My Week As Rx (Probably Scaled): April 9 – April 15

Now that the Open is over, we’re back to our original programming.

Monday

Back Squat – 8×4 at 70% (275 lb.)

After squatting a bit last week my legs are almost back to normal. My old numbers were 275 lb. and I wanted to work up to that. I loaded up the bar and I got to work. I took about three warm up sets before putting on 275 lb. The first set felt heavier than usual but after a few more reps the lifts felt normal. I was taking about two minutes of rest in between sets. Around the sixth set I could feel the fatigue in my legs and on the eighth set I almost failed my last rep.

Partner WOD – AMRAP 16 Minutes

7 Dumbbell Snatch (50 lb.)
7 Dumbbell Squat (50 lb.)
7 Russian Dumbbell Swings (50 lb.)
Run (100 m)
Partners alternate rounds

This workout doesn’t look too bad on paper. Some rest in between sets and relatively low reps made me think I would be able to do each round quickly. My goal for this workout was 16 rounds total. I underestimated the fatigue on my legs. All those heavy squats really did a number on them. My first round was quick. The snatches, squats and swings were easy. The run however, was the hardest part of the workout. I tried to pick up my running pace in the later rounds but I couldn’t. My pace slowed as I finished each round. At the end of 16 minutes we finished 14 rounds. I was short of the goal but I gave it my all.

Tuesday

Clean and Jerk Complex – Find A Heavy Rep

Power Clean + Push Jerk + Hang Squat Clean + Split Jerk

This was a fun clean and jerk complex. The hardest part was going to be the hang squat clean and split jerk. Holding the bar for that long was going to strain your grip and challenge your breathing. I didn’t know how heavy I wanted to go. I’ve been doing a lot of clean work at 198 lb. and 205 lb. so I decided to shoot for a weight around there.

I started with a light weight and worked up to 198 lb. Everything felt good except for my breathing. I had to focus on my breathing during the hang squat clean and split jerk. I was usually out of breath by then. I manged to lift 198 lb. and moved on to 205 lb. and the 216 lb. I managed to lift 216 lb. which is somewhat of a PR. 216 lb. is also 96% of my current clean and jerk max. I may need to retest that number.

WOD – 15 Minute Time Cap

5 Rounds

100 Single Unders
15 Hang Clean and Jerks (115 lb.)

After the clean and jerk complex, I was very confident doing the hang clean and jerks at 115 lb. I should be warmed up and able to rep these out quickly. I was wrong, very wrong. The first round of singles were easy and I got through them quickly. The first round of hang clean and jerks however, were terrible. My plan was to do eight reps and then seven reps. I did five reps and then scrapped that plan. I stayed at five reps per set for the rest of the workout.

I only finished four rounds of this workout at time cap. I under estimated how fatigued my arms were. The cleans were easy, the jerks were hard. My shoulders were burning by the end. It was a fun workout but I should have scaled the weight to 95 lb. to finish the jerks quicker.

Lift Heavy and Level Up!

The 2018 CrossFit Open: 18.Done!

The 2018 CrossFit Open is Over!

Fridays (Guam time) are going to be boring but at least Dave Castro is not jerking us around with mystery workouts. We are back to our regular programming but I have a lot of takeaways from this years open.

Movements

Surprisingly, we didn’t do two movements that were in the Open since 2011. Snatch and wall balls were not featured in a workout this year. They will more than likely be in next years Open.

My Placement

My goal was to be on the first page (for Guam) but that didn’t happen. I placed 62nd, my lowest placement in the open. Either I’m getting worse or everyone else is getting more fit.

My Takeaway

I placed 62nd because I didn’t do the work. I can’t blame anyone or anything except myself. It sucks but I do have a plan. My conditioning needs a lot of work. This past year, I have been doing a lot of Olympic lifting and not much cardio. I need to find a balance between these two and I need to work in more gymnastics work as well. I want that muscle up! I have a full year to work on these things and hopefully I can get back to the front page of the leader board. I hope you hit some goals in this years Open and if you didn’t, we have a lot of time to work on it.

Lift Heavy and Level Up