Michael A confuses his arms and legs again
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14.5 Logistics
The final workout for the 2014 CrossFit Open has been released as:
For time
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps of:
Thrusters, 95 / 65 lb. Burpees
For the full workout description, click here.
To keep classes running on time, we’re going to cap this workout at 25 minutes. Athletes can assign themselves a one minute penalty for every rep they don’t finish under the cap. There will be an alternate workout programmed for folks not competing in the open with the same rep scheme but substituting Wall Balls for thrusters.
What will your strategy for 14.5 be?
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Super Strong 64 Year Old Great Grandpa
Super Strong 73 Year Old
Jacinto Bonilla 73 year old CrossFitter (and CFSBKer!)
I Think Divergent Is Secretly About CrossFit
Hey CFSBKers. I bought a pair of weightlifting shoes that dont fit. Was going to send them back, but if you have ever purchased anything from Eastbay you know why I am just trying to cut my losses. I like the shoes, they are just a little too lose to feel stable.
Shoes are the adidas Powerlift Trainer 2.0, Black/Red/White, Mens size 13. Retail is $89.99. I would let them go for $70 or best offer.
If anyone is interested, feel free to email me at djsyrjanen at hotmail dot com or mention something to me at the gym.
14.5 in 19:53 miserable minutes. Actually, this was not *quite* as bad as I was dreading, but it was still pretty horrible.
Thanks to Rob and Leslie for sticking around well past the 8 AM mark. Don't think I could have made it under 20 without you.
Read some articles about 14.5 this morning. Things I didn't realize, which are hopefully true:
* you can step in the burpees. I see no reason not to do this, at least for the first 3 sets. If I'm actually feeling feisty in the last sets, which I mean haha right.
* a thruster doesn't have to be a coordinated thing of beauty, it just has to go from the bottom of a front squat to locked out overhead? Can you really do the squat and then push jerk? This might be helpful…
Personal notes:
* 115# thrusters were super hard earlier this week, so don't even try to get large sets of 9 or more. Maybe see if 6-5-5-5 goes ok.
* I don't get low enough when I'm tired, and getting no repped would be miserable here, so focus on full depth at the bottom of the squat.
* smile!
@ dave p: where did you see the stepping thing? on the games page it says "You must jump over the barbell from both feet and land on both feet. One-footed jumping or stepping over is not permitted."
David P – yeah, what Luca said. Unless you mean step closer to the bar before jumping over with both feet leaving then landing at the same time, that would be a good rep. Also, looks like jerks are no reps. Must be one movement from the bottom of a squat to overhead.
6am. My strategy for 14.5 was to get it over with.
14.5: 19:13. I was hoping to be half a Rich Froning and finish in 17min. Not to be. This is a slog fest. Felt like I was breathing through a straw halfway through. Burpees were slow. Unsurprisingly, the pushing during thrusters makes the pushing during burpees harder. Traps and shoulders are destroyed right now. Thrusters were broken up as: 7-7-7, 6-6-6, 5-5-5, 6-6, 5-4, 6, 3. Pretty happy with that rep scheme. I was thinking I would break up the round of 18 into 9-9 and the round of 15 into 8-7, but the thrusters felt awful after the burpees. My mind was screaming to take shorter rests, but my body refused.
Thanks, McDowell, for judging and encouraging.
Looks like CRUSH WEEK starts tomorrow.
For those looking to hear from the guinea pigs…
I went to 3s on the thrusters starting in the second round. Maybe not the fastest strategy but I didn't get any no reps, which is big — a failed rep doesn't cost you any less energy than a successful rep. You can also flop-'n'-peel for the burpees (expression courtesy of Lindstar), which I highly recommend. Don't waste any strength that you'll need for thrusters.
I thought I was going to be all cool and squat clean into the first thruster every time I started a new microset. HA. That didn't last long.
Strategy from San Francisco CrossFit via the internets:
1. I'd recommend suiting up with a lightweight lifting shoe such as the Reebok CrossFit Lifters. The heel will give you an added advantage on those thrusters. 2. Tape or use wrist wraps if you feel the wrists might start to get a little smokey from catching the thrusters or dropping down on the burpees. 3. On the thrusters, adopt a stance width that allows the hip crease to fall just below the knees. This will tighten up the range of movement, hedge any unnecessary downward travel, and also create a more stable platform for the rest of the system. 4. Smart pacing is key. For those of you that need to break up the thrusters, cascading sets will allow your brain to wrap around this massive grinder — a set of 8, 7, 6 = 21 reps, a set of 7, 6, 5 = 18 reps, a set of 6, 5, 4 =15 reps, etc. For the rest of you, thrusters are the time to hustle. Adopt a quicker pace that still allows you to stay behind the redline and git 'er done! 5. Burpees are where everyone catches some "active recovery". Pacing should be done at an even tempo and footwork should be smooth while trying to minimize the extra stutter steps when jumping over the bar. Slow down, but don't stop moving! 6. With 168 total reps inside this workout. I do believe it's within reason of performing twice. Being a relatively low tech high capacity piece, how you pace will ultimately determine the final outcome. Pay attention to where you went too fast/slow the first time around and make the necessary adjustments on the following attempt.
As much as I want to make up time on the thrusters, this is a ton of volume – so I'm hoping to break them up into sets of two from the beginning – something like 10-11, 9-9, 8-7, then maaaaybe unbroken on the set of 12, but we'll see.
Burpees are going to be a slow slog for me. Eep.
I think the "step" that Dave's referring to on the burpees means stepping out to a plank/flop, and then walking your feet in to stand, rather than jumping out and jumping back in. You can watch the video on this page to see how it's not that much slower than regular burpees: http://www.crossfitportland.com/crossfit-open-14-5-strategy-guide-tips-tricks/
I just tested that method out in my office, and it seems significantly less tiring.
@lauraMC exactly – i should have been more clear. Yes that is what people were suggesting online. If that's valid I'll probably try it tomorrow…
8am with Noah. Worked up to 88# on the clean and jerk. This is a PR for me and 15# more than I did last week. It was all working together much better today. I liked the warm up practicing bouncing out of the squat. I think it helped me smooth out the whole thing.
Best of luck to all of you doing 14.5! That one looks like a doozie.
Fox, I disagree on the jerk.
On the games site there is a definition of Thruster–
"This is a standard barbell thruster in which the
barbell moves from the bottom of a front squat to
full lockout overhead. The bar starts on the ground.
No racks allowed. "
Then two movement standards–
1. "The hip crease must
pass below the knees. A
full squat clean into the
thruster is allowed if the
bar is on the ground."
2. "The barbell must
come to a full lockout
overhead with the hips,
knees and arms fully
extended, and the bar
directly over the body."
Not to be too lawyerly, but I don't see a textual basis for not counting reps that include a push press or a jerk between the time that an athlete's hips go beneath the knees and the bar is locked out overhead.
question – if we are NOT registered for the Open and come in tomorrow, do we have to do the alternate workout or might there be a choice?
I just want to prepare myself for what tomorrow will bring.
@dave p & laura mc: my bad. i call those kinds of burpees "burpees"
@luca Heh I agree, I'm just so single minded it wouldn't have occurred to me to do them that way… So the advice was helpful to me, and hopefully someone else as well!
Phew, thank goodness flopping and stepping in is legit, otherwise I think 82 out of those 84 burpees would be no reps for me. (I was very careful to jump properly over the bar, don't worry)
Even if I had to DNF myself for that…I am NEVER doing this again!
Before I saw Peter's post my plan was the following rep scheme which is similar to how I break up Fran.
11-10
9-9
5-5-5
4-4-4
3-3-3
3-3
3
But I am now rethinking the first two. Maybe they are 7-7-7 and 6-6-6. I would love a definitive answer on whether or not a jerk is acceptable. My plan is to not jerk but sometimes I fall into that trap and I would like to know if I should be conscious of it from the start. A no rep in this workout would be quite a kick in the balls.
My goal is to finish under the cap.
I figure I'll just do everything unbroken except for the short cigarette break I plan for after the sets of 12 cuz i'm gonna smoke this thing, literally an figuratively. Planning sub ten minutes. That's the way I roll. See you on the other side, bitches.
I just hope to finish in under the cap.
I think I will break up 7-7-7/6-6-6/5-5-5/4-4-4/3-3-3/2-2-2/1-1-1 and do the burpees as step-ins and unbroken.
This is going to suck but mentally I am ready to deal. Extra tape and wrist wraps here we go!
I can't make it this weekend for 14.5.
Is anyone going to be doing it during Friday night Open Gym and could judge me?
That may have been the hardest workout I've ever done, but I was happy to come in under the time cap. Just to sustain that intensity for almost 24 minutes (23:45 exactly) was excruciating. Burpees are not my strong point in any context, and some of those sets were super-daunting. I felt every ounce of the excess weight I'm carrying around! Thanks to Azam and McDowell for the encouragement.
I was glad I broke up the thrusters early on – I think it was 7-7-7, 6-6-6, 5-5-5, 4-4-4, 4-3-2, 6, 3. I was also glad I wore my lifting shoes.
I felt in the last two workouts that I hadn't quite pushed to my limit – that I had one more gear that I hadn't gone to. Not true here – I had nothing left at the end.
Agree with many above. Going to break the Thrusters in to three smaller sets until the 12 or 9 round then go to doubles and try 6 and 3 unbroken. Burpees will be a NON strict push-up, and probably sprawl out, walk in.
From what I've read, it doesnt really matter how you pace it, this workout is going to hurt.
ALSO You can bring your shoes back tomorrow.
Details on the blog tomorrow, I think we'll have enough room to hold people's shoes. I think.
Andy,
You could get someone no problemo at OG to judge you
Mgmt. May have left keys at og tonite. Bottle opener on chain, natch. Anyone see?
Chris A
Try calling the Front Desk next time
718-852-3725
Came in to OG today to do a little birthday chipper/wod mashup
47 front squats @bodyweight (165lbs) + 47 chinups (interleaved)
47 backsquats @165
47 push-ups
47 kb swings @24kg
Quite enjoyed it – the wrists were beat-up after the fsqs.
Will do, do.
Happy bd, Samir!
Happy bday Samir, good way to celebrate!
OG for a lighter session since I was feeling pretty terrible for the last 36 hours.
Snatch
40×3 50×2 60×1 65×1 70×1 75×1 77xM,M 72×1,1,1,1,1
Clean and Jerk
50×1 60×1 70×1 75×1 80×1 85×1,1,1,1,1
3 30-second L-sit accumulations (first unbroken, second in 2 segments, 3rd…)
Then max-height box jumps with Karl, Mike, and Tom (and I think Ken got a few in). This was fun, made it up to around 38", took a shinner going for around 40" which I know I've gotten before, after that I was too in my head for another attempt.