I could not be more excited for the first day of Regionals. Those of you who have been living under a rock you will not have noticed that the first day of Regionals is heavily loaded against the weaker, unskilled athlete. I cannot thank HQ enough for this reality. There are a lot of athletes who made it to the Regional level because of their motor and metabolic conditioning strength. A max hang snatch, max handstand walk, as well as a triplet with built-in pistols and muscle ups will eliminate those athletes right out of the gate.
Games level and high-level Regional athletes are highly skilled and significantly stronger than the rest of the field. These type of athletes will excel on day one. I have no doubt that HQ will throw a severely aerobically taxing conditioning piece that benefits the metcon hero later on in the Regional, but I like the trend they’re setting already.
This is not a blog to discourage all of you who made it to the Regionals for the first time and may not be very strong or very skilled. Every single Games athlete were in those shoes at one point or another. This is just a affirmation for the programming that HQ has released so far. A Regional level and Games level athlete must be highly skilled and strong to succeed. (Aka have Power and Grace) Those who are programming and preparing high-level athletes have been preparing them for these style of events. Don’t get me wrong, hi rep power snatches at 75 pounds and double unders is an extremely taxing and well devised work out. And it will definitely make you more fit. However, for those of you looking to excel at a higher level than the open, take note. HQ requires you to be strong and highly skilled if you want to succeed at the highest level. This is why we develop those two elements during the off-season and why perfection of movement and strength gain are so vastly important.
I cannot wait to see what the rest of the workouts are. I’m already very excited for our athletes.