Tanya Wagner's Training

August 13, 2009 3:00 PM

Posted in Competitors »
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Tanya Wagner (1st overall) from CrossFit Apex describes her training.

I have always been an intense person when it comes to training or playing sports, whether it was goalkeeper training for soccer or a backyard game of volleyball. I think that's why CrossFit really fits my personality and my style (with that intensity piece being such a crucial element).

I can honestly say that intensity is really the only thing that I'm consistent with in my training. I really try to follow the recommended 3 on 1 off schedule but rarely, if ever, does that actually happen. Sometimes I'm 2 on 1 off, or 5 on 2 off. I try to get in as many days in a row that I can until I know my intensity suffers from fatigue. The majority of the time, I'd rather rest one day and hit a better WOD the next than have a crappy WOD just to get one more day in.

Carey Peterson caught Tanya on video talking about her training ... [wmv] [mov]

That being said, I understand the importance of training under the influence of tired muscles, lack of sleep, hunger, temperature variations and all the rest, so I do hit WODs under all circumstances, and try not to let any of that be an excuse. I hit one of my best Grace times after a late night out with friends and only a few hours of sleep with a killer headache.

I think varying training days, times, and physical conditions really works for me and really seemed to help me for the Games. I can be mental at times, and always used to be very methodical with soccer in high school and in college. My training had to be precise and my warm up was identical before every game or I'd mentally be out of it. When I think about it now, that approach used to hurt me to a degree. I like how CrossFit has helped me to not have any excuses and has made me more disciplined mentally.

As for my actual workouts, I typically do the WODs that we program for Apex. I don't have an extensive warm up routine. Usually I workout after having trained a few classes, so I'm already somewhat warm.

I'll maybe hit the rower for a few hundred meters or jog an 800 and then possibly do some pullups, pushups, and air squats. Whether I do that or not just depends on the day, but I'll always hit my weaknesses for a few minutes before the WOD. In the months before the Games and even now I always do handstand pushups and muscle up work. I'll also do whatever moves seem to be lacking either in programming or that I'm just not happy in my performance with.

Our Apex WODs follow the same format as the main site, as we vary everything and range in all time domains. I'm a huge fan of a M/W/G WODs, but I definitely do all variations in my training. The biggest one I probably lack overall is the strict 1RM heavy days, but I may hit some heavy lifts as a warm up here and there.

Although we don't program those single heavy lifting days as often as we could or should, our WODs often have some heavier lifts. I'll even go up in weight some days if I'm feeling it, and I think that has also really helped me along the way.

The only other thing I can say about my training is that I train with some sick men! I am always chasing one of them or they're chasing me, whether it's in person or on the whiteboard. I usually train with Josh and he's been the greatest push for me. I really couldn't ask for a better training partner. He's usually just ahead of me so that I have to push to get him or I'm just ahead of him so I know I can't rest.

We're really comparable with a lot of movements so it's always a competition. If we don't get to train with our other co-owners Mike and Keith, I at least have their times on the board to push against. That white board is an amazing thing! We all know each other's strengths and weaknesses, so the days we can actually hit a WOD together...look out. We have a blast and it's seriously like we're competing for the golden sledgehammer every time!

15 comments on this entry.

1. Christy Phillips wrote...

August 13, 2009 6:50 PM

Yes! I was hoping we would hear from the women's champ on her training regimen! Great to hear that you train by following your own affiliate's programming, I can only imagine the confidence it gives your clients to know that they are following the same training program as the world's fittest woman. I know I'll be checking out CrossFit Apex's site even more now ;)

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Tanya Wagner's Training

August 13, 2009 3:00 PM

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