The third week of “Smashby’s Weekly Throwdown” is ready to go! It’s been so fun receiving messages from people who are participating in these weekly challenges. Keep letting me know how you do, and if you get the courage, post your times and notes in the comments. There’s a few of you out there, I promise!
Throwdown #3
Run 800m
20 Pull-Ups
30 Push-Ups
40 Air Squats
Run 800m
Focus/Modifications/Progressions:
Overall Strategy- Today’s pacing strategy for “Murph” will be geared towards helping those who are considering completing the workout straight through. That means they’ll run a mile, complete 100 pull-ups, then 200 push-ups, then 300 air squats, then another mile run. In that order. It’s a completely different beast to do it this way, so I encourage anyone completing my challenge this week to imagine needing to complete all reps, not just to blast through it unbroken.
Runs– The workout has athletes running one mile total, half of the distance to be run during the full workout. I’m challenging each of you to try and run your 800’s in the exact same time! That means pacing the first run more than you need to, then pushing to match your time on the second one to complete the workout.
Pull-Ups– While there are a lot of people who can do 20 pull-ups in a row, fewer people would hit sets of 20 out of the gate on their way to 100. Pace it as if you had that much volume to complete. Smaller sets, short rest, continue.
Push-Ups– Most athletes complete sets of 3-5 reps at a time for push-ups during Murph. If you had to do 200 in a row before moving on, most people would most certainly stick with a similar rep range. Chest, hips, and quads, hit the ground at the same time. Be sure to lock out every rep before dropping to rest!
Air Squats– Imagine having to do 300 of these! I think quick sets of 10 reps or so, with a short rest before repeating, should keep you moving enough and ready to take off on that second run.
This will be the third week of getting ready for one of the most commonly performed workouts in all of CrossFit. I hope some of you are already feeling a bit more confident with different strategies for pacing and your chosen rep scheme.
Let me know how it goes!!
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