CrossFit is a lifestyle for me, thanks to which I develop every day - Marek Vácha
Author: During the past weekend 22 - 23 August 2020, the Big Summer Games 2020 crossfit competition took place in České Budějovice, which is one of the best crossfit competitions in the Czech Republic. The athletes competed for two days on the roof of the IGY shopping centre for the best possible position - in the hardest and most prestigious Elite Man category, Marek Vácha, a native of Strakonice, also competed and finally won the first place, proving that crossfit is not only about big muscles, but mainly about a big heart.
And in this article you have a unique opportunity to delve into Marek's crossfit life with us, who will also reveal through an interview how it was on the roof of České Budějovice.
Hi Mark, first of all I would like to congratulate you again on your first place!
Hi. Thank you very much!
But let's go back a few months. When the date for this year's Big Summer Games came up, did you know straight away that you were going to enter?
Honestly, I didn't want to at first. This year I knew I would have a lot of my mentees going to the races and I was worried about doing everything 100%. Then I changed my mind when I thought about how many races I would actually make it to this year and realized that most wouldn't be because of the situation. So I went and in the end it all went pretty well.
Did you undergo any special preparation for these races or did you train the same way?
I wouldn't say so, my coach and I didn't really tailor our training to these races. For a few months now we have been primarily trying to eliminate bad movement patterns and generally get rid of the pain that results from them. So I can't talk about any special preparation for these races... In addition, about a week and a half before the race I managed to move my shoulder a little bit, so then I was more running around physio than working out.
What did you think of the actual qualifying? Was it challenging for you or was it just one of the training sessions?
The qualifying was pretty good for me, I did it once and didn't worry about it anymore.
How many times a day/week do you actually train? And do you divide your training units somehow?
For a long time I trained 5 days a week, 2-3 times a day. However, the last few months I've been trying to change my overall approach to training, so now I train 5 days a week, but mostly just 1x a day. Monday and Friday I have extra afternoon conditioning, but I think my overall training volume is probably less than other athletes. I spend the extra time on recovery and mental preparation.
Well, as I said, we're mainly dealing with the functionality of the body with the coach now, so that I don't wake up with back pain, so that I don't mess up the consistency of my training with injuries and so on. I have a few units of pure conditioning in the base and the rest are complex, where we start with weightlifting or strength, then supplements and workouts.
How long is an elite crossfitter like you're training unit?
Well quite a bit long most of the time. It's probably very individual, but I personally don't like to rush things.. so from a one and a half hour unit I usually have a three hour one. I put a lot of emphasis on both physical and mental preparation before each part of the workout, I try to do the best I can on the day. It often takes me quite a long time to set myself up properly mentally.
It is often said that the top of the Czech CrossFit scene comes to the Big Summer Games, how do you feel about it? Do you think it is really so? Because for example Martin Feiferlík or Sonia Karásků didn't participate in the competitions.
I think that is pretty much the case, every year most of our elite athletes compete at the Big Summer Games. I think Sonia has also participated in the past years and Martin generally doesn't race much in the Czech Republic, he prefers to race abroad.
Can races in the Czech Republic be compared with those abroad? And how is the Czech Crossfit from your point of view?
From my point of view, the level of competitions in the Czech Republic and abroad is still incomparable. We have quite a lot of nice races in our country, but I wouldn't say that some of them reach the level of those abroad. It is mainly due to the athletes who participate in them. None of the races are attractive enough for the top athletes in Europe yet. Czech crossfit is still far from world level in my opinion. In the last few years the level has risen a lot, but we still lack enough to reach the world level. But I believe it will come in time.. we have too many skilled competitors here, so hopefully someone will really break through soon.
You finished fifth in this year's CrossFit Games Open 2020, was that a success or a disappointment for you?
Well it wasn't the position I was hoping for... But I guess I don't take it as a success or a disappointment, it was another necessary experience. Now in retrospect I see that last CF Open I was not prepared enough, I don't mean physically, but mainly mentally... in every wod I was struggling with my head more than I wanted to, and then on the third workout I messed with my lower back, so the other two workouts were just about finishing it somehow.
Will you be participating in the Open 2021?
Definitely! Now the date has been moved to February again, so there is still plenty of time to prepare.. so hopefully I will be fully prepared!
Now let's move on to the races themselves, how did this year's Big Summer Games affect you - new arena, big promotion, many competitors,...?
I enjoyed this year's Big Summer Games. I think the guys did a great job, both in terms of preparing the Wods themselves and all the stuff around it. I feel like the whole competitions were nicely put together to best test the complexity of the athletes. And even the course itself went nicely according to schedule, with no unnecessary delays.. great. In addition, it is nice that Vasek Mráz is not only trying to organize quality races, but is also interested in the actual promotion of our sport to the wider public. CrossFit is still not a well-known sport in our country and many people don't know what it is all about.
Do you think there are better races in the Czech Republic than BSG?
At the moment I think not. We'll see what the Bohemian Throwdown is like in a month, it looks really good.. it even attracted some good foreign athletes, so I'm looking forward to it.
Your category took a total of six wods. Which wod was the easiest and the hardest for you?
The easiest wod for me was definitely the swim, I was surprised that I didn't get tired during the swim. On the other hand, the hardest part for me was the first part of the penultimate wod, where we had to find 3 RM for the Front Squat, which is probably my biggest weakness.
Looking back on your overall race performance now, is there anything you could criticize yourself for?
Of course there are always weaknesses in any performance that need improvement, for me it's strength on the squat and then technique on performing Pistol Squats and Ring muscle ups. I'm still trying to work on my lower body strength, but it needs a lot more. Pistols and RMUs are also exercises that I don't completely like and don't technically fit, but they are slowly improving as well. However, overall I don't completely want to beat myself up after these competitions, I'm extremely happy with the way I approached them and handled the whole weekend. My head worked 100% in every workout and that is a priority for me.
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Did any competitors "step on your back" or did you pass the races without any problems?
I didn't really look at the results, but after the first day I think it was pretty even, I was only leading by a few points. It wasn't until the second day that I made a sizeable lead with my swim and held it until the end. In the end I won by about 13 points from second place, which I'm very pleased about.
What did you say to yourself immediately after you finished the last wod?
"Thank you." I pride myself a lot on mental adjustment and communicating with my body itself. In the last months I haven't been training in a mode that would be ideal for racing, but I've been working a lot with my internal setup. So honestly my only goal for the Big Summer Games this year was to test my head to see how it would react in such a stressful environment. There have been many times in the past that I have not been able to give my maximum performance the next day, so I was curious myself how it would go. And I was completely happy with the way I performed all weekend, pretty mentally wiped out, but honestly grateful.
In your Elite man category you were one of the most subtle athletes, yet you managed to beat the "hulks" around you, how is that possible?
It always depends on the construction of the whole race, if it was built with even more strength I would have had more trouble. However, if the race is built in a "varied" way and different skills are tested in different events, not just strength or just conditioning or gymnastics, it can be worked with. In this case, the rule is that one workout does not determine the overall result. One has to try to dominate the activities one is good at, survive in the ones one is still losing at, and not be intimidated or discouraged by others.
Now I'm wondering, who's your coach? Is it you, or is there someone behind you?
I have been my own coach for a long time, I didn't want to just blindly be guided by someone else, but to understand the purpose of each thing I do and to develop myself by doing so. But I tend to put too much on myself, to train more than I need to, at too high an intensity and unnecessarily increase my risk of injury. And a few months ago I decided that this is probably not the ideal path for me at the moment. So I've been working with Rad Erent for a while now. With him and the physiotherapists we are slowly trying to get my body back together and stronger.
You do have some charges under you, don't you?
Yes, I've been a coach at CrossFit HomeTown for a while now and I also do remote coaching. I have several athletes under me remotely, as well as people who just want to move healthy and push their limits. I try to develop them in all aspects, both physically and mentally.
Have they also participated in BSG races?
At BSG I had three guys in the sport category and one team.
How did they do?
Until the last wod we were hoping for a box for some of them, but in the end they missed it by a few points. In the end we took 4th , 14th and 31st place out of 61 competitors in the men's sport category and 4th place in the teams.
And how would you rate their performance? Did they do their best or did they have a reserve ?
I think they all did their best during the whole weekend. I guess everyone found a workout that didn't quite suit them, but in the end they all faced it head on and dealt with it somehow.
We found weaknesses that we need to work on and now we will try to get rid of them gradually. On the whole I'm happy with their results, I think they all ended up around the places we wanted.
If someone wanted to train under you, what do they have to do to do that?
A simple way is to either post on the RISE UP FROM FAILURES TRAININGteam profile or my personal instagram profile marek.vacha and we can make arrangements. We need to be clear about what goals the person has and what they actually expect from the collaboration, then we can move on from there. It's also important to think whether I really want to take the step, because the training plan can only work if the clients follow what we agree and honestly follow the program, regardless of whether the exercise fits them or not. Some days are harder than others and they need to keep their head and do their best step by step even on those days.
What does R.U.F.F. training mean?
Rise up from failures, it's kind of our mantra. I try to teach my people that things in life don't always turn out the way we want them to and it's important to be able to stand up to those situations and not let them break you. One day you're up, the next day you're down, that's how it works and people have to learn to work with that if they want to move forward in their lives. It's basically finding a balance in everything we do, not letting both success and failure derail us. With R.U.F.F. athletes, we work with exaggeration on the harmony of mind and body.
If we were to look at the fitness training of, for example, athletes or handball players of Dukla Prague, we would find in their training exercises from weightlifting (snatch/overhead) or other exercises with the Olympic axis. However, in amateur clubs we do not see the inclusion of work with the Olympic axis or other equipment.
Do you think that all athletes should undergo conditioning whether they are swimmers, hockey players, track and field athletes, handball players,...? And what do you think fitness training should look like?
It's complicated. Of course, in bigger clubs there is more money, so there is room for conditioning coaches or weightlifting coaches. In a small town, very often people train who just enjoy it and may not even get any financial benefit from the job, let alone go there to fund a collaboration with another specialist. Ideally I would include the axis, the benefits are many, from explosiveness and strength development to mobility, coordination development. So if the club has the funds available, weightlifting and overall axis work I would include.
How much of a role does the athlete's head alignment play, specifically for a crossfitter?
Undoubtedly a big one, perhaps one could say the main one. Again, my opinion is that we need to approach these things holistically. To be concerned not only with the movement development of the individual, but also with those other factors in the outcome that allow for maximum performance. We need to be concerned with the factors that are within our control, whether we are talking about training itself, diet, recovery or the mental preparation of the individual.
We strive to develop the mindset not only during the performance, but also before it and throughout the day. For example, if we try to think positively during training, it can greatly enhance our performance. However, if we are negative the rest of the day, the overall effect will be minimal.. simply because training is a very small percentage of the overall day.
Often athletes don't pay as much attention to recovery as they do to training. How important do you think recovery is if an athlete wants to be successful? And what specifically does "recovery" mean to you?
This has changed a lot for me lately, I've always been used to paying 100% attention to training and the other pieces of the puzzle kind of got away from me. At the same time, I'm trying to pay more attention to things around recovery and I feel it's a good way to go. I can see in myself that if I make sure I get even just a good quality longer sleep, then I am able to perform much better in training afterwards. It's sometimes a bit of a struggle to go regenerate rather than train, but at least I'm developing my mindset that way as well.
What gym are you currently working at?
CrossFit HomeTown - Prague.
Is that where you started with CrossFit?
No, I'm originally from Strakonice, where my beginnings were in Fudochi Kangym . That's where I grew up, that's my heart thing... a place where I always like to come back and work out.
Now I'm thinking, you're a vegetarian, right?
Yes, it's been over 7 years since I've eaten meat.
I'm going to ask for most readers, " How can you play sports and live if you don't eat meat?"
Oh, hey, totally cool. One certainly needs to be more concerned about what they eat and why they eat it, but as I said I've been operating this way for a few years now and I don't see any flaws in it. Sometimes I meet people who have stopped eating meat and animal products in general from one day to the next, but they don't really know what to eat.
In this case, it may happen that a person will not feel good without meat.. but it's just because of a bad diet composition. By not making plant sources of protein complex, one has to be concerned about what they eat to get the full spectrum of amino acids in. Under this condition I don't see a problem with this diet, on the contrary, one automatically starts eating more vegetables, fruits most of the time and overall diet variety is better. Plus faster digestion of the diet, a cleaner form of energy without unnecessary suffering of other creatures, for me a clear choice.
Does a vegetarian have to use any nutritional supplements, or can everything be obtained from an "ordinary" diet?
Whether a person is an active athlete or not, supplementing with minerals and vitamins certainly won't hurt anything, but I would recommend supplementation more for athletes. Vitamin B12 or iron is speculative , both can be obtained from the diet in a teachable way, but supplementation is prevention. It's definitely not a bad idea to get blood tests from time to time to see if you need to supplement or not, everyone is different and what may be enough for one person may not be for another.
Do you use any supplements at all? And how do you deal with supplementation at races for example?
I only use multi-ingredient protein, a multivitamin, B12, D3, iron, magnesium and creatine. I more or less don't change my supplementation during races.
What supplements do you think are really unnecessary and conversely, which ones should not be missing on the shelf of an active racer?
I think that if one doesn't eat meat, a high quality multi-ingredient proteinis a big help in the diet . I would also list a multivitamin, D3, B12, iron and magnesium as important for me . On the other hand, I consider BCAAs to be unnecessary .
Now I digress a bit - it is often said that crossfit ruins people - in the sense that they forget about proper technique for the sake of performance. How do you feel about this?
There is certainly something to this view, many people try to give a good performance at the expense of technique and then can easily get injured. However, I don't think this is just a CrossFit problem. It happens in multiple sports, you need to learn proper technique at low intensity and volume first, then increase the intensity later. This is easy to say but harder to apply.. even my beginnings were not ideal and I made a lot of bad movement patterns. So for a beginner, I think the best option is to find a good trainer and at least get the beginnings done.
What does crossfit mean to you?
Nothing more and less than my whole life. It is a lifestyle and a way for me to develop and discover myself day by day.
Do you have a set goal that you want to accomplish in crossfit/life, or do you let yourself be led and wait to see where the journey takes you?
From an athlete's perspective, I would like to get to a level in CF where I can compete with honor on par with world class athletes, to compete in the CrossFit Games. That's kind of been my vision from the beginning, we'll see what I'll be able to do with that in the future. And as a coach, to improve, to learn and to be able to help my people achieve their goals as best as possible.
Okay Mara, thank you so much for the interview and may the force be with you!
Thank you so much too!
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