It’s the final week of the 2020 Open, and this workout is a good one!
Not a ton of time to share strategy via text here since I’m trying to get this posted before people wake up to hit those 5am classes, but I’d love for you to watch the video at the bottom of this post and let me know what you think.
Here’s my main strategy, though… there are three primary groups that will be attacking this workout.
Group 1:
These athletes don’t expect to get a single Muscle-Up. As long as you can complete Rx’d Wall Balls and Rowing, this workout is a SPRINT to finish 80 Calories and 120 Wall Balls. Quick sets, quick transitions, then spend the rest of the time working to get your first-ever Muscle-Up!
Group 2:
These athletes can complete some, even many, of the 40 required Muscle-Ups. This group should STILL plan to reach their tie-break time in a decent split, but they should sprinkle in their muscle-up reps throughout the process in order to accumulate as many reps as possible while they’re more fresh! This group should definitely begin the workout with a few muscle-ups while they’re most fresh.
Group 3:
These athletes plan to complete the workout in 20 minutes or less. Athletes of this ability level are really good CrossFitters, and I think they should view this as essentially “40 Muscle-Ups for time.” What does that mean? I think they decide reasonable sets and reps for how they plan to complete their 40 reps, and then break down the Calories and Wall Ball sets to fit around those Muscle-Ups.
Regardless of how far athletes hope to get, I think it’s critical to identify one’s main weakness out of the three movements. What I mean by that is, if Muscle-Ups start failing first due to shoulder fatigue, I believe the majority of Wall Ball reps should be saved towards the end of the workout. Prioritize movements based on expected levels of fatigue.
We all know each of these movements is “full body” and require cardio, so the goal needs to be to ensure quality reps, no/few misses, and a steady pace throughout.
It’s the final week of the 2020 CrossFit Open. I hope you all have had as much fun competing as I did.
More than that, I hope you found my advice over the last five weeks to be helpful.
As always…. Good Luck, Have Fun, I Believe In You!
A lot of people I know predicted that workout 19.4 would include some sort of Snatch variation and one kind of Muscle-Up. Well, those friends were correct!
My three main pieces of advice for this one are as follow:
Which version are you? In my mind, there are two versions of this workout for “Rx” athletes. The first is for athletes who are able to complete the first 3-round workout without too much difficulty, but who will then likely be unable to complete a single Bar Muscle-Up. My advice to those athletes is to view this workout as an ABSOLUTE SPRINT! Get through those three rounds of 10 Snatches and 12 Bar-Facing Burpees as fast as you possibly can! The tie break time after that final Burpee of the third round (Rep 66) will separate THOUSANDS of athletes around the world. Get to that tie break as fast as possible! For the other group of athletes who plan to make it to, and through several of the Bar Muscle-Ups, I think this workout needs to be paced a little bit more. Making it through the first three-rounds and being destroyed will likely leave very little in the tank to get through the Bar Muscle-Ups as efficiently as you’d like. Leave some juice in the tank, and break up the Muscle-Ups earlier than you might want to. Something tells me that shoulders and triceps are going to be more fatigued than people expect.
Breathe. For athletes looking to get into the second three-rounder, it will be very easy to get a little bit too excited when this workout starts and make it an absolute sprint. A lot of athletes can sprint one, and maybe even two rounds of Snatches and Burpees, but if that third round takes it out of you, even a three minute rest won’t allow you to finish strong in the second portion. Keep your heart rate down, your breath slow and controlled, and put yourself in a position where you can *finish* this workout stronger than you start it.
Relax. Same advice as last week. You can’t control other athletes who get credit for “garbage reps” by their judges, so don’t even worry about it! Stand up all the way on your Snatches, face your bar and take off with both feet on your Burpees, and follow protocol on the Muscle-Ups. I received several messages last week from people telling me how frustrating it was to watch judges count Handstand Push-Ups that didn’t meet the standard, but my response to that remains the same; “It’s just a silly competition, and none of it really matters.” Stay in your lane, have fun with your friends, and only worry about controlling what you can control. Remember, this is supposed to be fun!
If you spend the time to watch my video for the week, as always, please let me know what you think, and if it helped you at all.
Only one week of the 2019 CrossFit Games Open remains after this week. Have some fun out there, everyone!
There are going to be a lot of tired shoulders after 19.3 is said and done. Here’s the workout!
My three main pieces of advice for this one are as follow:
Get your shoulders warm. The bulk of this workout involves making sure your shoulders can move, or stabilize, weight appropriately. Prime your body with that in mind.
Know Your Role. Some athletes know that Strict Handstand Push-Ups may not be in the cards for them today. That’s fine! The workout has a “Tie Break” to be logged at the end of the final Box Step-Up and another after the final Strict HSPU. If the goal is to get through the Lunges and Step-Ups… do that as quickly as possible!
Second, on the HSPU, there will be thousands of athletes who come out of the gates with too large of sets. Please recognize that for most athletes, 50 reps is a really high amount… especially when tired. Smaller sets and shorter rest without “no-reps” will make for faster work than standing around and missing reps at the end because of fatigue.
Relax. Gyms all over this great world of ours will allow athletes to get away with garbage reps… it’s just human nature. One athlete feels bad no-repping their friend, so full range of motion isn’t enforced. It’ll be ok. Have conversations with your coaches, classmates, and competitors beforehand, and then just move on with your day. The goal is that everyone does every rep correctly, but that simply doesn’t always happen. Just control what you do. That’s all you should focus on anyways!
***I PROMISE I TRY TO KEEP MY VIDEOS SHORT!***
If you spend the time to watch this, as always, please let me know what you think, and if it helped you at all.
Did the 2018 CrossFit Games get you fired up and ready to improve more by next year’s Open?
Do you have an intelligent plan in place to get there? You should.
You don’t need a personalized coach to help you create that plan, but if you do it yourself, I suggest at least running over your plan with someone else that you know and trust. Let me know if I can help you in any way.
The final workout of the 2018 CrossFit Games Open is finally here! Annnddddd… it’s a workout that has already been featured twice before in other years. Workout 18.5 is the same as workouts 11.6 and 12.5. As someone who has participated in every single year of this wonderful event, I’ve done this particular WOD four times already!
It’s an ascending ladder of Thrusters (100lbs for men and 65lbs for women) and Chest-to-Bar Pull-Ups, with a 7 minute time cap.
Thursters
This is a weight that I would consider “CrossFit Medium” for most athletes. Sets of 10-15+ should be possible fora lot of people when they’re fresh, however I do not suggest doing that many in a row. As is the case with all workouts like this that increase in volume as fatigue also increases, the strategy is to pace appropriately right out of the starting gate.
There are very few athletes that I would suggest going past the round of 6 or 9 unbroken. Instead, intentionally break reps every 3 to 6 reps, take short rests, and continue on your way. If you watch Rich Froning when he’d do thrusters in a workout, a lot of people commented how he was moving too slow after the workout started. He’d drive up, pause at the top of the lockout for a split second to take a quick breath, then repeat. Nearly 100% of those same people were wrong when he maintained a comfortable pace from start to finish.
Completing the round of 9 reps in under a minute means nothing for how someone completes this workout. Instead, hold a slower and steady pace for five-and-a-half to six minutes, then turning it on at the end. If you’re crushed after minute 3… you’re going to have a bad time.
Control your breathing. Control your lockout. Don’t crash at the bottom of your reps. Make sure the bar doesn’t bounce all over the place when you drop it. The name of the game here is to be steady and consistent. This is not a sprint.
Chest-to-Bar Pull-Ups
My advice for these is very similar to that of the thrusters. Having the physical ability to do large sets when you’re fresh doesn’t mean you should do that here. I’m going to suggest most people complete sets of 3-5 reps at a time from start to finish, with short rest between attempts.
Finding a lower bar which allows for a quick reset of the grip can also lead to conserving energy over the course of seven minutes. Before starting the workout and running out of gas, experiment with timing a few larger sets of pull-ups with longer rests, and comparing them with shorter sets with shorter rest; even if that means quick singles.
Please don’t rip your hands on this workout! Jumping up to a high bar for every set of pull-ups will not only keep your heart rate higher, it will also lead to more fatigue of your grip and shoulders. Breathe. Pace. Take more breaks than you want!
Scaled Version
The thruster weight is lighter and the movement is “easier” for the pull-ups. Please be aware that while this may sound great, it’s even more reason for you to slow down and control your heart rate. I would call this a 75% effort workout to most of my athletes. Find a pace where you can keep it moving, but not red line. If you pace this appropriately, you’ll get really far. If not, you’ll be staring at a bar that isn’t even heavy for you, unable to pick it up because of how tired you are. Pace. Breathe. Keep moving.
Throwback Thursday
Since I’ve been in the Open since year number one, I came across a few throwbacks that I wanted to share with all of you. First, here is a video of my first attempt at 11.6. Please note my technique (especially on rep #3 of the first set of thrusters) and my unbelievably smooth and consistent technique through the entire seven minutes. My advice is to watch this video… and do your best to mimic NONE of it. So funny!! We were just kids, then!
Then, I came across one of my first ever CF Open Games Strategy videos. Why am I not wearing a shirt, you ask? It’s because I had just finished the workout and just got home. What better time to record a strategy video, and then pack for a flight that left in six hours taking you out of town for the weekend. Just another throwback gem from the Smashby Training blog! You’re welcome.
It’s the FINAL WEEK of the 2018 Open! Good luck, have fun, I believe in you!
There are two predictable behavior patterns that CrossFit athletes show every year. The first is the feeling of sheer panic people get in anticipation of the CrossFit Games Open… which usually starts 2-4 weeks before the competition begins. (Oh no, I still don’t have muscle-ups! Better try to learn them in a week, even though I’ve had a year to practice!) The second thing we can expect is a verbal commitment to improve weaknesses that are identified during the Open over the next year. (Next year I WILL have stronger handstand push-ups!) Many athletes end up falling short of their goals, however. They’ll pick something, work on it for a few weeks, get bored, and then stop.
While anyone can watch athletes on Instagram and follow their accessory work, promise to “add in a few reps of pull-ups after every workout” to get stronger, or run five miles per week to not hate cardio as much, there are more effective ways to ensure steady progress.
Over the years, I’ve created individualized programming for dozens of athletes ranging from mobility progressions, to race training blocks for the Concept2 Rower, to “functional bodybuilding” style work that simply increases raw strength. By having someone you trust provide you with an effective training plan, give you the regular feedback necessary to make adjustments in technique, and help keep you accountable week after week, you’ll be positioning yourself in a place where success is much more likely!
Another thing I’ve discussed on this blog (here, for example) is acknowledging that we can only really focus on improving a few things at a time. If your goals for the next year are to get stronger, faster, bigger, leaner, more gymnasty, more flexible, sleep more, become more mentally tough, improve your lung capacity, clean up your diet, collect more neon-colored workout gear, run a faster mile, and grow a killer beard… maybe you should take a step back and prioritize a few of those things to start. (I’ve written about that here, too.) A good coach can help you do that! This fitness thing really is a marathon, not a sprint.
Pick one or two things off of that list at a time to improve, get a plan that works for you, and dedicate yourself to it. After some time, move on and attack the next thing. Rinse. Repeat. But whatever you do, don’t say you’re going to get better at something, spend zero time improving it, and then get mad when Dave Castro programs it next year in the Open. You had an entire year to get better!
How can you put yourself in a place to not let a full year pass without improving on those movements and skills?
ACCOUNTABILITY. That’s how.
Let me know if you’d like to chat about how I might be able to help you! While many gyms have great programming and coaching, in order to accomplish goals that apply to you, specifically, it often takes a more personalized approach. Prioritizing goals, then creating a program (complete with effective periodization, structured training cycles, etc) can be a challenge, but they’re really fun to develop. Let’s get better together!
Here’s last week’s recap and my goals for the upcoming week.
Last week:
Fitness
Week three of the 2018 CrossFit Games Open is over.
For workout 18.3, I retested and only got a single rep more when I completed a double-under at literally the last second! I was pretty bummed, as I was so much farther ahead of my time, but simply collapsed on the second set of overhead squats. My core was shaking, shoulders couldn’t hold up the bar, and I even missed a snatch attempt to finish up my last few reps. The silver lining in this is that I obviously pushed myself to the point of failure in the last few seconds of the workout. That’s a sign that I’m toying with that red line and doing it right. I feel like I should have been able to complete the next set of double-unders, so that’s what I’ll shoot for when they repeat this workout next year. Here’s a video of my first attempt.
This week for 18.4, I finally got a barbell movement that I love… the deadlift! However, it was paired with a movement I do NOT love… the handstand push-up. The GOOD NEWS for me, is that there was a new standard introduced for the HSPU, which meant that the playing field was leveled for a lot of athletes. As I coach to all of my classes, most people (yeah, most) don’t actually reach full ROM on their reps based on what a rep “should” look like to me. So, by requiring feet to go above the line, lots of athletes were forced to slow down and do them properly. My first attempt was alright, but when I got to the handstand walks, my mid-line and shoulder were fried! Probably would have been a good idea to practice handstand walking before the workout, haha. I am happy with my score, but if I feel recovered enough my Monday afternoon, I’ll likely give it another go. Here’s attempt number one.
Last Saturday, my dad reached out to see if I was free this coming weekend. When I said yes, we were able to find me a flight to go out and hang out with him and my brother in Tuscon, Arizona! We had an amazing time, watched a lot of baseball, and even got to play catch and hit some balls together. While I didn’t get a lot of sleep, it felt so good to spend time with them!
Stupid Human Trick of the Week goes to my first attempt at a “Pool Jump” in years. It took four or five tries, but the one I decided to record ended up being the best one! Check it out!
This week:
I’ve got a long night of travelling back home to Colorado ahead of me, so I’m not quite sure if I’ll feel up to retesting 18.4 tomorrow, but we’ll see.
Once I’m home, I need to make sleep a higher priority for me. Using my “Sleep Cycle” app, I’m going to actually TRACK how many hours I get, and it needs to be better than last week. I’ve never slept “enough” in my adult life, but these last few weeks have been abnormally bad for me. I tell every athlete I coach that nutrition and rest are MORE important for your body than the time you spend in the gym. If I can set more of an example of getting more rest, I think it will help athletes trust me even more. I’m going to try to lead by example a bit more here.
Alright, your turn. What’s going on with all of you?
The pic of the week comes from my trip to Tuscon, getting a chance to play catch with my baby bro. He’s going to college and will play baseball there next year. The kid is so good, and since I live so far away from him, I don’t get to hang with him that often. Getting in some Long Toss this morning with him felt great! So proud of him!
Some people prefer heavy barbells in workouts and others prefer more gymnastics style movements. Workout 18.4 has BOTH of those things!
Men’s Rx Workout
Women’s Rx Workout
The workout begins with the CrossFit Benchmark “Diane,” which is 21-15-9 of deadlifts (225/155) and handstand push-ups. Then, it gets turned up to “11” and the deadlifts go to 315/205, while the handstand push-ups turn into handstand walks (50 feet each round).
The main thing to note, is that since there is a tie break after EACH set of deadlifts, athletes should have a clue about where they hope to end, and base the entire workout on getting there as quickly and safely as possible.
Deadlifts
A 225lb. deadlift isn’t that heavy for a lot of male athletes, and a 155lb deadlift isn’t that heavy for a lot of women, but Diane isn’t the primary focus of this workout. Going unbroken because “you can” is not a good idea. Please be sure to keep your chest up and pace yourself during these reps. The handstand push-ups will take a lot longer than usual for most people, so utilizing an alternating grip and trying to relax your arms as much as you can while keeping the bar close will save your shoulders a bit.
I’d recommend most athletes break up the deadlifts into at least 3 sets with short rests for the first half of the workout. If and when you make it to the second half, it’ll need to be a judgement call for how to go about the heavier deads. If you can safely brace and go through quick singles, that might make more sense than trying to hang on for larger sets, but needing to take longer rests.
Handstand Push-Ups
Souls are going to get crushed here today. Assuming judging is done properly, thousands of athletes are going to no-repped for not hitting the movement standards. I recommend having someone video a few of your reps before the workout starts. Play around with staying locked out on the wall and flexing and extending your ankles, seeing how that places your feet in relation to the line, and making sure you know what a “good rep” feels like. Once you get tired, it’s going to be a lot more challenging to get all the way up and over. It’ll almost be a “scap push-up” at the top of the rep for most athletes.
When considering pacing, the only thing athletes should be thinking about is not to burn out.For “regular” Diane, people will often get through the round of 21 in only a few sets, struggle through the round of 15, and then completely crash and burn on that final round of 9 reps. Take that feeling and multiply it by 100 for the feeling most people will likely have here. Small sets, listen to your judge to minimize no-reps, and don’t get frustrated! It’s better to take long rests between good attempts, than to keep getting no-repped over and over again.
Handstand Walks
If you make it to this part of the workout, congrats! That’s going to be a huge accomplishment for this workout. Shoulders will likely be pretty tired, so as long as the main focus is keeping your arms straight, locked out, and strong, athletes with handstand walks should at least be able to make the 5ft increments without too much difficulty. I don’t think it’s necessary to do all 25ft in a row if the likelihood of falling is high. Walk a bit, drop if you need to, shake out those arms, and get back up.
Scaled Version
The weight is lighter (135/95 for the first part, and 185/135 for the second) and the movements are less advanced. But that does not mean the workout is easy! Hand-release push-ups are the second movement in the first half, and bear crawls were introduced in the Open for the second part.
The name of the game for the Scaled version is to just keep moving! On the set of 21 deadlifts, quick sets of 7 should work for a lot of athletes. Remember, just because you can go unbroken on the set of 21, doesn’t mean you should. The weight gets quite a bit heavier for the second time through and you don’t want to blow up your lower back!
The short rest on the ground for hand-release push-ups should allow athletes to keep moving a little faster through those reps. Since the bear crawls will be less stress on the shoulders for the second half of the workout, I would recommend pushing a little bit faster than you might want to on the hand-release reps.
While only a few athletes will likely finish the Rx’d version of this workout, there will be a lot more who make it through the Scaled version. That means instead of viewing this as a “get as far as you can” workout, you should approach it with a “what’s the best way to pace this entire workout” mentality. Smaller sets, short rest, will be the way to control heart rate and relieve your lower back from being under tension for too long.
Just remember that this is supposed to be fun! Put a smile on your face, keep your core tight and chest up, and get after it. Only one more week to go!
Here’s last week’s recap and my goals for the upcoming week.
Last week:
Fitness
Week two of the 2018 CrossFit Games Open is over.
For workout 18.2, I retested and went over one minute faster than my first go-round, and hit the same weight on my clean. I worried that I wouldn’t hit the last rep, so really glad I did.
This week for 18.3, I’m actually pretty happy with how it went. I only had one round where I fumbled with my double-unders, and hit everything else pretty much according to plan. The only thing I would improve if I decide to retest tomorrow would be to consider hitting muscle-ups in 3 sets instead of 4. The risk there is if I’m more out of breath, the double-unders might suffer more… and this is definitely a double-under workout. We’ll see what I decide.
Friday hit and I was absolutely crushed. My body and brain had a long week, so when wifey told me we were staying in (even though I argued) I ended up getting in bed at 9:00. Yep, you read that right. I went to sleep at nine o’clock on Friday night. Needless to say, it felt good to get more than 8 hours of sleep for the first time in a long time… even though my body naturally woke up at 4:30 thinking I was late to coach somewhere!
Last week I was proud to announce that drywall in the garage was done! Yesterday, the pegboard in the garage was finished, too. A project that took MONTHS to make the time to complete is finally done! All it took was a full weekend in the 60’s and nothing but sunshine. Proud of this one!
This week:
I plan to record my strategy video for the fourth workout of the 2018 CrossFit Games Open. People are still responding well to them!
Last week, amidst all of the stress of life, I didn’t eat quite as much as I should have. After running to Costco this morning, I have no excuses to not prep and have meals with me this week to fuel my body. A concept that a lot of people can’t fathom is that for most of us, eating MORE (predominantly healthy things, of course) will help you lose weight, burn fat, have energy, etc. I’ve known so many people who will INTENTIONALLY not eat when they’re trying to lose weight or perform better, then wonder why they don’t get the results they’re looking for out of it. Give your body fuel and it will thank you! (I just need to make meals that are more conducive to eating on the go, and don’t require a fridge or microwave.)
I’ve been (kind of secretly) wanting to get into DJing for the last….. 20 years of my life. However, the cards have never all fallen into place at the same time for this to happen. Last week, I finally upgraded my computer, so the gates have been opened to allow me to play a little bit. After a few more days of software downloads, cable and speaker connection work, and carving out a bit of free time, I might finally be able to start a hobby that includes one of my first passions (music) and does not include the need to practice scales for hours per day (yet, at least). No, this does not help my already-struggling prioritization of reading more this year…. but we make time for what’s important to us though, right?!
Alright, your turn. What’s going on with all of you?
The pic of the week comes from my Thursday morning. As most of you know, I do NOT love waking up at 4-something in the morning 4 days per week. However, the line of work I’ve chosen calls for it, and the people I get to see at then are RAD. At least the sunrise that morning, coincidentally on the first day we’ve been able to run outside in what feels like months, was incredible. I hope you all have a great week!
Here’s last week’s recap and my goals for the upcoming week.
Last week:
Fitness
The 2018 CrossFit Games Open is under way, so that means the next few weeks of training won’t be too productive. Unless my soul gets absolutely crushed, I’ll likely redo most of the workouts. It’s not because I think I’m going to Regionals, but because it’s always fun for me to see if I can beat my first score.
For workout 18.1, I retested and got 22 more reps the second time, so that was fun.
This week, I paced the first part of 18.2 too much, and got buried under the clean. I’m fairly confident I can go faster on 18.2, but literally don’t think my legs are strong enough to stand up with any more weight. Let’s just hope I don’t go faster on the first, and then crash and burn on the clean. I know quite a few people who had that happen!
Drywall in the garage is done! It only took 6 hours on Sunday, but we did it!
This week:
I plan to record my strategy video for the third workout of the 2018 CrossFit Games Open. People are still responding well to them, so yay!
This coming weekend, it would be great to start mounting the pegboard in the garage.
Alright, your turn. What’s going on with all of you?
The pic of the week comes from a little walk we took on Saturday. It may just look like a sunset over mall parking lot, but it’s more than that. In this moment, Em and I were having an incredible conversation about work, family, and life. The older I get, the more I cherish moments like these. I hope you all had a great weekend, too!
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