As we've covered previously in this post here, we'll be running the Open Workout ("20.5") 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 a board 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.
The rest of this post will attempt to break down some strategy based on where your current abilities lie within the parameters of the workout...
I’ve Never Done a Muscle-up, and I’ve Never Been Close to Doing One
For you this workout is all about finishing the row and wall balls as fast as possible for a good tiebreak time (the time at which those two movements are completed). If you have any time left over you’ll have the opportunity to try a muscle-up assuming you have the pre-requisite strength, stability, and mobility to do so. If you don’t, or you simply don’t care to do one or try one, then you’re done! Bank that Rx score of row and wall balls and live to fight another day (or anther year where you come in to Open Gym and finally learn how to do a muscle-up).
How you break-up the row and wall balls is a matter of personal preference and strengths/weaknesses. Easy math would be 4 Rounds of 20 cal and 30 WB, but those of you who like smaller sets may want to take more rounds to complete the work — just make sure you’re not falling into the trap of wasting time with too many transitions (generally speaking any less than 10 calories at a time and you’re likely spending too much time not racking up any reps).
I’ve Never Done a Muscle-up, But I’ve Been Close
If this is you then the strategy is very similar to the first group above EXCEPT that I would recommend giving yourself a chance to get that first MU at the very beginning of the workout when you’re fresh. Give yourself a certain number of attempts OR a certain amount of time (we’re talking no more than 2 minutes or so), and then either way get on with the row and wall balls until completion of those two movements. With any time left over take a quick break to recover, and then if it’s safe & reasonable to attempt another MU rep then go for it. Every successful rep on the rings will jump you ahead of literally thousands of people on the leaderboard, so start the workout by giving yourself a shot at 1 or 2 successful reps — and then try to finish the row & WB with enough time to try again.
I Can Consistently Do Muscle-ups But My Max Set is 5 or Less
Start with muscle-ups and knock out a sub-maximal set (or two) to begin the workout. Then settle in to a pre-determined rep/round scheme that utilizes the row as the “recovery” for both the pressing action of the muscle-up dip and the generally higher intensity demand of the wall balls and rings. There are so many different rep/round combinations you could use here, so you’ll have to know yourself as an athlete and be reasonable about your current capacity — if in doubt err on the side of smaller MU sets, even if they don’t get you to all 40 reps by the end of the row & wall balls (you can just come back to the rings for singles or doubles if/when you finish the row & wall balls). An example of this could be:
5 Muscle-ups (3 then 2)
15 Wall Balls
10 Calorie Row
… repeat for another 7 rounds with the MU reps descending at a reasonable rate you can maintain (e.g. 4-3-3-2-1-1)…
When the Row & Wall Balls are complete attempt singles or doubles on the rings until the 20:00 mark.
I Got Muscle-ups All Day, Fam
If you’re in this group and you’re fit enough to sustain a high work rate for the row and wall balls then this workout is going to HURT YOUR SOUL. The game plan would be similar to the group above but with bigger rep sets on the rings (even as they descend to total 40). An example of this could be:
8-7-6-5-4-4-3-3 Muscle-ups (reps descend in each of the 8 rounds)
15 Wall Balls
10 Calorie Row
There may be a special segment of the higher level competitors who can game it a bit and use a very different strategy to break-up the ring work with super fast transitions and a more intricate rep scheme. An example of this could be:
10 Rounds of:
2 Muscle-ups
8 Calorie Row
2 Muscle-ups
12 Wall Balls
I realize that I stated at the start of this post that 10 calories or less on the rower is wasting too much time in transition, BUT the exception would be a very disciplined/experienced athlete who can hold this repeatable pace and knows how to transition quickly and use the movement breaks to their advantage.
Celebrate Another Year!
That’s it, friends. It will be another year (like for real this time, a full 12 months) until the next Open so enjoy this ending which marks the start of a new era… the Fall Open season. Another year to be grateful that we get to train and workout together, that many of us have come so far, that we all still have work to do, and that we get to do it among friends and cool people. And as all of our lives shift and change, and priorities move around like they tend to do in Life Tetris, we can all still come in to Arena Ready and get after it… not take ourselves too seriously, blow off a little steam, go hard (or just go with what we got that day), and then do it all again in good company the next time. We do the stuff in here so we can be better out there, and we’re grateful for such an amazing community of fit friends and family.
Come out and picnic with us on Sunday (even if you didn’t do the Open)!
WOD For 11-09-19:
“Open 20.5”
For Time, Partitioned Any Way (20 Minute Cap):
40 Ring Muscle-ups
80 Calorie Row
120 Wall Balls @ 20/14 lbs to 10/9 ft
