The CrossFit Open started February 23 with WOD 17.1 and will continue through to March 27. As every Open WOD is released, I will be providing immediate feedback and support for anyone interested in optimizing their performance in these WODs.
Shot at Precision CrossFit moments after the WOD was announced, this is a recording of the briefing I gave my athletes. So, you’ll get the exact same advice and insight I gave my gym’s athletes as soon as we saw the workouts.
As I have always said, aiming for success in the Open is a great way to build goals into your year round training even if you are not going to go on to higher levels of competition.
Open WOD 17.2
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
The Rx dumbell weights are 50lbs. for men and 35 lbs for women. Additional scalings, movement standards, and more are available on theofficial CrossFit Open 17.2 page.
How to Approach this Workout
Like the previous WOD, I felt this was a gift for our gym; we are strong in all the elements of this WOD. The trick with this WOD, I think, is that this is not a dumbbell workout. Nor is it a lunging workout—although, those will get your plenty gassed. No, this is a gymnastic workout. Having impeccable technique and efficiently cycling gymnastic movements will take you far with this one.
But the dumbbells are a big factor. First, I expect that the dumbbells will do less to wear you down and more to wear out your grip. Dumbbells, by their very nature, obviously can’t be truly “cleaned” like a barbell. So, besides the grip issue, there is going to be a bicep curl-like element, and that’s another thing to watch out for in this WOD. With the toes-to-bar and bar muscle ups, these dumbbell cleans will likely exhaust your grip and get your arms pumped.
Second, it’s during the dumbbell cleans that you have a chance to take a planned, strategic break. It’s not a good plan to set the dumbbells down after completing 8 cleans, only to then pick them up again and start your lunges—you’d basically be doing an extra clean. Picking them up for the lunges should be your 8th clean. So you should plan to do a set of 7 cleans, drop them and rest, then clean the 8th rep and start your lunges.
I also want to remind you refer to the techniques shown in my earlier technique instructions for competition workouts for the CrossFit Open. In particular, you should check out a previous video on bodywieght exercies where I went over cycling of gymnasics movements, called The Final Four. It may prove helpful to you, especially when you get to the point where you’re cycling single repeitions on either the toes-to-bar or bar muscle ups.
This WOD, ultimately, is about getting as far into the second overall round as possible if you want to make it to the top of the leaderboard. So, dig into my analysis and good luck on your workouts. Do your best!
Don’t forget about fueling for the Open WODs:
