The last Open 2014 has been announced! I’m fairly confident that everyone in the Crossfit world predicted the two movements – thrusters and burpees. But, I’m positive that NOBODY predicted the that we would all be suffering through the WHOLE workout, as this sucker is FOR TIME!!! Every other WOD in the past years has been an AMRAP with a distinct time cap. We’ve all got pretty comfortable knowing how long we would have to suffer for. Now, depending on your fitness, it could be 10 minutes, it could be 20.
These movements are probably two of the most hated, dreaded, despised in our WOD-world. And here they are, together, in all their pukie-inducing glory. I guess you could rationalize that the faster you go, the sooner they will be over, right??
Warm-up
- Thrusters and burpees utilize pretty much all the major muscle groups in the body. So you’re going to have to warm up, well, everything! Jump on a rower or AirBike to get the blood pumping.
- Inch worms, superman & bear crawls to get the muscles responsible for flexion & extension working.
- Warm up your squat – sit in the bottom for awhile, feel what area needs some attention. Do some trigger point/banded stretch work, and re-test.
- Do a few unloaded barbell thrusters, then work up to your working weight.
- Chuck a few burpees over bar in – not too many. Don’t want to waste them during warm up.
Mobility
- Thruster mobility – make sure your ankles, hips/glutes, thoracic and shoulder flexion/external rotation is adequate. You don’t want to be wasting energy trying to get deep enough on your squat. Make sure you get enough shoulder + wrist mobility so that you can rest the barbell on your deltoids during the descent of the squat. Having to hold the barbell off your body will drain your shoulders of energy.
- Burpee mobility – loosen up your pecs and hip flexors.
- Make sure to check out the MobilizeMe app in the iTunes store if you haven’t already: https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/mobilizeme/id576108153?mt=8
Movement tips
- Consider wearing your Oly shoes if you suffer with poor ankle mobility or achieving depth in your squat. You’ve got 84 thrusters to get through, you don’t want to have to do any more than you HAVE to so make sure your reps are deep enough to count.
- Try and be like Froning (and Camille) and rest at the TOP of the thruster. It takes less energy than resting in the rack postion and isn’t as taxing on your shoulders. Or you can be a mortal human and dump the damn barbell from time to time 😉
- Keep moving on the burpees. They are going to suck, but you can always keep moving.
- You don’t need to shove your head through your arms at the top of the thruster (aka poke neck). Just make sure your arms are fully locked out and straight up. I see a lot of people poking their head through at the top of the rep – which can lead to neck issues, but it also takes a bit longer to finish the rep.
- Wear your knee sleeves if you have them. 84 thrusters is lots of thrusters. They’ll keep your knees happy and warm.
Can’t believe how quick the last 5 weeks has gone! This is the last Open WOD for 2014 so make the most of it! Go hard. And then go have a beer. You’ve earnt it!!!