I wrote about this last year, but the topic of whether or not to redo an Open workout always draws a lot of attention, so I wanted to be sure and touch on it again. Here are my thoughts:
In general, I’m not a fan of it. And here is why:
- If you don’t beat your previous score, you’re playing psychological warfare against yourself. You begin to doubt your abilities. Not a good or healthy thing to do.
- And if you do get a few more reps, so what? How much did your fitness improve by doing that workout again and in turn missing out on what was programmed in its place?
- You don’t redo normal workouts during the week do you? If you enter a race or competition outside of the gym, do you get do-overs?
When are the few times I find it appropriate?
1. You have a legitimate shot to make it to Regionals or the Masters Qualifier and a few reps could be the difference. If you think this is you, ask. I’ll be glad to let you know where you stand Regionally or worldwide.
2. You completely bombed your first attempt. Examples of this: you tore your hand so bad that you had to stop your 1st attempt altogether. Your jump rope broke. Or you passed out because you forgot to breathe.
And lets get something straight – ‘bombing’ a workout is not “my head wasn’t in it” or “my hand tape came apart.” It’s also not “my judge was too hard on me” or “I should be able to beat so and so now that I know what they got.” Those are missed opportunities, or better yet they are excuses, not bombs.
If you legitimately bombed a workout, your redo should have seen a HUGE increase in the rep count.
One and done. Put it all on the line. Make no excuses and move on.
At the end of the day, we’re just exercising!