Workout of the Day
AR Open 18.3: RPM Jump Rope Winner
EVANS AVENUE PARKING REMINDER During Construction on Connecticut Street (click for details).
A big thank you to the good folks at RPM Jump Ropes for giving us a brand new rope to be awarded to our "Open 18.3 Double Unders All Star" athlete. The decision was a tough one since there were many impressive and inspiring 18.3 performances, including several folks who were really determined to slay some double unders even if they had eluded them in the past. We had double under PRs galore, and even some OHS and MU PRs, which gave us a fairly big pool of athletes to consider when determining the winner.
In the end, one athlete in particular stood above the rest, particularly when it came to jumping rope and dubs. We've watched this person go from struggling with double unders early on to being quite the ninja at the movement these days, and last weekend in particular we were delighted to see all the hard work along the way come together and make it happen. He quite literally practiced the movement every week and nearly every day he was in the gym (and still does) -- if the workout doesn't include DUs he puts them in his pre-class warm-up and/or cool down, complete with corresponding ankle mobility and calf/Achilles stretching. He's an example of hard work paying off when attacking things that don't come easy to you at first, and he's turned what was once a weakness into a strength.
So congratulations to Jesse, our RPM Jump Rope Winner!
WOD For 03-14-18:
With a Partner, AMRAP 22 Minutes:
60 Calorie Row (FM pairs = 51 Cal / FF Pairs = 42 Cal)
30 Power Cleans @ 135/95 lbs
60 Calorie Row (FM pairs = 51 Cal / FF Pairs = 42 Cal)
30 Power Cleans 155/105 lbs
60 Calorie Row (FM pairs = 51 Cal / FF Pairs = 42 Cal)
30 Power Cleans @ 185/125 lbs
60 Calorie Row (FM pairs = 51 Cal / FF Pairs = 42 Cal)
MAX REP Power Cleans @ 205/145 lbs
One athlete working at a time. All movements may be shared/partitioned in any fashion by the team, and do NOT have to be split evenly.
Athletes MUST TAG each other in/out for every transition and are responsible for changing the weights on the barbell.
(Compare to 04-01-17)
Knees-to-Elbows
EVANS AVENUE PARKING REMINDER During Construction on Connecticut Street (click for details).
Which movement is harder/easier for you: knees-to-elbows or toes-to-bar?
Believe it or not the answer is different for different people. For me the knees-to-elbows movement is much harder than toes-to-bar... but I know plenty of people for whom the opposite is true. Just remember that before you compare make sure you're actually getting your knees to your elbows (and not to your triceps or armpits)!
We used this same barbell complex format on Friday for cleans, so now it's time for (power) snatches...
WOD For 03-13-18:
Power Snatch + 2 Hang Power Snatches:
5 Sets of (1+2)
-then-
A) AMRAP 5 Minutes:
10 Hang Power Snatches @ 95/65 lbs
10 Knees-to-Elboes
... REST 5 MINUTES, THEN...
B) AMRAP 5 Minutes:
15 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
15 Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 10/9 ft
Open 18.3 Scores Due By 5pm Monday
EVANS AVENUE PARKING REMINDER During Construction (click for details).
Reminder to SUBMIT YOUR 18.3 score to the CrossFit Games website by Monday at 5pm. We cannot submit your score for you so if you're reading this just do it now so you don't forget!
This was supposed to be a "super hero" group pose in honor of those who sacrificed their sanity counting double unders for hours on end. Some heroes don't wear capes, people. They wear jump rope lashings.
If you've been paying attention then you knew back squat eights were on tap for Monday. We'll also use a similar met-con format as the one we used on Friday, but with a very different movement combo. Will Castro announce dumbbell thrusters in two weeks for 18.5??!! It's certainly a possibility...
WOD For 03-12-18:
Back Squat:
15 Minutes To Establish a Heavy Set of Eight, then...
Two Drop Sets:
1x8 @ 85% of your top set
1x8 @ 80% of your top set
-then-
Against a 9-Minute Clock for MAX REPS:
500m Row OR Ski
5 Rounds of "CINDY"
MAX REPS Dumbbell Thrusters @ 50/35 lbs (per side)
1 Round of "CINDY" is:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Air Squats
(Compare to 03-21-17)
18.3 Thoughts & Strategy
EVANS AVENUE PARKING REMINDER During Construction (click for details).
Open Athletes - if you haven't already, please watch the 18.3 standards video below (which briefly covers only Rx standards), and read the full workout details here on the CrossFit Games website. This will ensure that everyone is on the same page with movement standards and expectations (both Rx and scaled) prior to every athlete and judge starting their workout/heat. In particular, everyone should be familiar with how to accurately judge/count double unders - here's the gist of it: COUNT EVERY TIME THE ATHLETE'S FEET HIT THE GROUND UNTIL THEY MISS. THEN WRITE DOWN WHERE THEY ARE ON THE PAPER SO YOU DON'T LOSE TRACK. Don't even watch their hands. Easy. Also, record the "tiebreak time" which is what the clock says every time they finish a set of 100 DUs.
As we've covered previously in this post here, we'll be running the Open Workout ("18.3") during rolling heats in all of our Saturday morning classes. If you haven't already please sign-up for class in advance and plan on doing the workout AND judging another athlete while in the gym (no, you do not have to be a certified judge who has taken the judges course).
For those new to Arena Ready please note that these Saturday morning classes will be very different from our usual protocol. The warm-up will be self-directed and written on the board in AR North for you to follow. Please plan on showing up 10-15 minutes early for class if possible, so that you can sign-up for a heat time when you arrive and get yourself situated for warming-up.
If you're not officially entered in the Open then ask a coach on site to help you decide on a reasonable scaling for the workout if needed -- based on availability & logistics we may assign you to a particular station to give priority to the athletes who are officially registered.
Let's break this one down a little and get you thinking about how best to approach the workout given your current capacity...
WOD & Movement Prep
You want to get some aerobic work in so the workout is not a shock to the body, but no need to "do the workout before doing the workout." Make sure your feet/calves/Achilles are primed and ready for the volume of jumping, and warm-up your shoulders thoroughly for the OHS/MU/DBSn.
This is not the time to make up for lost technique or skill work (particularly for double unders), lest you end up adding hundreds of jumps before you even start the workout. Your calves, feet, shins, and Achilles can only take so much in one day, friends! This is obviously a lot of double unders so prepare for the impact as best you can (and for those prone to lower extremity issues you may want to set your own "personal volume cap" as a responsible way to keep yourself out of the zone of "crap, I should've been smarter and stopped before I aggravated my connective tissue issues").
Double Unders
This workout is primarily about DUs for many levels of competitors, from beginner to fairly advanced. For those still tying to master the DU this is 14 minutes of "get as far as you can" -- and assuming you can overhead squat 115/80 lbs safely you'll have an opportunity to possibly try another set of 100 DUs (or as many of that second set as you can before time is called). If you cannot OHS 115/80 then this is "get to 100 DUs as fast as possible in order to have the best possible tiebreak time." For those who will be limited with movement proficiencies (whether it be with DUs or any of the other movements) our coaches can help with recommending how best to proceed in order to both maximize your official score and give you an opportunity to progress through the workout (unofficially, of course) if you're stalled at any point.
If you're good at DUs and can do all of the other movements fairly well (or even most of them) then this is about picking a pace and rep scheme to break up the DUs into sub-maximal pieces. That is key -- do everything in sub-maximal sets for as long as you can (this applies to the DUs especially, but also to the other 4 movements). If you have the ability to do 100 DUs unbroken several times then great, but if that leaves you increasingly gassed each time and unable to progress through the OHS/MU/DBSn in a smooth and steady fashion then the time "saved" going unbroken on the DUs is not saved at all, and actually quite the opposite (unless you're near the end of the time cap and trying to accumulate reps OR aiming to hit a faster tiebreak time before a movement you know for sure you will struggle on and possibly get stalled). Think of it this way: you can accomplish a lot more work after a smooth & steady 1:20 spent doing 40-30-30 DUs (or even 30-30-20-20) than you can after 0:55 spent going 100 unbroken. So while it feels silly early on to break intentionally, you're actually banking time by limiting your rest on all the other movements... and the next several sets of DUs.
Now if you're good at DUs but know you'll hit a stall on one of the other movements then it may be worth it to race through the DU sets to get better tiebreak times, knowing your "built-in" rest will come during your focused attempts to move through the OHS/MU.
Overhead Squat
The big gap between the Rx and Scaled loadings from CrossFit HQ make this movement fairly easy to decide on for those who might otherwise be on the Rx/Scaled fence in this workout. Can you safely OHS 115/80? If yes, then (obviously) go Rx -- if the weight is easy for you then the set should be 20 unbroken, if it's so-so for you then aim for 2-3 sets (I like descending sets like 12-8 or 10-6-4), and if it's heavy for you (but you can do it) then break it up as much as you need to (including doubles or even all singles with a power snatch or clean to overhead each time).
For all levels my main reminder is not to waste any reps -- get all the way below parallel and stand all the way up at the top. You've all squatted so many times at AR that you know what full range-of-motion feels like, and I won't be shy about no-repping folks (and will tell judges the same). We do you no favors if we give you reps that shouldn't count, and intention does not equal accomplishment -- squat all the way down because I know you can, and because that's the standard. No one, including athletes at the very highest level, should be rushing the OHS (it's 20 reps in a hundreds-plus rep workout) -- take your time, stay solid and stable, and move with full range-of-motion.
Ring Muscle-ups
Good at MU and fit enough to get to the rings? Then (shocker) sub-maximal sets that keep you moving is the way to go. Remember that (as an example) a calm 4-3-3-2 is ALWAYS faster than 7 unbroken and then 2-1-1-1 while looking like you're going explode. Remember that fact when you still feel good after the first few reps and you think (incorrectly) that you should "just keep going for a really big unbroken set" to start.
Alternatively if you can do MU but you're not great at them, then set yourself up in the best situation to maximize your reps -- for many this will be 12 singles, or maybe a double or two followed by singles. On Thursday night Brianne did all singles and finished the 12 Ring MUs with enough time to be back on the DUs and racking-up easy reps. It was the most MUs she had ever done in one day by far, but her methodical and intelligent approach allowed her to do that -- she never missed a rep, and by not "over-reaching" and possibly flailing for a double here and there she calmly slayed those 12 reps in calculated fashion.
If you're "close" but haven't yet gotten your first ring muscle-up then this may be the day! Please remember that in order to attempt one at Arena Ready you must have the prerequisite strength, mobility, and stability to do so -- or we may veto your request (for your own safety). If you're not sure if you meet the prerequisites then ask us in the gym and we'll help you out -- here's a preview... can you do strict unassisted ring dips and strict unassisted pull-ups? The answer for both should be "yes."
This is the time of year when I usually give my PSA that sounds something like "We have Open Gym Sundays nearly 50 weeks out of the year, and I'm almost always there -- AND some of my favorite movements to teach are ring muscle-ups (and HSPU). Just throwing it out there, friends. I can even provide references from current AR members if you need to verify that it works if you work at it with some guidance."
DB Snatch
You know how to snatch a DB, we do it all the time. If you get here this will feel like the easiest part of the workout, so enjoy it. Set your back and don't drop the DB. Advanced athletes will be tempted to break the set of 20 because you'll be breathing hard -- don't, unless you can keep your one break strictly under 5 seconds. Catch your breath on the next set of DUs by going smooth and steady, and breaking them into SUB-MAXIMAL SETS WHICH YOU'VE BEEN DOING THE ENTIRE TIME.
Bar Muscle-ups
If you can get here then it's likely that you don't need too much of our help, other than maybe some technical considerations and how to break up the reps (uh, sub-maximal sets anyone?). There may be an outlier or two in the gym that are fit enough to get here but for some reason are not yet proficient with Bar MUs. In an effort to not make this already long post any longer I'll point you to this video here and this snippet here which are two of my favorites when it comes to Bar MUs.
Also, see above PSA in the Ring MU section. I also love Bar MU, and especially enjoy teaching them in an environment where we can break things down and take our time. And in Open Gym we can even get all crazy with props, drills, and different set-ups to give you some tools for progress. 2019 starts now, yo.
Closing Remarks (Since I Said I Would Keep Re-Posting Them)
Be smart and move well. You know what that means, I don't have to explain that one to you. The weights (and jump ropes LOLOLOLOL) will be here tomorrow... will you be?
Cheer for your fellow athletes, and be a good judge. We do things the right way at Arena Ready -- with integrity and to the standards of the competition. Our movement is clean, our technique is admirable, our effort is 100%, and our members know the difference between intent and accomplishment (e.g. giving your fellow athlete a respectful but deserved no-rep when they're working their ass off but simply didn't accomplish a valid rep). The spirit of the Open is amazing - there's nothing like the energy and positive family vibe of these 5 weeks. Many of your buddies will do things they never thought possible, some will fall short of what they wanted and be frustrated for a bit, and others will have experiences on both sides. But in the end this is our community, and our AR family, and we support each other in success and in failure... knowing that we're all just trying to get better every day.
GO TIME!
WOD For 03-10-18:
"Open 18.3"
2 Rounds For Time (14 Minute Cap):
100 Double Unders
20 Overhead Squats @ 115/80 lbs
100 Double Unders
12 Ring Muscle-ups
100 Double Unders
20 Dumbbell Snatches @ 50/35 lbs
100 Double Unders
12 Bar Muscle-ups
Click here for the scaled workout movements and loading.
Open 18.3 Announced!
Open workout "18.3" was released on Thursday evening, and the double under and muscle-up predictions were right... but I'm not sure anyone saw this many DUs coming! If you're going to be completing the workout this weekend at Arena Ready (either during the fun craziness of our Open Heats during all Saturday classes, or during Sunday Open Gym) then please start by reviewing the workout details here and watching the standards video below (which covers only the Rx workout, and not the scaled version) - thanks!
WOD For 03-09-18:
Power Clean + 2 Hang Power Cleans:
5 Sets of (1+2)
-then-
Against a 10-Minute Clock:
BUY-IN: 600m Run, Row, or Ski
... then, in the remaining time AMRAP of...
15 Deadlifts @ 155/105 lbs
12 Hang Power Cleans
9 Lateral Bar Burpees
Open 18.3: Any Guesses?
Some have mentioned wall balls, double unders, and possibly a muscle-up variation? Every year there's been a repeat workout, so will week three be the repeat week in 2018 (and if so, a repeat of which workout)?
Come to the gym at 5pm on Thursday evening to find out! Join us to watch the live announcement of 18.3, and then watch the stream of our old pal Neal Maddox taking on Kyle Kasperbauer immediately thereafter in an 18.3 throwdown live from Houston, TX.
If you're traveling this weekend and you need to do 18.3 on Thursday evening our 7pm "The OPEN" class is the time to get it done -- so sign-up in advance if this means you!
WOD For 03-08-18:
"The Bell Baseline"
On a Running Clock...
A) At 0:00 For Time:
500m Row OR Ski
40 Russian KB Swings @ 70/53 lbs
30 Box Jumps @ 24/20 in
20 Toes-to-Bar
10 KB Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
B) At 12:00 For Time:
REPEAT!
Jenny Captures Open 18.2
Check out the energy and emotion of 18.2 at Arena Ready courtesy of the amazingly talented Jenny (oh happy dawn photography): click here for the full gallery.
Thank you, as always, Jenny for capturing the spirit of our people!
WOD For 03-07-18:
With a Partner For Time:
BUY-IN: 1000m RUN (TOGETHER)
... then...
50 Curtis P Complexes @ 95/65 lbs (SPLIT)
***4 Burpees at the Top of Every Minute (TOGETHER)***
... then...
BUY-OUT: 1000m ROW (SPLIT)
1 Curtis P Complex = Power Clean + Lunge (Right) + Lunge (Left) + Push Press
Partners must run the buy-in together (i.e. both partners will complete a 1000m run). The Curtis P Complexes cannot start until both partners have completed the run.
The 50 Curtis P Complex reps are split, and can be shared/partitioned between partners in any fashion. While inside the gym 4 burpees must be completed by both partners at the top of every minute until the 50th Curtis P Complex is complete.
The buy-out row is split with only one person working at a time.
Evans Avenue Parking
As construction up the hill puts the squeeze on parking we wanted to post another reminder to utilize Evans Avenue (just off of Cesar Chavez) for parking when the bottom of Connecticut Street near the gym is full. Don't drive up the hill to park.
Evans Avenue parking is especially useful during the 7am, 12pm, and 4pm classes when parking immediately next to the gym can sometimes get full (particularly on Wednesdays during street cleaning). As you would anywhere in the city, be sure not to leave any valuables in the car or any items visible from the outside.
I get it... it "feels" like going over to Evans is driving farther away from the gym for some reason - but it's not. It puts you just 1,000 feet or so away from the gym (through two crosswalks), and there's almost always plenty of free parking available - check out a visual orientation by clicking here:
The blue dot is Arena Ready... the red pin is where you should park instead of driving up the hill on Connecticut Street. See, not so far - in fact, I think the 3 minute walking estimate is only accurate if you have to wait at both crosswalks.
If you came in for Monday's WOD then your legs probably feel better post-18.2 than they would have otherwise, so good on ya. On that note, here come our 8s on a one-day delay... who ever said I'm not sympathetic?
WOD For 03-06-18:
Back Squat:
15 Minutes To Establish a Heavy Set of Eight, then...
Two Drop Sets:
1x8 @ 85% of your top set
1x8 @ 80% of your top set
-then-
EMOM For 10 Minutes:
25 Double Unders
1 Hang Snatch
Pick a load to use across all 10 rounds OR start with a working weight and aim to make SMALL jumps in weight every round (or every other round). Power and full/squat snatches are both allowed. The goal is 10 consecutive makes with no misses.
18.2/18.2A Scores Due by 5pm Monday
Reminder to SUBMIT YOUR 18.2/18.2A score to the CrossFit Games website by Monday at 5pm. We cannot submit your score for you so if you're reading this just do it now so you don't forget!
A part of the crew from Saturday's Open 18.2 extravaganza!
In light of 18.2 we'll push our Monday back squat 8s back (pun intended) a little this week, and hit the other side of those strong legs instead. After all, every day is leg day when you're running from your problems.
#MondayInspirationByRob
WOD For 03-05-18:
2 Rounds For Time:
800m Run
21 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
15 Strict Handstand Push-ups
9 Deadlifts @ 315/225 lbs
18.2/18.2A Thoughts & Strategy
Open Athletes - if you haven't already, please watch the 18.2 standards video below (which briefly covers only Rx standards), and read the full workout details here on the CrossFit Games website. This will ensure that everyone is on the same page with movement standards and expectations (both Rx and scaled) prior to every athlete and judge starting their workout/heat. In particular, everyone should be familiar with the "new" bar facing burpee standard for Rx athletes.
You'll also need to enter your score on the CrossFit Games website before the submission deadline at 5pm on Monday.
Hey, lookie there! We have a 1-to-10 met-con with loaded squats and burpees FOLLOWED by a heavy lift... sound familiar to any of you? Well it should because you've done many workouts in this basic format -- not this exact WOD per se, but you've trained and felt this stimulus at least several times previously if you've been at Arena Ready for any length of time. So have some fun, go hard, be smart, and support each other!
As we've covered previously in this post here, we'll be running the Open Workout ("18.2/18.2A") during rolling heats in all of our Saturday morning classes. If you haven't already please sign-up for class in advance and plan on doing the workout AND judging another athlete while in the gym (no, you do not have to be a certified judge who has taken the judges course... that is only required if you're judging an aspiring Regionals or Masters Qualifier athlete).
For those new to Arena Ready please note that these Saturday morning classes will be very different from our usual protocol. The warm-up will be self-directed and written on the board in AR North for you to follow. Please plan on showing up 10-15 minutes early for class if possible, so that you can sign-up for a heat time when you arrive and get yourself situated for warming-up. If you tend to be particular about your exact heat time, station location, Instagram lighting, and general feng shui of your workout then show-up early to sign-up for a preferred heat & station -- being late to the game AND picky about your situation is not the jam.
If you're not officially entered in the Open then ask a coach on site to help you decide on a reasonable dumbbell weight for scaling the workout appropriately -- it doesn't necessarily need to be one of the exact weights listed by CrossFit HQ for the Open, and based on availability & logistics we may assign you to an approximate weight to give priority to the athletes who are officially registered (and who, thus, will be voting on the tap for the new gym).
Let's break this one down a little and get you thinking about how best to approach the workout given your current capacity...
1-to-10 Couplet: Pacing and General Thoughts
I feel like at Arena Ready I don't have to remind you of this given all the smarties in the room, but I will anyway: WHEN YOU'RE FINISHED WITH THE ROUND OF 7 YOU'RE ONLY HALFWAY DONE. The second half of the workout starts with the round of 8, so when it feels silly to be pacing rounds 1 through 5 a little remember where you are and stick to your plan.
Now what pace should you pick? That depends on your strengths and weaknesses, and capacity with the movements. When you're warming up you need to figure out: 1) how to "hold" or "rack" the dumbbells at the shoulders so that you can support them comfortably & return them to the ground without breaking your toes (seriously); 2) your cadence for the squats, one that you can hold steady through all 55 reps; and 3) the cadence for the burpees, one that you can hold steady for rounds 1 through 9 before sprinting round 10, AND the movement sequence which makes the burpees the most efficient for you (i.e. how will you jump over the bar, how will you pivot after landing, etc.). We'll cover these items a bit in the movement breakdowns below.
This is a competition, so if even just ONE rep (or several) can be performed safely at Rx then you have the option of spending as much time as needed (up to 12 minutes!) getting as far along in the Rx workout sequence as you can with good mechanics and movement (e.g. you're being safe & smart while trying really, really, really hard). Remember that even an Rx score of 1 rep ranks higher than every scaled score in the world (including those scaled athletes who registered a score on the 1RM clean), so if you can safely fight for that one good rep (or several) it may be a battle worth fighting.
Dumbbell Squats
Depending on your mobility, stability, and squatting "style" there will likely be an ideal way to hold (or "rack") the DBs so that you feel stable, strong, and relatively comfortable. In general you want a position that allows your torso to be as upright as possible so that you put as much of the work on your strong legs (your quads in particular) and NOT on your back (due to leaning and/or "crumpling" forward). If wearing weightlifting shoes helps you to do this, and you've done jumping burpees in them before with no issue, then go ahead and wear them. If this weight is not an issue for you and/or you normally train in your flats then don't make the change now unnecessarily.
Remember that the front squats are going to jack-up your heart rate too, not just the burpees, so you need to find a cadence that will allow you to keep moving steadily and prohibit putting the DBs down to break the sets. if the weight is heavy for you then this cadence is going to be pretty methodical and paced -- if it's light then it will be faster to limit the time under load. Either way the ideal place to rest (if needed) is at the TOP of the rep and not by putting the DBs down on the floor -- this assumes you're not in a sketchy position or about ready to fall over (in which case put the things down, obviously). Our self-directed warm-up should help you find a relative cadence for both the squats and the burpees, so get in early and incorporate this practice into your warm-up!
If you're thinking "Can I drop the DBs after round 10 like Vellner and Ohlson did at the live announcement???!!!" And my answer is...... YES! But only if you can do this workout in under 5 minutes, otherwise I might kick you out of the gym. Dropping DBs as a recreational CrossFitter is like doing a touchdown dance when you're still down 42-7. You look like an asshole.
Bar Facing Burpees
As we said above PLEASE READ THE NEW STANDARD FOR THIS MOVEMENT. You've done these, or some form of these, more times than you probably want to think about. So I won't drone on about how to do the burpees, but I will remind you (again) that pacing is key -- so use the warm-up to practice your pacing (count beats in your head as you jump, pivot, pop down, pop up) so that your cadence and pacing is methodical and repeatable. And this sounds silly, but don't forget to breathe!!! Breathe through the reps themselves but also make a conscious effort to take a deep breath or two during the transitions to help you focus on remaining calm and moving at the correct rate for you.
1RM (Barbell) Clean
If you know you have a shot at completing 55 DB squats and 55 bar facing burpees within 12 minutes then you need to have a strategy for the "1RM" clean. 1RM is in quotes because this may not be your actual 1RM, it will just be your 1RM for today, after all that exercise, and within the small window of time you have remaining. So for a small percentage of people that may actually be a new 1RM, but remember that a clean of ANY weight beats a zero, and even smaller jumps in weight for a successful next rep beats another several hundred (if not thousand) people in the world. So while we want to see you excel and lift what you're capable of, we also want you to not take too big of jumps in weight which could result in you leaving pounds on the table, putting yourself in a sketchy lift (potentially getting hurt unnecessarily), and generally reinforcing bad habits that are hard to break.
Set the barbell to what you think your opening weight will be, and warm-up to your opening weight before the workout starts (I wouldn't go above it in warm-ups). If you need a rough attempts guideline of what I think will work for most people, here you go:
Attempt 1 - 65% of Your Current 1RM (after taking ample rest in the context of the time remaining)
Attempt 2 - 75%
Attempt 3 - 80-85%
Attempt 4 - 90-95%
Have more time? Great, then you'll know (and feel) what to do at that point.
This is approximate and does not apply to everyone, and it assumes you have time for 4 lifts (many will not). But again, if you only have time for say 1 lift -- that 1 successful lift beats so many other lifts that you must focus on having makes (or one make) by taking weights intelligently.
Universal MUSTS for everyone on the clean (in a gym where we take pride in Olympic weightlifting for various reasons):
1) It has to be a clean. It can be power, muscle, squat, or even split (bring your feet back together!) -- but if it looks like some horrible improv dance move that's about to break you in half then we will cut you off without hesitation, and I don't care how mad it makes you. Hugs!
2) You're not allowed to let your elbows touch your knees or legs. If you want to argue with me then I'll give you the number for a few athletes I've watched (not in our gym) break their wrists by doing this. Oh, and we'll cut you off.
3) if you care about your wrists, collarbone, and ribs you MUST get your elbows around fast and high -- no exceptions. The faster you do it the safer the lift is, even if you end up bailing out and dropping the barbell.
Closing Remarks
I wrote this last week and I think I may use it every week during the Open:
Be smart and move well. You know what that means, I don't have to explain that one to you. The weights will be here tomorrow... will you be?
Cheer for your fellow athletes, and be a good judge. We do things the right way at Arena Ready -- with integrity and to the standards of the competition. Our movement is clean, our technique is admirable, our effort is 100%, and our members know the difference between intent and accomplishment (e.g. giving your fellow athlete a respectful but deserved no-rep when they're working their ass off but simply didn't accomplish a valid rep). The spirit of the Open is amazing - there's nothing like the energy and positive family vibe of these 5 weeks. Many of your buddies will do things they never thought possible, some will fall short of what they wanted and be frustrated for a bit, and others will have experiences on both sides. But in the end this is our community, and our AR family, and we support each other in success and in failure... knowing that we're all just trying to get better every day.
GO TIME!
WOD For 03-03-18:
"Open 18.2"
For Time (12 Minute Cap):
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Dumbbell Squats @ 50/35 lbs each side
Bar Facing Burpees
... After completion of 18.2, and with any remaining time under the 12 minute cap...
"Open 18.2A"
Establish a 1-Rep Max Clean
18.2 (and 18.2A) Announced!
Open workout "18.2" was released on Thursday evening, and a little additional surprise of "18.2A" was also part of the fun announcement. If you're going to be completing the workout this weekend at Arena Ready (either during the fun craziness of our Open Heats during all Saturday classes, or during Sunday Open Gym) then please start by reviewing the workout details here and watching the standards video above (which covers only the Rx workout, and not the scaled version) - thanks!
WOD For 03-02-18:
FIVE 2-Minute Cycles For Max Reps:
21/15 Calorie Row OR Ski
12 Kettlebell Swings @ 70/53 lbs
Max Reps Shoulder-to-Overhead @ 155/110 lbs
(Rest 2 Minutes)
Open 18.2: Any Guesses?
Week two is upon us and Open 18.2 will be announced at 5pm on Thursday evening. Come by the gym to watch the live announcement of the workout, and if you need to do 18.2 on Thursday evening our 7pm "The OPEN" class is the time to get it done before you head out of town on that Tahoe weekend trip or to your cousin's wedding in Des Moines.
Amy guesses on what 18.2 will be? I think Baby Dubs is wondering if dubs will be involved...
WOD For 03-01-18:
Alternating EMOM For 4 Rounds (8 Minutes):
1) 40 Seconds of Strict Pull-ups
2) 40 Seconds of Medicine Ball Sit-ups (pick load)
-then-
AMRAP 9 Minutes:
9 Hang Power Snatches @ 95/65 lbs
15 Box Jumps @ 24/20 in
9 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls @ 95/65 lbs