Posts Tagged ‘The Open’

Smashby’s CF Games Open Strategy – WOD 23.1

Posted: February 16, 2023 in CrossFit, Training
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The first week of the 2023 CrossFit Games Open is here! Let’s get this party started for yet another year and have some fun along the way. (As an added bonus for all of you, I’m sharing my strategy video from 2014 at the VERY bottom of this post! What I love most about it is that in TEN YEARS, my advice remains really similar!)

As with nearly every workout I’ve ever provided advice for, your number one goal should be to control your heart rate and pace yourself. It will be really easy for athletes to look at this workout and think, “Rowing is the easiest movement here so I’m going to go fast as I can so I have more time to do the other things!” Simply put, redlining any one part of this workout will lead to *most* athletes “having a bad time” through the rest of 14 minutes.

For the Row, find a sustainable pace that you can finish and quickly get started on your Toes-to-Bar. I think a great “pace estimate” for fairly strong male rowers could be to aim for ~around~ 20 Calories per minute. If women are able to hold ~15 per minute, that means nearly all athletes should hope to be off of the rower between 3-4 minutes.

I advise breaking Toes-to-Bar sets into repeatable reps to chip away at the FIFTY required reps. If you can repeat sets of 3-5 reps without fatiguing too much, stay on pace and go. Some athletes will try to break these into singles at least at the end of the set. My only suggestion there is to use a slightly lower bar that still allows you to kick your heels behind the plane of the bar and still get full range of motion but NOT one that is so tall that it becomes exhausting to jump up to it every time or too time-consuming to get repositioned under the bar for the next attempt.

While many athletes could probably knock out 40 Wall Balls in a row when fresh, I’m going to strongly discourage most of you from going that route. Instead, decide if you want to break these into four sets (try 13/11/9/7) or three sets (maybe 16/14/10), never redline your heart rate, take quick breaks between sets, all while keeping it moving and keeping your heart rate lower. This is where I think some athletes can pull it together a bit more before heading over to their barbell.

On Cleans, a lot of athletes will likely go for singles out the gate. While that is certainly one way to conserve energy, when done INEFFICIENTLY it can actually end up adding MORE time and stress to your set of 30 reps. The “careless” launching of the bar off of your shoulders as you stand will lead to it bouncing all over the place. Instead, (1) get set every single time with long arms, a tall chest, and a flat back, (2) drive up with your legs and then pull under the bar with those straight arms, (3) stand all the way up at the top, and then (4) drop the bar back to the ground with intention so it lands balanced and reduces the amount of chasing you need to do. By this point of the workout it won’t be feeling like a sprint for too many athletes. Being methodical and deliberate will allow you to keep moving and waste less energy.

If you make it to the Muscle-Ups, congrats! My number one piece of advice for this part of the workouts is to NOT MISS A REP. You’re probably going to be tired when you get here. If trying to link reps together under fatigue is going to cause a ton of missed reps, that can be really demoralizing. Instead, keep that hollow position tight, use a BIG hip drive on every single kip, and be sure to keep those rings CLOSE to your body as you dive through to the receiving position. If you make it this far, you’re most likely strong enough to dip yourself out of that transition position. Let yourself get there instead of trying to catch yourself halfway out of your press-out. Quick singles here will conserve grip, allow you to keep your heart rate under control, and not require as much time under tension between reps. You’ve got this.

My strategy video is below and I hope it helps some of you! Thank you all for tuning in for another year of these videos!

As always: Good Luck, Have Fun, I Believe In You!

Please let me know if this helps and I’ll see you back here next week!

And for the added bonus video, here’s a much younger (and more fit!) me giving advice on how to approach this one back when it was originally released back in 2014! We were just kids!!

Smashby’s CF Games Open Strategy – WOD 22.3

Posted: March 10, 2022 in CrossFit, Training
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The final week of the 2022 CrossFit Games Open is here! Check it out below and close out this Open season with a bang!

What better way to close out this year’s competition than by performing a version of one of CrossFit’s most notable workouts, Fran? Oh, but they decided to make it heavier, more advanced, add reps, AND add an extra movement to make it EVEN MORE fun!

Advice on pacing and strategy for this workout will differ significantly depending on where athletes find themselves with their Gymnastics/Pull-Up proficiency. That said, advice for Double-Unders and Thrusters is pretty consistent across all divisions. (If you’re a top-tier athlete, you just need to go. It’s as simple as that.) If you’re in the majority of those completing this workout, your primary goal should be to break up your sets of Pull-Ups and Thrusters BEFORE fatigue sets in too much. Think QUICK RESTS from start to finish in order to keep moving! As the exercises on the rig increase in difficulty as exhaustion becomes more of an issue, prioritize not missing a rep. That could mean dropping off of the rig a few reps before failure or letting go of the barbell a few reps earlier than you’d like. If an earlier break leads to less time between efforts or sets, you’ll save time and energy in the long run. This workout won’t just challenge grip, the high heart rate will impact one’s ability to perform every exercise. Control your heart rate more efficiently and you’ll be more successful with this one!

My strategy video is below and I hope it helps some of you! Thank you all for tuning in for another year of these videos!

As always: Good Luck, Have Fun, I Believe In You!

Can’t wait to be back with all of you again next year!

Smashby’s CF Games Open Strategy – WOD 21.2

Posted: March 18, 2021 in CrossFit, Media, Training
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It’s week 2 of 3 of the 2021 CrossFit Games Open, and we’ve got a repeat workout. Since I already wrote a blog post and recorded a video for this back in 2017, I’m not going to reinvent the wheel. Four years later, my advice is basically exactly the same:

Don’t crash and burn on the burpees and realize that this workout really starts after the round of 30 Snatches. If you’re engine is there, THAT’S when you’ll get your chance to shine.

Click here to go to the original post I made for workout 17.1! And here’s the video that went with it:

Here’s a few extra tips on what to do in order to increase your likelihood of doing better on this workout:

  • Thoroughly warm up your lower back, and keep your chest up throughout the Snatches. It’s going to be easy to drop your chest and use your back on them, resist the urge. Hinge at the hips, load those hammies, and the squeeze your glutes to stand! Capitalize on the efficiency of that movement!
  • Improve DB transition from one hand to the other. The less you need to think about that movement, the more you’ll be able to stay in control.
  • Practice timing of steps/jumps for Burpee Box Jump-Overs. If you’re trying to conserve energy, consider stepping back and stepping up. Learn how to approach the box to be in a safe position to jump onto the box.
  • Don’t rush. On either movement. If you’re in too much of a rush to lockout your arm or stand all the way up, your Snatches won’t count. If you flop down onto the ground out of position, you’ll need to re-do the burpee. Be deliberate throughout the workout and waste NO reps.
  • LIFT YOUR KNEES. As fatigue sets in, many athletes will get lazy and not prioritize getting their entire foot onto the box. Honestly, I feel like not missing a single Box Jump-Over is the biggest win of all in this one! It’s not fun to bust your leg open and it doesn’t feel cool to have a scar on your shin for the rest of your life. Trust me, I’m speaking from experience!

Was this post helpful for you? Let me know, please!

As you approach this workout, remember me saying:

Good luck, have fun, I believe in you!

-Tom

Smashby’s CF Games Open Strategy – WOD 20.5

Posted: November 8, 2019 in CrossFit, Training
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Friends,

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.

20point5

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!

And I hope to see you soon!

Smashby’s CF Games Open Strategy – WOD 20.2

Posted: October 17, 2019 in CrossFit, Training
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Since my video this week is 13 minutes long, I’m going to keep the writing in this post short.

Workout 20.2 is:

20 Minute AMRAP

4 Dumbbell Thrusters

6 Toes to Bar

24 Double-Unders

Here’s the basic gist of my advice-

Find a pace for each of the three movements you can maintain at a “forever” pace. If you come out too hot, the last half/quarter of the workout is going to be spent trying to keep it together.

  1. Transitions – Keep your gear as close together, and as neatly organized as possible the entire time. Don’t waste 1-10 seconds per round trying to pull your dumbbells back together or untwisting your jump rope.
  2. Break before you fatigue – If you know you’re going to be wrecked trying to hit 24 DUs in a row, break it up on purpose, take a breath, then continue.
  3. Find a sustainable pace – If you get 3+ more rounds in the first half of this workout than you do in the second half, I think you went out too hot. I’d rather you find a pace that allows you to feel STRONG at the halfway point and THEN turn it on.

Final question I get asked a lot-

Should I “Rx” or “Scale” this workout?

If you care about your “Open Ranking” AND you have the ability to physically perform even ONE rep of each of the movements, I think you should go Rx’d. Remember, if you complete ONE REP at the Rx’d weight, you’ll rank above every single person in the world who completes this workout scaled. That means if it takes you 20 minutes to do 3 reps of double dumbbell thrusters at Rx’d weight, but you can do it, I think it’s worth it to get a score of “3” Rx’d!

However, if your goal is to get a good workout in and sweat for 20 minutes, Scaled is 100% the way to go! Find weights and modifications that will allow you to keep moving, and remember that the best of the best in the world will get close to (or more than) THIRTY rounds of this workout completed.

I don’t know about you, but the last time I completed 1,000+ reps of ANYTHING in 20 minutes was….. probably never. When scaled appropriately, this will be a sneakily effective workout, regardless of the modifications used.

Hey, have fun out there, folks!
At the end of the day, it’s only fitness.

Get out there, be safe, and have some fun!

Smashby’s CF Games Open Strategy – WOD 19.5

Posted: March 21, 2019 in CrossFit, Training
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Thrusters and Chest-to-Bar Pull-Ups for 19.5. A lot of us knew they were going to show up, but I don’t know anyone who predicted a workout this brutal! It’s more reps than Double-Fran, and is more challenging because of the chest-to-bars. Ouch!

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My three main pieces of advice for this one are as follow:

  1. Planned Sets. This applies more to the Thrusters than the Pull-Ups. One way to do this (if you are proficient with the Thruster weight), could be to break down your Thrusters into three sets each round. Meaning, for the round of 33, complete three sets of 11 reps. Or, if you’re like me and don’t like needing to repeat the same number of reps more than once, go 13/11/9. Then, for the set of 27 reps, go 11/9/7, and so on.
  2. Control. Controlling your hear rate will be critical, especially with the Thrusters. Coming out of the gate too hot will lead to a ton of standing around by the time you’re halfway through this workout. On pull-ups, know yourself and your abilities before this workout begins. Completing a couple of huge sets at the beginning will lead to most people frying their grip early on. This is going to be a longer workout. Be smart, conserve your energy, and complete steady sets from the start. It’ll be much better to save a little energy for the end of the workout than to crushed for the last two rounds!
  3. Double Fran Plus! The workout Fran is 21-15-9 Thrusters and Pull-Ups. This is more than double that volume. And with Chest-to-Bars! I say that again because I think you need to remember that from the very beginning of this workout! Break up your sets often and early, just minimize your rest between them. Keep yourself moving.

If you watch my video for the week, as always, please let me know what you think and if it helped you at all.

This is the final week of the 2019 CrossFit Games Open! Let me know how it goes for you!

Smashby’s CF Open Games Strategy – WOD 19.4

Posted: March 14, 2019 in CrossFit, Training
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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!

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My three main pieces of advice for this one are as follow:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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!

Smashby’s CF Games Open Strategy – WOD 19.3

Posted: March 8, 2019 in CrossFit, Training
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There are going to be a lot of tired shoulders after 19.3 is said and done. Here’s the workout!

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My three main pieces of advice for this one are as follow:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.

Good luck out there, friends!

Drive Time with Smashby: CF Games Workout 19.1

Posted: February 25, 2019 in CrossFit, Training
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Does workout 19.1 favor tall athletes?

Sure.

Do you know who it favors more than tall people, though?

Fit people.

It’s only workout one of five. There are still four more to go!

To people who consider themselves “short”… build that tiny little bridge for our tiny little legs, and get over it. You’ll be “graced” with Thrusters (a traditionally non-tall-person friendly movement) before you know it.

(Then you’ll probably complain that Thrusters were programmed, too! No? That’s just me that’ll complain? Ok, cool.)

Tall people… enjoy your 15 minutes of CF Games Open movement selection glory! I bet Burpees and Air Squats will be here soon! (Short people, rejoice!)

Now, get back out there and have some fun!

Smashby’s CF Games Open Strategy – WOD 19.1

Posted: February 21, 2019 in CrossFit, Training
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The 2019 CrossFit Games Open is here, and workout 19.1 was released a few hours ago!

The workout is fairly straightforward, too. It’s a 15 Minute AMRAP or 19 Wall Ball Shots and 19 Calories on the Rower.

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In my strategy video for this one I tried to keep it simple, and my three main pieces of advice are as follows:

  1. PACE – Keep your heart rate low and your breath as controlled as possible. Your bodies are going to want to “Fight or Flight” fast if you come sprinting out of the gates.
  2. Transitions – There will be a lot of up and down in this workout. For the Wall Balls, keep the ball as close to the wall as you can when you finish each set, and try your best not to let it drop to the ground if you need a break mid set. On the Rower, keep that wheel spinning at an even pace, and make the transition from sitting down on the machine to getting back up is as smooth as possible.
  3. Movement Efficiency – It doesn’t matter how fast or slow you’re moving, if you’re wasting a ton of energy as you do it. Finding subtle ways to row or “throw” a bit more productively could lead to conserving enough energy to give a solid push for the last few minutes. When it comes to these movements, less wasted effort equals more reps!

If you watch the video below, I’d love to know what you think in the comment!

 

The first week of the 2019 CrossFit Games Open is under way, and I’m excited for another year of fun with all of you!

-Tom

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