next movement, but the rest of the workout?
- Pay attention to what else is required in the workout that may fatigue you. If there are 2 grip related things – say, Kettlebell swings AND toes to bar, you’re better off breaking more often instead of having your grip blow up then completely falling apart.
- Something I learned from an old coach of mine is to control the workout, don’t let the workout control you.
To explain: If you’re holding back just a little, and maintaining similar round times on a multi round workout, you’re in control. You’re determining your rest breaks because they’re planned. You know that at the end, you can pick up the pace and turn it up a notch to finish faster than you started.
However, if you start too hot, even just a little, and you end up in survival mode, then the workout is controlling you. You no longer dictate when you want to take a rest, your overwhelming fatigue does. Every round will get slower and you’ll crawl across the finish line instead of sprint.
- Example: Theres a set of 50 wallballs in a workout. Lets hypothetically say you do them unbroken, and it leads to an unplanned 15 second rest while you transition to the next movement. Then, when you get to the next movement, say it’s a rower, you’re taxed so you’re rowing at a 2:00 pace, when normally you’d row at a 1:52 pace.
- Know what rep # is smart to break on. Going unbroken isn’t always the best strategy.
- Play to your strengths, and understand your weaknesses and their limitations.
If something is a strength, you can use it a few different ways within a workout. Maybe you can blow through the reps faster and easier and gain some ground on your buddies. Or, maybe you know you can recover on the movement because you’re good at it, and you can actually pace the movement to allow you to go faster on the thing you’re not so good at.
Just because you’re good on the bike, or barbell, or whatever, doesn’t mean you need to smash that movement every time. It may benefit you to do just enough to keep up, knowing that you’ll be less fatigued moving into the next movement.
There may be instances though, where you do use your strengths to your advantage. Maybe you’re ok trailing behind a little on movements you’re not strong at, and you don’t want to smoke yourself trying to keep up in those areas. Knowing that there’s a movement inside the workout that you’ll make up a lot of ground is a secret weapon. Your buddy may think they’ve got you beat, until BOOM, you crush that movement and take the lead!
Knowledge is the real key here. You’ve gotta know if its better to go fast, or stay reserved on the things you’re really good at. If you’re one of the rare folks who’s equally good at everything and you don’t have a specific weakness, then you can start relying more on pacing to win.
BONUS:
Be intentional with your equipment. Both, its positioning and set-up.
Always, always, always sit your jump rope down in a U shape where the handles are in front and the rope circles behind you.
Lift your toes up when getting out of the rower straps so there’s more room to get your feet back in on the next round.
Don’t let your wallball bounce a foot or two in the other direction on the last rep. Ensure its place right where you want to pick it up the next round.
If allowed to reposition any equipment, set it up to minimize transition distance between back-to-back movements.
Sit your DB’s and KB’s down in a way that the handles are exactly angled the way you want when you approach them for the next round.
And there you have it folks, a few tips that don’t necessarily require you to be fitter than your buddy to beat them at a workout. If you’re close enough in fitness level, sometimes you can just outsmart them by using knowledge to your advantage.