Christian Harris Talks CrossFit Open & Workout 21.2, Shares His WHOOP Data

Christian Harris on CrossFit Open & Workout 21.2

We asked CrossFit Games athlete Christian Harris six questions about his Open experience this year, and his performance in workout 21.2: 1. What are your feelings about the 2021 season? Are your emotions a source of fuel or something you try to quiet? “I feel excited about the new format and I like that they are bringing it back to having stages throughout the season, which allows for a proper off-season. My mindset this Open season is different from how it has been in the past in the sense that my emotions used to be a source of fuel. After the 2020 season being canceled on the team side, I am trying to not put so much emphasis on letting the Open workouts dictate my emotions. I’m taking it one workout at a time—still focused, but with a much more laid back mindset.” 2. How did you feel about your performance in 21.1? “I did 21.1 twice. I was completely content with my first go at the workout, but my teammate wanted to re-do it so we decided to do it together. The second time around I did much better with the push of doing it with someone.” 3. What were your immediate thoughts when seeing the programming for 21.2? 10 dumbbell snatches 15 burpee box jump-overs 20 dumbbell snatches 15 burpee box jump-overs 30 dumbbell snatches 15 burpee box jump-overs 40 dumbbell snatches 15 burpee box jump-overs 50 dumbbell snatches 15 burpee box jump-overs 50-lb. dumbbell, 24-in. box “Lol. I knew it. I posted on IG on Wednesday with my workout prediction. I also happened to program this at my gym the same day. So…. yeah. Been there, done that, and we do it again.”

4. How did you prepare for 21.2? “I first did the workout on Friday, so preparation started the day before. I woke up Thursday feeling very sore in my glutes and hamstrings, so I started the day with a 45-minute active recovery flow, which included the bike and ski erg, and running. Then I mobilized and did a long stretching routine. The rest of the day I made sure I stayed hydrated and ate well. I wake up early (5:03 am) to coach at 6 am, so in order for me to get a good night’s sleep I have to go to bed pretty early. The Open announcement at 8 pm throws a little wrench in the bedtime plan--I don’t get to bed until about 9 pm. After coaching the 6 and 9 am classes I started my warmup and got after 21.2. I was pleased with how I did, but after talking with my team we decided to re-do it together on Sunday to push each other to perform better.” 5. Can you give us some insight as to what goes through your head when you're doing a workout like this? “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. When you are doing a workout with an increasing rep scheme it is typically a trap to want to sprint the first couple of sets, which will make you hit a wall later in the workout. Start smooth and try to pick up the pace on the back half of the workout.” 6. How will WHOOP help you sharpen your edges throughout the Open this year? “During this time of year proper recovery is essential to good performance and WHOOP helps me in many ways to do that. One of the things I definitely make sure to keep an eye on is my strain-recovery balance on Wednesday into Thursday. This will tell me how much time and effort I need to spend on recovery protocols.”  

Sleep, Strain, Heart Rate & HRV from CrossFit Open Workout 21.2

Here are some of Christian’s notable WHOOP stats for his 21.2 workout, which he finished in 11 minutes and 12 seconds:

• 7:51 sleep the night before, with 42% of it REM
• 73 ms HRV that morning
• 6.1 strain for the workout, 11.7 for the day
• 151 bpm max heart rate, with an average of 117 bpm during the workout

Watch the video below for more of Christian’s 21.2 WHOOP data: