I am in love with this workout. Love it or hate this is the first time in the 2015 Open where HQ is asking you one thing… How big is your heart? You can breakdown this workout all you want, but when it comes down to it, you will have to make a choice. Do I push it or do I quit? This is a classic open workout with movements anyone can do. For those of you that follow my programming, you should be extremely prepared. I am a lover of putting these two movements together to help build bigger engines in my athletes. I got a ton of very happy emails and texts last night all stating how they had done this a thousand times, and yes, in fact, they had. A quote from Bill Grundler: “Heck yeah! Let’s have some fun and feel some pain!” He is exactly right. Let’s have some fun, peeps! Now for those of you that need some strategy. Here is what I suggest.
Rowing
The rowing can be a factor for those that do not row much. If you do not do rowing repeats often or work on the rower much, then you have to do your best to save your legs. I would put the damper setting low and row as efficiently as you know how. For those of you very versed in rowing, I would crank my damper setting up a tiny bit maybe 1-2 notches. Don’t get super crazy. The higher the setting the more the legs have to work and with all these thrusters you want to keep your legs, especially on the rounds of 27 and 21. Another strategy is keep your 1k pace throughout the whole workout. It will allow you to remain efficient and keep something in your tank for the thrusters. Regardless of how you choose to hit this, you must maintain a tolerable pace. Don’t just shoot out of a cannon and go for it. This is a workout where you need to gradually get faster, not hit it as hard as you can and then try and hold on. You will not be able to. On the round of 15, you should pick up the pace a bit and end the round of 9 with a sprint! Now, this sounds easy on paper and for you more advanced athletes, it should be; however, for the rest of you, I would recommend just using the rower as your rest time. Row to the best of your abilities. Catch your breath and break up your thrusters into manageable sets.
Thrusters
If you are a bad ass, go unbroken! It can be done. I saw several of my athletes do it yesterday. For those of you with good motors but need a little bit more break to reduce lactic acid, I recommend a 15/12, 15/6, 15, 9 rep breakdown. If you need more help, then go 9/9/9, 11/10 or 9/9/3, 15 or 8/7, 9. Now, any combo can work; just remember the more you drop the bar, the slower your time will be. If you are not very strong on thrusters in general, then think 6/6/6/3, 6/5/5/5, 5/5/5, 5/4. You should always have descending reps when your tired. It will help mentally. If all this seems impossible, then just survive and enjoy the ride. Give it your all as that is all that really matters.
Warm Up
I had good success using this warm up with my athletes last night. This is after a good solid hip and shoulder mobility session.
EMOM 6
ODD: 7-10 Cal. Row
EVEN: 7-10 Thrusters
Men: 45/75/95/105
Women: 35/55/65/75
Good luck everyone. Finish the open strong! Please do not hesitate to hit us up for your 2016 season programming needs! Kick ass!!
WARM UP:
400 M. Run
21-15-9
Push Ups
Sit Ups
Air Squats
400 M. Run
Then:
Mobilize
LIFT:
Warm up Shoulder to Overhead
WOD:
“SLINGSHOT”
25-50-75
Shoulder to Overhead (145/95) (135/85) (95/65) (75/55)
KBS (70/53) (53/44) (44/35) (35/26)
Chest-To-Bar Pull-Ups
