TESTING, TESTING

The start of the 2019 Open is about 10 weeks away.  We’ve created a comprehensive fitness test to help you quantify and prioritize your fitness and training needs for this period.  While 10 weeks is not enough time to completely transform yourself, it is enough time to identify specific needs and plug some gaps. The test comprises several parts, requires about 30 minutes, and provides a ton of useful information. Even if you don’t care about the Open at all, it’s a great benchmark.  There’s something here for everyone. We designed this test to provide lots of quantifiable information, rather than attempting to reduce numerous fitness variables to one number. Therefore, you’ll get several scores, and they may indicate substantial divergence among aspects of your fitness. We encourage athletes to track their rowing times, their reps completed in Parts 1 and 2, and their longest unbroken set of muscle ups in each part.

This is the RX version. Scale as needed; the intent is to test strength, gymnastics and capacity. Chest to bar pull-ups, pull-ups or toes to bar are all acceptable substitutes for athletes still learning muscle ups.

This is the RX version. Scale as needed; the intent is to test strength, gymnastics and capacity. Chest to bar pull-ups, pull-ups or toes to bar are all acceptable substitutes for athletes still learning muscle ups.

Interpreting your results - average of the row times for men / women:

  • Under 7:00 / 8:00                 Excellent pure capacity

  • 7:00-7:30 / 8:00-8:30       Good pure capacity

  • 7:30-8:00 / 8:30-9:00         Could use a little work

  • Above 8:00 / 9:00                Needs some attention

Interpreting your results - average of the rep counts for men / women:

  • 60 / 50+                               Sign up for a sanctioned event!

  • 45-59 / 35-49                    Excellent general fitness

  • 30-44 / 20-34                     Good

  • 13-29 / 10 – 19                  Could use a little work

  • <12                                      Needs some attention

There is a lot more information contained in the test results. For example, a high differential between your rowing scores may signify a well-developed glycolytic system, but may also indicate insufficient ability to remove lactic acid and hydrogen ions from muscle cells. A very fast row on Part 1 is more evidence of this imbalance. Usually, this is caused by inadequate capillary supply to working muscles, resulting in lower intracellular pH. When pH drops, signaling within cells degrades and oxidative energy production decreases. For a more advanced discussion of the structure of the test, your results and what they might mean for your fitness and training, send an email to coach@thegainslab.com.

We’ve also brought back 50 Days of Gains (2019 edition), our Open Prep framework. This is a collection of over 50 MetCons we designed to enhance the skills and capacities we expect to see in the Open. Click here for more information on 50 Days of Gains.