CF Open 14.1 is Tomorrow

/in , /by

Are you getting excited? Are you developing a little ICB? I know I am!

Wait. What’s ICB?
ICB, or Irritable CrossFit Bowels, is a dangerous disease affecting approximately 2,000,000 CrossFitters annually. The symptoms are intense panic attacks and underwear pooping when the 10 second count-down begins … or, really, anytime prior to a big WOD.

How do I battle ICB?
You don’t. You suck it up, go to the gym, and plan to do a load of laundry when you get home.

Getting Ready for 14.1
As you start to panic, I mean prepare, for tomorrow’s workout, here are a few tips that we’ve gleaned from the Interwebs as well as a special ‘test case’ of 14.1 that we ran the other day.

CrossFit Games Open 14.1
10 Minute AMRAP
30 Double Unders
15 Power Snatches 75 lb./55 lb.

Double Unders
As you can imagine, a lot of the workout hinges on these. If you don’t have them, well, you’re not going to get too far (and that’s ok!). But, even if you do have them, that’s no guarantee you will kill this WOD. This workout will push and challenge us primarily on an aerobic level. So, you need to stay as calm and relaxed as possible while hitting the DUs. Spazzy arms and flailing the rope is no way to go through life, son.

Power Snatches
Ah, power snatches. How I love hate love hate love hate you.

Feet
Spread your feet a little wider than normal for the snatches so that you can, in essence, lift and land with your feet in the same spot. For the most part, the weight is light enough that we can ‘get away’ with this approach. The reason we want to consider or do this is that it will save you time in that you do not have to reset your feet after each Snatch.

Muscle Snatches
Don’t do them. Rudy, of Outlaw CrossFit fame, noted that in their trials and tests, doing Muscle Snatches for a few rounds (instead of Power Snatches) only saved athletes a few seconds per round but the athletes that did Muscle Snatches (and Rudy’s athletes are, generally, @#*%ing beasts) got fatigued in the shoulders and backs far more quickly than those that did Power Snatches the whole way through.

Speaking of Power Snatches
USE YOUR HIPS. EVERY TIME!

Let me state that again, USER YOUR DAMN HIPS EVERY TIME YOU SNATCH!

Um, so that may be an important thing to remember … what with the all-caps and such.

Pacing
Because this is an aerobically challenging workout, your pacing will be key … and it matters right from the start. Personally, I am notorious for getting all jacked up and hyped, flying out of the gate and then I hit the wall around 5-7 minutes in and I’m screwed.

The key with pacing is to both find an overall speed with which to move on the snatches and manage your rest cycles. For rest cycles, consider, from the get-go, starting out the Snatches with a plan of doing 3 sets of 5 with a 10-15 second break between each of those sets. Maybe it’s 9/6 or 8/7 or 10/5. There is no hard and fast rule and, truly, you know best what you’re capable of maintaining.

Power Clean & Push Press
Just so you know, this is a legal lift for 14.1. While the WOD calls for a Power Snatch, it truly is a ground-to-overhead move. The Snatch is faster and more effective but, if for some reason your shoulders are done/fried or it’s just too much to snatch as the WOD rolls on, you may power clean and push press the bar over head. However, know that it is FAR slower than a Snatch … and at this weight, should not be necessary. But, should you need to, it’s legal.

Nutrition and Rest
Be sure to drink as much water and get as much rest/as good a night’s sleep as possible today. Maybe even stretch a little (shoulders, calves and hip flexors in particular) … not like it’s worth going out in that crap weather today!

Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow morning!