Any CrossFitters if so are you competing in the Open?

[HarleyGuy13]

Well the title pretty much says it all. I've been doing crossfit for 15 months now and totally love it. I've drank the Kool-Aide and totally believe in it. I'm participating in the Open competition but not with the hopes of making it to the Games but to challenge and push myself.

They just announced the third workout of the open (13.3) and I'm pretty well fucked. The work out is a 12 minute AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) of: 150 Wall balls (20 lbs to 10' target)
90 Double-unders
30 Muscle-ups

If you are not familiar with these movements then you won't understand the difficulty. The wall balls are pretty taxing in that they are both one hell of a cardio work out but they also really burn the thighs after about twenty reps. I think I'll get through the wall balls but it will be a challenge.

Now double-unders are really tough for me. If you don't know what a double under is it's simple. It's just jumping rope like when you were a kid except instead of just jumping up and passing the rope under your feet once you pass it twice for each jump. This is a skill set I've just not perfected YET but am working on. I've only been able to string 9 together one time. Now the good part is I seem to do better when I am tired and I'll be damn tired if I finish the wall ball.

As for Muscle-ups I don't have to worry about them because I'll not get through all the other movements within the time frame. If I somehow do well I'm fucked to put it str8 to the point. I've only once tried to even complete a muscle up. A muscle up is when you grab hold of the gymnastics rings pull yourself up and perform a dip. Sounds simple but I'm telling you it's damn tough. Not only does it require a significant amount of strength but there is also skill involved. Muscle ups are on my goal list for my second year of crossfit.

There are only a hand full of people who will actually complete this work out in 12 minutes. I'm not sure how many men have done it but I know only one woman has ever completed it. Don't discount crossfit women either because they are legit bad ass gals believe me.

The first work out 13.1 was a 17 minute AMRAP of:
40 Burpees
75 pound Snatch, 30 reps
30 Burpees
135 pound Snatch, 30 reps
20 Burpees
165 pound Snatch, 30 reps
10 burpees
210 pound Snatch, as many reps as possible


The shitty part of this for me was I can't snatch 135lbs so once I completed the second set of burpees I was done so my total was 100 with a tie breaker of 7:14. The tie breaker was the time if took for you to complete you last complete set of snatches.


13.2 or the second work out was complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 10 minutes of:
115 pound Shoulder to overhead, 5 reps
115 pound Deadlift, 10 reps
15 Box jumps, 24" box


On this one I completed 172 reps. I was really pleased with this work out. 115 is pretty heavy for me on shoulder to overheads (push press) but very easy for deadlifts. My big problem is the box jumps. Several months ago I performed a 31.99" box jump but unfortunately it was onto a 32" desk. this resulted in 9 stitches in my shin and a huge mental set back. Box jumps aren't the hardest thing in the world but they are taxing and in order to be proficient with them you have to be able to get a good rhythm going. Well after my accident I lost total confidence and now each jump is a separate movement. Meaning I have to totally reset my mind, tell myself I am ok and then jump.

I'm really passionate about crossfit and would enjoy hearing others chime in. I'm pretty sure back in the day somebody on here mentioned crossfit and compared it to PX90 but I don't recall who it was.

[wufwugy]

[HarleyGuy13]

Nice!

[wufwugy]

On a serious note...

The magic of crossfit is twofold: 1) it's magical because you don't know it's magical (that's good, seriously); 2) it makes you work hard. A wise man once said (Lyle McDonald; fuck him, but he is wise on this) "hard work + time = results." He's right, and the application to crossfit is that it makes you work hard.

Outside of what promotes you to personally work your ass off, snatches are fucking hard as fuck and deadlifts are easy peasy (unless theyre heavy). Crossfit methodology seems a little off. Some of it could be for the need to rest between sets. But seriously, heavy high rep snatches and heavy overhead presses coupled with low weight deadlifts furrows the brow.

[HarleyGuy13]

wufwugy you are correct. I really like the "hard work + time = equals results" as I've experienced it myself. I could go on and on about the progress this old man has made do to crossfit and my own hard work. I'll sum it up with saying at just shy of 52 years old I'm literally in the best shape of my life. I'm 57 pounds lighter and loving life. Oh and Mrs. Harley is loving it as well!

[Lukie]

How strict about form/depth are crossfit people that you have been around?

I only ask because I recently watched a Fran PR video posted on youtube and was a little dumbfounded. Kipping pullups I understand; I don't do them personally but it's just a different exercise than strict pullups/chins. I equate it to push press vs strict press. Both great exercises but they have slightly different applications. The kipping pullups were just partials though.

On the afforementioned video, front squats were well above parallel. Is there a generally accepted depth that should be hit? As a tall, high bar back squatter personally I can hit great depth and do occasionally front squat a couple heavy triples or so, but it is a LONG way down and I couldn't hope to compete for time vs someone much shorter or squatting high, let alone both.

The push presses were not locked out. I don't have any experience with barbell thrusters but with strict presses the sticking point is right off the shoulders. It's just so damn hard to get the weight moving. With a push press the sticking point is much higher, e.g. harder to lock out. Not locking out the weight even for a split second should make the lift much easier.

The range of motion on pullups was similar. The guy was kipping and barely getting his nose to the bar. Even in a dead hang, strict pullup the sticking point is usually fairly well into the lift. Kipping significantly exacerbates that. Not clearing the bar makes the lift so, so much easier.

I understand this is by no means a crossfit phenomenon. Many record squats are set by guys whos crease at the hip is well above the top of the petalla (and wearing double ply suits, but I digress.)

Is this common in crossfit? What about competition where there is a significant monetary reward? mostly just curious here...


separately I like a lot of what crossfit has done, especially as it relates to making it socially acceptable for women to work hard and lift weights, and the exposure given to olympic weightlifting even if I don't always agree with how it is implemented. On that note I have thought about incorporating some of crossfit's ideas/WODs into my own routines but 1) I would keep a basic compound lift/strength routine and 2) I'm not paying $200/mo or whatever it is to join a gym.

[jyms]

Not a huge fan of Crossfit myself. I don't like a lot of the exercises or trainers for things that lukie has mentioned. I do worry about how hard some people feel they have to go in that group dynamic when dealing with beginners or people coming from lifelong ROM issues or old injuries.

But, great instructors and some gyms do awesome work. Most of the stuff is more "real world" applicable as opposed to just being about the vanity that bodybuilding/weight training/cardio seems to be. Most people don't work in all 3 planes and even weekend athletes should be doing more than standard workouts. Most importantly with crossfit, is I can guarantee most of the people work harder than almost everyone I have seen in a "standard" gym, including 60% of my own workouts

[HarleyGuy13]

jyms you have some very valid points. There is a real potential for beginners and others who have limitations to over do it and risk injury. Like anything else there are poor trainers in crossfit just like there are in other gyms. The key is to find a trainer who truly cares and is willing to put in the extra time to assure these issues don't turn out to be the case. A good trainer can scale any workout for any individual no matter the fitness level or physical ability.

As for the standard of the movements. There are really two different areas which need to be separated. 1st being training mode. The thought within crossfit is when training one needs to find the right balance between strict perfect form and maximum intensity. The theory being if you perform a workout as fast as you physically can yet your form is 100% correct then you've not actually performed the workout at maximum ability. Yet if you go balls out and your form is such that you are absolutely risking injury then you've gone two fast. A good analogy is one we used when I was a firearms instructor and one I've also heard Dave Castro with CrossFit HQ use. That is if you took three individuals and had them on the range. You asked them to place five rounds in the center of mass as fast as they can. All three take exactly the same amount of time. The first shooter doesn't have one round in the center of the target and as a matter of fact only has four rounds on paper and they are all over the place. The second shooter has all five rounds within about a 4" group dead center on the target. Now the third shooter has all five rounds and they are all touching dead center and really make one hole. So if we analyze the three shooters we'd say shooter one needs to slow way down. Shooter two is just about perfect and shooter three needs to push his speed even more.
Now the second area is actually competitions in crossfit. When competing they will spell out the movement standard and are very strict about how the movement is performed. As an example if performing "Fran" in a competition it will state for the thruster one must clean the weight to the racked position. Perform a front squat with the weight racked on the shoulders and the squat must be below parallel. The athlete is to come out of the squat with the weight in move the weight to a locked out over head position. Now this isn't the actual language directly from crossfit HQ I just paraphrased for the purpose of this conversation.