CrossFit Open 15.4 Strategy:
This weeks workout brings a really good test, a traditional CrossFit couplet of a Gymnastics piece paired with a Weightlifting variation: Handstand Pushups & Cleans, in an ascending ladder. This is the first time HSPU’s have mad an appearance in the Open and it’s a great inclusion from HQ. With the addition of the 1RM in 15.1a and now another high skilled Gymnastics piece the powers that be are indicating where the RX’d division of the Open is heading in the future. With regards Energy Systems this again is of similar demand to almost all Open workouts to date: Aerobic Power mainly and some CP Battery work with the Clean, and this sort of workout was predicted by many, so not too much of a surprise here again this week. We were due some form of overhead pushing with all the previous pulling taking place and the HSPU’s deliver it in spades.
The exact workout is as follows: 8min AMRAP of the following ascending ladder: 3 HSPU, 3 Cleans, 6 HSPU, 3 Cleans, 9 HSPU, 3 Cleans, 12 HSPU, 6 Cleans and so on, with the rep scheme on the HSPU going up by 3 every round and the rep scheme on Cleans going up 3 every three rounds. This workout is going to, for most, come down to the HSPU without a doubt. The workout doesn’t contain as much eccentric stress as previous workouts so, unless you are just not used to any significant shoulder to overhead kind of volume, this is definitely a piece that can be repeated. With the HSPU a new standard has been enforced, and I am delighted to see it. Although there has been some controversy surrounding the accuracy of measuring differing athletes when inverted (this is not universally the same) it IS a standard that will keep people honest PROVIDING THE JUDGES ARE HONEST HERE ALSO! With regards any changes in actual technique, for those that regularly HSPU with feet apart you are definitely going to want to keep the feet together here to get over that new line, as we’ve seen a lot of no-reps for those who generally kip the HSPU this way. Make yourself as tall as possible right out of the gate and do not waste any reps on the wall. If you get tired here there are a couple different options to stay fresh, advanced athlete’s can rest some weight on their heads more so while staying inverted to save shoulder fatigue (I wouldn’t suggest trying this if you aren’t use to being upside down and have good shoulder and neck stability and endurance) or obviously completely rest off the wall between kips and shake the shoulders out. As you become more fatigued option 2 is going to be the better one for most. It is super important, as usual, to breath and pace throughout but often times even more experienced athletes can forget this while being upside down. A massive factor in this is also going to be what your max unbroken HSPU are. If you are more experienced and have repetitions in the late teens and early twenty’s then you could probably do the 3, 6 and 9 sets unbroken, but what we’d suggest for many is breaking these into triples early on, even from the 9’s onwards. If you are someone with less reps, in the high singles to mid-teens, we would definitely advise to break these up sooner. Remember this is going to come down to, once again, local muscular fatigue in the shoulders and neck as opposed to energy system fatigue so know where you fall with these movements, be honest with yourself and stick to your strategy.
With the Clean then the RX’d weights are 84kg for male and 56kg for female. You most definitely need to know where these fall in relation to your max but more importantly how well you fare with CP Battery type work, in other words how many reps close to that max you can hit before becoming fatigued neuromuscularly. Although there is a gender difference here between males and females, with females doing better generally with higher repetition’s, we advise singles all the way for the Clean. Not only is there no need to put yourself under an un-necessary eccentric load but this workout is absolutely going to be won on the wall, so utilise the Clean smartly and efficiently and buy yourself some rest here. With regards technique on the Clean try utilise the legs as much as possible here as we have seen some athlete’s low back fatigue in the later rounds due to allowing the Clean to become a more back dominant pull. Also, Clean standards state that elbows simply need to come in front of the bar, don’t be the guy trying to make every Clean look perfect by racking that sucker with high elbows higher than your shoulders ready to front Squat. The half-second this takes can add 1-2secs per set of Cleans over each round which adds up to all-important reps on the leader-board.
With regards repeating the workout, like every workout in the Open, we do not subscribe to the ‘One and done’ notion that gets branded about a lot. Sure for recreational athlete’s that is absolutely fine but for anyone else there is both far too much at stake for competitors where an extra few reps can mean massive jumps on the leader-board, and even more importantly just SO MUCH that can be be learned from repeating a workout that we advise people to go ahead and do it again. depending obviously on a multitude of factors workouts can be repeated a few times over the Thursday night – Monday night period before scores are submitted. Nervous System demanding workouts can and should not be trained as much but those which induce local muscular fatigue as opposed to actual energy system fatigue can be repeated more so, providing volumes aren’t too radical. In the case of 15.4 how often you can repeat it will be determined by whether or not the athlete is used to upper body pushing/gymnastics/shoulder to overhead type work. Here, more advanced guys who do manage high volumes will need more rest and recovery as opposed to newer guy’s who might not get anywhere near that volume, where maybe a technical issue is stopping them from progressing. It’s the Open, have fun, train hard and learn as much as possible about yourself and the sport that you can!
Warmups:
Like previous workouts we would follow a similar warmup routine: Aerobic Piece mixed in/followed by some specific mobility, followed by dynamic mobility, followed by a movement specific piece with increasing intensity. For the Aerobic piece we would prefer the C2 this week as it mimics the movement of the Clean more so than any of the other cyclical choices. We also wanna hammer some wrist mobility as being inverted for so long can definitely put much more of a stress on the wrist joint than even the Clean here. Scap activation is also a must with these two movement patterns as well as the usual ramping up of intensity to ‘pacing’ percentages.
Example:
1) Rower (10-12min, Rower would be better choice than AD here as it mimics the Clean)
2) 3 sets of 10-12 of the following:
a) Knee touch (ankle mob)
b) Goblet Squat
c) Spiderman Lunge w/ Reach
d) Wrist Rotations + Front Rack Mob
3) 3 sets of 10-12 of the following:
a) Banded Presses
b) Banded Dislocates
c) Banded Pullaparts
4) Empty Bar Work, 3 sets of 10-12reps:
a) Muscle Clean
b) Strict Press
c) P-Clean
d) Push Press
5) Specific Prep:
a) 2 PC + 1-2 HSPU @ 60% Effort
Rest 90secs
b) 2 PC + 1-2 HSPU @ 70% Effort
Rest 90secs
c) 2 PC + 1-2 HSPU’s at pacing effort
Rest 90secs
BEAST THE FUCKING WOD!!!!
Best of luck to everyone taking part and we’ll see you on the other side for one more workout in this years Open!
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