Supplements are just that; they help your body system to get those nutrients it either in low quantities or doesn’t produce at all. In CrossFit training, your body goes through rigorous movements, and this places huge demands on your nutritional stores. If these demands are not met, chances are your workout will be counterproductive. There are lots of supplements out on the market, and at times it can be confusing on which to pick and which to leave on the shelf. If you have been in that awkward situation where you are torn between two supplements not knowing which to side with, the brief on the supplements below will help you clear up your mind and know what you should get. Creatine This is one of the most effective performance supplements and also the safest. Numerous studies have been done most of which reveal that creatine monohydrate has a super ability to increase your strength levels and muscle mass. Also, it improves your body composition and boosts high-intensity work capacity. At the beginning of your CrossFit exercise, your body will depend majorly on phosphocreatine to produce energy. When you supplement with creatine monohydrate, you are in short increasing the levels of phosphocreatine in your muscles store. This is crucial for any CrossFit workout that requires the rapid energy source. Beta Alanine Due to the high intensity and variation of CrossFit movements, your body creates loads of metabolites which are mainly hydrogen ions and lactates. Many people believe that lactic acid is what is responsible for the burning sensation in your muscle. On the contrary, it is the accumulation of hydrogen ions that is behind all this. As the hydrogen ions accumulate, they interrupt the muscle contraction process leading to fatigue. Because of this, you need beta alanine which simply increases the quantity of carnosine in the body. Carnosine is a dipeptide which buffers excess hydrogen ions. This means supplementing with beta alanine enhances your performance and training volume. Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) You don’t have to be an athlete to include this in your supplement stack. For one, BCAAs taste good and secondly, they help you stay hydrated the day over. When you sip this magical supplement before or even during your CrossFit workout, you will experience speedy recoveries and the repair process will be quite fast even after a tough workout. Fish Oil For you to build strength, muscle mass, and enhance your performance, you need ample recovery. Fish oils are famous for their Omega 3 fatty acid content which is a key player in the recovery process. The essential fatty acids which include EPA and DHA help in reducing post-exercise muscle soreness and speed up your recovery process. Omega 3s also play a crucial role in maintaining a healthy heart as well as improving your cognitive performance. To add to the above, your CrossFit workout of the day is never complete without a protein powder supplement. While it is possible to meet your protein needs through whole foods, athletes with multiple workouts in a day require additional ready to drink proteins to jumpstart their protein synthesis and help with the muscle repair.  
KUNAL JHAVERI | 25 Jan 21
  The CrossFit Games are made to find the fittest among the fittest on earth. It is not for everyone, given that just getting in is a challenge in itself! Watching it, however, can be quite exciting and pain-free! What are the CrossFit Games? A simple guide to understanding the Games   The CrossFit Games are a competition made up of a series of tests made specially to find the fittest among the fittest. They are extremely difficult, even for the winner, and are known for being full of surprises for the athletes competing! They are an exciting time for spectators and competing athletes alike, well, except it is much more painful for them. When did the CrossFit Games begin? They began in 2007 and have rapidly grown to become the most popular worldwide competition for Crossfitters, whether to watch or to compete in if you’re up to it! First, however, you need to be able to pass the first stages, which is no easy task. However, they may invite 4 athletes who did not qualify. Stage 1: The CrossFit Open   The first stage to enter the CrossFit Games is the CrossFit Open. However, even if you are not aiming for the Games, the Open is a fun way to challenge yourself! The Games are 5 weeks long, with a workout presented each Thursday to be turned in on Monday. During that time, you have to complete the workout with the correct requirements and be top of the top by the end in order to pass on to the second stage Stage 2: Regionals   Once you are top of the top, you move on to the second stage, regionals. Here, the top competes against the top athletes from 18 regions. Regionals are made up of competitions lasting 3 days, from May to June. Each region can only send a certain number from their top athletes to compete. From them, 40 women, men, and teams will be fit enough to earn a spot on the Games. Stage 3: The CrossFit Games   Finally, after Regionals comes the CrossFit Games. Here, the athletes that qualified need to be prepared to accept the fact that they will most likely not be prepared. This is due to the fact that in the Games, everything that they can make up, they will. The Games are made up of competitions lasting 3-4 days that take place during August. The competing athletes gain a score depending on where they placed during each event, and the athlete with the highest score gains the title of “Fittest on Earth”, along with around 300,000$
Bear Grips | 25 Feb 19
Coaches who have prepared athletes for CrossFit games have shared some useful insights on what it takes to get ready for competitions. The preparations involve taking athletes through events and situations they would traditionally not be exposed to in the CrossFit gym. The reason why games training is special is that the athletes competing at these games are people who have worked so hard for years and gone through hurdles day in day out to qualify. In terms of sacrifice, they have given up so many things and aspects of their lives so that they can secure a place on that competition floor. Therefore, leading up to this event, the training is usually characterized by extremely special energy. It is a manifestation of the accumulation of the many years of hard work. The Difference in Training for the Various Games CrossFit games are divided into 3 major categories: Open, Regionals, and Games. For many athletes, the way they train for each of these games is notably different. A handful of athletes can justify focusing on the Games more than the other categories. When training for Open, you are in quite a familiar environment. There is time to warm up and prepare optimally plus you can always repeat events if they do not go as planned. During your CrossFit workout, you can put your favorite song, and you have a whole week to complete just one workout. It is not uncommon to see CrossFit athletes excelling because of the advantage of the home environment. At the Regionals, there are 3 days of competition and a total of 6 events on the minimum. One of the biggest advantages of this level of competition is that athletes have always known what events to expect at least a month before the kickoff. What this means is that they can specifically prepare for these events and excel in them. When competing at the Games level, things change, and the architecture is completely different. Among other things, athletes should know how to handle the volume, be prepared for anything because they are not sure what they will be put through next, and the lack of sleep. Because you are performing before hundreds of thousands of people, one of the things you cannot afford to falter in is confidence. From 2008 to 2009, the games changed, and the number of events doubled from 4 to 8. This year and beyond, the number of events is likely to be 14 and above.  4 Weeks before Competition Here, athletes usually focus on the simple routine of eating, training, and sleeping with minimal if any distractions. During this period, the emphasis is on technique and exposure to new elements as well as training your focus for the competition. The preparation is mainly mental and physical.  One Week to Competition By this time, athletes will have known the selection of workouts and movements they can do smoothly and comfortably. The focus is on shorter duration, high-intensity CrossFit workouts as they prepare for the game day. Movements need to be smooth, and energy systems must work optimally. The night before the game day, you need to eat, sleep, and get ready for what is to follow. Never stress yourself beyond your maximum holding capacity.
KUNAL JHAVERI | 10 Dec 17
CrossFit games are very sensational, and they offer so much to the athletes who have literally spent their entire professional career training for these Games. Winning or losing are the defining moments in these games, and therefore every athlete tries to put their best foot forward. Judging from the number of people who throng these venues, it is evident that there are expectations and preconceived notions about the Games. As a fan, you may not have had a chance to get behind the scenes and know what is going on with the preparation of the athletes and what they are expected to do at every stage. Below are some of the aspects you may never get to see in CrossFit events such as this. The Professional Atmosphere CrossFit Games are a professional sporting event not because of the monies winners receive, but the manner in which the CrossFit athletes are treated. At every stage, the athletes are treated with respect and dignity, which fosters a positive experience for the athletes and enables the entire competition to proceed more smoothly. Right from the judges to everyone around, the culture of mutual respect and communication is deeply entrenched. Intelligent Events Games are not like the Open, which is far much limited. The Open has five events, which anyone can perform even in their garage. This has allowed for inclusion, but regarding the CrossFit exercises, it is somehow limiting. When an athlete proceeds from the Open to the Games, they are confronted with a new set of unpredictable events such as sled pull, sled drag with weights of about 185 pounds, and many other challenges. For the athletes, it is the CrossFit spirit that pushes them on. The events are intelligent and challenge athletes in different ways. There is a thoughtful design that goes into them. Some of the events task various muscle groups while others task the same energy system, but the bottom line is that they are all brutal. Highly Organized Unlike other sporting events where you go and get identified at the entrance, CrossFit has more than nine stations which you pass through after getting identified. At every station, you are fitted with different things such as clothing or CrossFit shoes. There are even tailors on site who are just your clothing to ensure everything fits you well. After the check-in day, the administrators usually have a meeting with all athletes, and their schedule is well organized. They never run behind time and every minute counts. The Community CrossFit is known all over the world for its camaraderie among its participants. They cheer one another on and at some point, it feels as if it is not a competition, but rather a friendly union. It is a competition, and therefore, the mindset people have while coming into CrossFit Games is that of self-focus and reclusiveness. However, the story is different, and the sense of community cannot be hidden. There is outright friendliness from fellow competitors, and this is what makes the entire sport beautiful. If you only got a chance to see the behind the scenes events, you would walk away appreciating that indeed CrossFit Games is a totally different ballgame from your ordinary CrossFit events.
KUNAL JHAVERI | 26 Nov 17