WOD 4 -- The Hundreds:
Individual:
For the individual version of this workout, strategy becomes important because no single athlete can move through this whole piece unbroken. Most will be in it for the long haul with this WOD, and thus it becomes necessary to plan out each piece. Strategy for each movement will be discussed, and general points will be discussed after.
1) The wall balls -- The good news is that 100 wall balls is not extremely difficult, especially at standard weights of 20/14#. However, if you are used to doing wall balls against a wall and not a target, try to set up something to practice actually aiming for a target. It is a small difference, but still something that you want to be prepared for so that you can avoid any potential no-reps here. Bouncing out of the bottom is essential for these -- utilize the stretch-shortening cycle and let your legs go. Keep your core tight, let the ball push you into the absolute bottom of the squat, and spring back up. This will allow you to get a tremendous amount of upward force on the ball without over-exerting your shoulders. Not doing so will make the chest-to-bar pull-ups substantially more difficult. For this reason, Oly shoes are a must and should be worn by anyone doing this WOD. If you are confident with wall balls, open up with 40-50 and then do the last 50 as quick sets of 10 with about 5 seconds rest between. This will help save your shoulders for the following C2B. For those who are not as confident with wall balls, open with a set of 20, take 10 seconds rest, hit another set of 20, take 15 seconds rest, then go right into the sets of 10 with 5 seconds rest between. With a proper bounce on each rep, this should get you through the wall balls quickly regardless of proficiency.
2) C2B pull-ups -- This will easily be the hardest part of the workout and will rely on breaking up the sets into manageable chunks without causing excess fatigue. For one, athletes who can butterfly their C2B will have a tremendous advantage over athletes who cannot. For the athlete with butterflies, they can break up the pull-ups into relatively small sets and move through each extremely fast. For a standard kip, the working sets will have to be slightly larger to compete with athletes who can butterfly. Hand protection is CRUCIAL here -- you don't want to get an awful tear on day 2 and be screwed for the final day of competition. Gymnastics grips without dowels are allowed this year and they provide a tremendous amount of protection from common tears. Gloves are also allowed, but these tend to be a little more slippery and not as reliable. At the very least, tape any spots that are prone to ripping to save yourself for Day 3.
For athletes with butterflies - Open with a set of 20-25 if proficient, 10-15 if not as proficient. From this point forward, quick sets of 10 all the way through the finish will be the way to go. As soon as these start to slow down, back down to sets of 5, but make sure you are minimizing your rest between sets. Chalk up if necessary during your rest periods, but make it intentional and not a product of being tired.
For athletes with standard kip - Open bigger than you want to, i.e. 25-35 reps. Just make sure you do not let yourself get to failure on the first set. After that, struggle to get sets of 15 if you can, backing off to sets of 10 when needed. Going less than sets of 10 with a standard kip will cost you more time than it is worth, hang on as best you can.
3) Pistols -- There is not a whole lot of strategy through these, but focus on staying balanced and not dancing around while transitioning from one foot to the other. There is no reason to move slowly on pistols UNLESS the dumbbell snatch is incredibly heavy for you. By this point, most regional athletes should be able to handle the dumbbell and fatiguing the legs to move quickly through pistols should not be a detriment.
4) DB Snatch -- This weight is incredibly light compared to last year's Regional, so it should not pose much difficulty for any individual athletes. Set the back on every rep, do NOT get lazy here as it will cost you on the last 50. Keep your butt down, chest up, and get a slightly wider stance than you would typically snatch from. You are not going to want to move your feet if you don't have to. Drive hard with the legs and over-exaggerate the elbow drive alongside the body. Punch through hard to lock out the DB and shrug your shoulder to your ears when you catch -- don't risk losing a rep that you already completed because you are unstable overhead. For these, go through a quick set of 20, take 3-5 quick breaths, and go through another set of 20. Continue in this fashion until they start to slow down, at which point move to sets of 10 and cut your rest a little if possible. Take extra care to set the dumbbell down on the ground, you do NOT want to lose a rep for dropping the weight. When fatigue sets in, use your other hand to lower the DB to the ground; this is an added safety measure that should prevent any no-reps and will help save your shoulder for the finish.
General points:
- Wear Oly shoes no matter what, the wall balls and pistols are infinitely easier with them (not to mention the DB snatch)
- Break wall balls up into smaller sets for the last 50 in order to save the shoulders -- it is almost never worth it to do the 100 wall balls unbroken
- For C2B, butterfly is essential -- open with ~20 and hit quick sets of 10 following that
- On the pistols, speed is key -- don't save anything for the snatch
- On DB snatch, set the back and keep your chest up on every rep
- Wear knee sleeves or wraps to assist with wall balls and pistols
Teams:
The team version of this WOD is much easier, with each team member only having to perform 30 reps of each movement. The general strategy for each team will be to move in order from fastest to slowest -- you want to give your slowest athlete the most time to finish, because the total time will depend on them anyways. The slowest athlete will typically be classified by their time on C2B pull-ups as this will be the biggest bottleneck in the WOD. The only exception to this will be if there is an athlete who cannot perform pistols or move the DB snatch weight -- if this is the case you will need to have this athlete go last so that they can get as far as possible within the time cap and all your other athletes at least have the chance to finish beforehand. Everything in this WOD should be performed unbroken by each team member, with the only exception being C2B pull-ups. The opening one or two athletes should be able to do the 30 unbroken if possible, but it is acceptable for athletes following this to go for two quick sets of 15 or three quick sets of 10. Either way, move through each station as quickly as possible so that the athletes behind you never have to wait. Worst case scenario, you can stick an athlete with trouble performing the DB snatch behind an athlete with weaker pistols. This will allow the athlete a bit more rest before approaching the snatch, but very few teams will need to rely on this strategy.
WOD 5 -- DL/Box Jump:
Individuals:
The benefit of seeing this WOD again is that we already have an idea of what a good score will be. Times will not dramatically improve from 2 years ago, however, there will be more athletes closer to the top score from 2011. The goal is to go through this workout unbroken, but with the deadlifts as heavy as they are, many athletes will be unable to do this.
1) Deadlifts -- If done unbroken, these will dramatically reduce your total time for the workout. Worst case scenario perform doubles, it is almost never worth it to resort to singles on heavy deadlifts. Since the first rep is always the hardest, you want to utilize the stretch reflex on the bounce every single time. Hang onto the bar as long as you can, picking it back up from a dead stop will always be harder. Aim for no more than two sets on each of the rounds -- if the deadlift is incredibly heavy for you, three sets on the round of 21 are acceptable but not ideal.
2) Box jumps -- These jumps must be rebounded if possible, the time difference between rebounding and doing single jumps is immense. Stay light in the feet, landing hard on the box or on the ground will burn out the legs and make both movements harder. For stronger, heavier athletes, it is permissible to step down from each jump as long as there is no transition time between jumps and the DL's are performed unbroken. Speed on either deadlifts or box jumps is key, but speed on both will win the WOD.
General points:
- Do NOT wear Oly shoes for this WOD -- the raised heel makes deadlifts harder and will inhibit your box jumps
- Wear a belt but don't strap it down to the point of inhibiting your breathing
- Chalk up a lot before the start of the workout, do not waste time grabbing chalk after
- Tape the fingers and hands -- the DL is heavy enough that it could cause tears (especially after WOD 4 in the morning)
- Take an extra second before starting your box jumps if necessary -- it is not worth damaging your shins or injuring yourself due to a bad jump
Team:
The "team version" of this WOD is just the same thing at lighter weight done by one man and one woman. The strategy, therefore, does not change except the deadlifts need to be done close to if not unbroken. Pick a stronger team member if necessary to do this event so that the DL will not be a problem. This is the one WOD that most teams will do well on, so it can cost a good team a high finish if it is not executed well. Practice it if necessary, but give your back/legs time to recover before the Regional. For teams looking to place near the top, a combined time around 8 minutes or less will be necessary.
Day 3 strategies will be posted tomorrow. Feel free to email questions or comments to justin@trainedwright.com.
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