Thanks for visiting our tips and strategies for this year’s CrossFit Open. If you’ve found yourself here for the first time – welcome and if you’re a return visitor thanks for coming back!
Each year during the Open we post our initial thoughts on the workout on a weekly basis.
This year we will follow the format of breaking the workout into individual movements as well as advice that is aimed at advanced (an athlete hoping to make regionals), intermediate (an athlete who is competing rx’d but not competitively) and and novice (an athlete who is scaling).
Toes To Bar
Advanced: I wouldn’t necessarily go into this workout breaking up the T2B into small chunks before I feel I need to. I don’t think the workout is long enough to intentionally break the sets up early on and still get a good score. The main thing is to manage your fatigue based on feel and avoid working to failure at all cost.
Obviously it is inevitable that these will break down but I don’t see that do 3 sets of 5 in the first round when you don’t need to is going to stop that happening.
*This advice assumes an athlete that could normally do multiple unbroken sets of 15 toes to bar when fresh.
Intermediate: If you’re intermediate you 15 reps may not be something that you can repeat multiple times so I would be very cautious about pushing too hard too early. Something like 15, 12-3, 10-5, 8-5-2, etc might work.
Novice: If you’re scaling and you are doing hanging knee raises, don’t forget that you can still kip these. Get those shoulders moving back and forth and those knees will fire right up past the hips nice and easy! If you’re doing sit-ups, use this as a chance to get your breath back and use as much momentum as the rules allow.
Deadlifts
All Categories: Definitely look after your grip by either using an alternate grip or a hook grip (my choice would be alternate) and don’t be lazy about bending your knees. Light, high rep deadlifts always see athletes leaving their hips in the air (like a stiff legged DL) and before you know it your posterior chain will be on fire which will have obvious consequences on the snatch and T2B.
Advanced: Keep these unbroken and try to get your breath back during these.
Intermediate: Aim to be most if not all unbroken but don’t put yourself in a hole by forcing yourself to go unbroken. You’ll lose a lot more time in the other 2 movements that you will in the DL if you gas yourself here.
Novice: Smooth is fast – focus on perfect mechanics in order to be as efficient as possible. No wasted energy!
Snatch
Advanced: Aim for touch and go but not at the expense of your grip or if you need to take extended breaks before or after the set.
Intermediate: Maybe a mix and match of touch and go and singles (as per advanced regarding grip and breath)
Novice: As per my DL advice – smooth is fast – focus on perfect mechanics in order to be as efficient as possible. No wasted energy!
15.1A
All Athletes: Be sure to hit a heavy but not absolutely maximal single in your warm-up and forget about this until you get to it. If you’ve warmed up properly before hand, you’ll be ready to lift a decent weight without doing too many preparatory lifts.
Expect to only get 3-4 lifts in the 6 minutes and work back from your goal weight (be conservative) to establish your starting weight. For example: If you want to hit 100kg then maybe 75kg, 90kg, 100kg. If the starting weight feels good, stick with your plan, if not, readjust to suit how you feel and try to keep a spare lift up your sleeve.
Don’t be greedy and don’t underestimate how much the fatigue of the first 9 minutes.
About the author: Chris Saliba is a 3 time CrossFit Regional Competitor (Australia) and State Weightlifting champion (under 69kg). For more information please feel free to contact us at info@coastalcrossfit.com.au
