How Jeffrey Adler, Pat Vellner, and Other Top Crossfit Games Athletes Are Tapering for Fort Worth
Ever wonder about how and when athletes start to taper their training volume, intensity, and frequency to be as fresh as possible to perform their best at the CrossFit Games?
- What does their last week of training look like?
- When do they hit their last hard workout?
- What do they do the day before the Games?
We reached out to Jeffrey Adler, Justin Medeiros, Patrick Vellner, Emily Rolfe, and Alex Gazan’s coaches to find out, and it turns out tapering for the 2024 CrossFit Games is more of an art than a science,
- The goal is to ride the fine line between being as fit and prepared as possible while staying fresh.
And as it turns out, no two athletes taper the same way.
Reminder: Stay tuned to our 2024 CrossFit Games leaderboard for live results and event recaps.
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Pat Vellner
Five-time CrossFit Games podium finisher Pat Vellner typically starts tapering 10 days before the big event, but his long-time coach Michele Letendre had him start his taper 15 days before the first day of competition this year.
The decision to change it up was based on feedback Letendre received and her focus on avoiding injuries.
- “His volume is the first thing to get cut. And gradually, it keeps going down until about seven days before competition,” Letendre says.
Though it’s a fraction of his normal training, Vellner still spends 90 minutes to two hours of “working time” in the gym during his taper.
Jeff Adler
For reigning CrossFit Games champion Jeff Adler, tapering for the Games has been different every year. It is largely a game-time decision, rather than something that is pre-planned, according to his coach and partner Caroline Lambray.
- “We make sure we keep some [training] time aside in case Games events, or twists, are announced. Depending on how he feels, we program accordingly,” she said, adding that this is true right up until the Games. “With check-in, sponsorship duties etc, we play it by ear.”
Lambray adds: “Imagine the table in a recording studio. Each knob is controllable. That’s what it feels like versus the off-season that’s more of a one volume knob feel.”
Lambray explains that even more important than his training during this time is ensuring that Adler’s recovery, nutrition, and sleep are “on point.”
Justin Medeiros
Two-time Games champion Justin Medeiros’ taper has also “evolved every year,” according to his coach, Adam Neiffer.
- “A lot depends on how the body is feeling in the lead up,” Neiffer says. “But ultimately, the hay is in the barn. Training is done. No one’s getting fitter in the last week. [They’re] just getting recovered physically and prepared mentally to perform at the highest level possible.”
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That said, Medeiros’ taper started 10 days before the Games this year. During this time, Medeiros spent one to three hours in the gym, instead of four to six as normal, and his last hard workout was on Saturday, four days before the first event in Fort Worth, TX.
What will he do with all the extra time?
- “He’ll probably play Mario Kart,” Neiffer jokes.
Alex Gazan
Two-time CrossFit Games athlete Alex Gazan, who is still only 22, didn’t start her taper until one week before the Games.
- It started with reducing total volume and loading, but she kept the intensity high during her monostructural work “to remain sharp,” her coach Justin Cotler says.
Ultimately, Gazan has still been spending one to two hours a day in the gym during her taper, which Cotler says is 50 to 70 percent less time than normal.
Emily Rolfe
Four-time Games athlete Emily Rolfe, who is coached by her husband Kyle Rolfe, started her taper two weeks before the first Games event.
- “Workouts still happen as you want to keep the body primed for competing…But as we get closer to competition, things get a little less in volume, but we still keep the fire burning, so to speak,” Kyle says.
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Ultimately, Rolfe has been spending approximately half the time she normally does in the gym in the last 12 days, Kyle says.
What will she do with her free time?
- “She will watch the Olympics, and if I am lucky, maybe she’ll do some house chores,” Kyle jokes.
What About the Day Before the Games?
Like their taper, for the most part, nothing is set in stone ahead of time, according to the five coaches we spoke with.
- Letendre says the day before the first event at the Games depends on how Vellner feels.
- “We typically do a practice session with an aerobic activation and some stretching. One hour in the gym, maximum,” Letendre says.
The same is true for Adler. What he does depends on how many events and what events are announced for Thursday.
- Neiffer’s plan for Medeiros has the two-time champ doing some “light movement [and] mobility work. Just enough to take the edge off.”
Cotler says that the loose plan for Gazan is to do some “easy to moderate intensity conditioning” the day before it all begins.
- As for Rolfe, Kyle intends for her to do “virtually nothing…She will get good nutrition and electrolytes. It’s going to be a hot one in Texas. Rest is important,” he says.
The Big Picture
Though science exists to help prescribe the best tapering practices in elite sports, in a sport like CrossFit — where twists and turns are the name of the game — tapering seems to have become more of an art.
Each athlete works with their personal coach to devise a plan that best suits their unique needs so they can perform at their best when the Games begin.
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