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