A movement that we haven't had in an Open Workout before was announced today, the handstand push up. With this WoD we can say that CrossFit HQ have certainly made a major shift in this year's Open. The inclusion of scaled workouts marked a change for the start, then in 15.3 all those without a ring muscle up were forced to scale. 15.4 shows that this new level of difficulty is not an anomaly. The raised bar is here to stay. Here's some tips for the average CrossFitter, trying to get through a few rounds RX or scaled.
Pictured is the Rx Workout, scaled: Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 8 minutes of: 10 push presses, 10 cleans
Prepare Your Mental Game
This Open workout will be the toughest yet mentally. The handstand push up is a movement with a high fail rate, so plan what you need to do to minimise your missed reps and also plan how to deal with it in your mind when you do. Go over your cues about how to do the HSPU most effectively so you have something concrete to focus on rather than just trying harder.
Negative thoughts will creep in, especially after 5-7 minutes when your glycogen stores run low. You mind will be in survival mode then rather than focused cognition. When you start hearing the negative thoughts - I'm useless, it hurts, Dave Castro can go suck some hairy ones - you've got to deliberately push those unhelpful thoughts out. Replace them with a mantra that you have planned that will help you through, such as "I'm strong, I can do this" or "tight core, one at a time".
Negative thoughts will creep in, especially after 5-7 minutes when your glycogen stores run low. You mind will be in survival mode then rather than focused cognition. When you start hearing the negative thoughts - I'm useless, it hurts, Dave Castro can go suck some hairy ones - you've got to deliberately push those unhelpful thoughts out. Replace them with a mantra that you have planned that will help you through, such as "I'm strong, I can do this" or "tight core, one at a time".
Warm up
10 mins running, rowing or moving your whole body. Then 10 mins on shoulders including handstand holds, and then 10 mins on your hips. Do a Bergener warm up to drill in that good technique for your cleans. If you're confident of getting quite a few reps in the actual thing, run through 2-3 rounds of three reps each, enough to get your heart pumping, then rest 5-10 mins before starting. If you'll be working hard for every rep save them for the WoD!
The Handstand Push Ups
Use plates and an abmat to reduce jarring on your neck, but note that your head must have a slight deficit to your hands at the bottom of the movement. Get measured while standing on the plates. When upside down, you may need to have your hands closer to your head and your head closer to the wall than usual to get your heels high enough.
Figure out the best place to put you hands so you can push effectively, balance well and get your heels over the line. Mark that place for your hands with chalk or tape. Practice with your judge and ask the judge or a mate to tell you when your heels are over the line before you start each set of HSPU. Pull your toes towards the floor to get maximum leg extension.
PACE YOURSELF. This WoD is primarily a HSPU WoD. When you run out of HSPUs, it gets very difficult to do any more. Ignore the guy next to you pumping them out, or your friends yelling at you to get back on the wall, you need to pick them off in small sets or singles. Keep at least one in the bank. If you feel like you can do three, do two, come off the wall, breathe and go again.
Figure out the best place to put you hands so you can push effectively, balance well and get your heels over the line. Mark that place for your hands with chalk or tape. Practice with your judge and ask the judge or a mate to tell you when your heels are over the line before you start each set of HSPU. Pull your toes towards the floor to get maximum leg extension.
PACE YOURSELF. This WoD is primarily a HSPU WoD. When you run out of HSPUs, it gets very difficult to do any more. Ignore the guy next to you pumping them out, or your friends yelling at you to get back on the wall, you need to pick them off in small sets or singles. Keep at least one in the bank. If you feel like you can do three, do two, come off the wall, breathe and go again.
Mel judges Georgia doing the scaled, and Bruce judges Dan going Rx tonight at Remarkables CrossFit.
Push Press
Push press is the substitute for HSPU in the scaled and some of the master's grades. Be careful that you do not push jerk. Show your judge your push press and make sure you are clear on the movement standards. Legs, hips, shoulders, arms all in a straight line at the top of the movement. If you can, cycle them, catching the bar back onto your shoulders as you are already dipping for the next one.
Heavy Cleans
These may be at or near your max. A great opportunity to get some serious weight shifted in a short time. Enjoy the break from the fast fatiguing HSPUs or push press. As with the HSPU, go over your cues so that you can do the movement in the most efficient way possible. Power clean rather than squat clean for as long as you are able. Use that leg and hip drive. Poor technique will overtax your arms and you need them for the other movements.
Further Reading
Movement standards from the Games website.
Tabata Times' Coaching Roundtable Tips and Advice for 15.4
Gymnastics WoD's kipping handstand push up progressions part 1 and part 2 (If you haven't got a few decent HSPUs as of now I recommend prioritising your neck and going scaled)
The discussion thread on Reddit (more for gossip than tips, but it's fun :)
Tabata Times' Coaching Roundtable Tips and Advice for 15.4
Gymnastics WoD's kipping handstand push up progressions part 1 and part 2 (If you haven't got a few decent HSPUs as of now I recommend prioritising your neck and going scaled)
The discussion thread on Reddit (more for gossip than tips, but it's fun :)
Open WoD 15.4 going down (or up!) at Remarkables CrossFit.
How Did it Go?
One of our guys hadn't cleaned that much before, but he got the 84kg clean twice for a new PR!
I haven't done it yet as my shoulders and arms are still sore from all my failed muscle up attempts last weekend. Will update here when I do.
Update: Did it on the Monday night night and it was haaaaaard. I went in feeling confident because heavy cleans are totally my thing, but in this workout there were so many more HSPUs which are not so much my thing. I have done very little HSPU work lately, and not even much overhead work so really, I shouldn't have been surprised. I came away with a score of 38, my worst score by ranking so far. Last Open workout tomorrow! To be honest, I'm looking forward to it being over. I have been enjoying it, but the Open is totally messing with my powerlifting training and I just want to get back into my lifting properly!
If you've done it already, did you get the negative thoughts in the second half of the WoD? Or was it happy stuff all the way through? What was your score? Was is a tough choice to go scaled or Rx?
I haven't done it yet as my shoulders and arms are still sore from all my failed muscle up attempts last weekend. Will update here when I do.
Update: Did it on the Monday night night and it was haaaaaard. I went in feeling confident because heavy cleans are totally my thing, but in this workout there were so many more HSPUs which are not so much my thing. I have done very little HSPU work lately, and not even much overhead work so really, I shouldn't have been surprised. I came away with a score of 38, my worst score by ranking so far. Last Open workout tomorrow! To be honest, I'm looking forward to it being over. I have been enjoying it, but the Open is totally messing with my powerlifting training and I just want to get back into my lifting properly!
If you've done it already, did you get the negative thoughts in the second half of the WoD? Or was it happy stuff all the way through? What was your score? Was is a tough choice to go scaled or Rx?
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