130308

CFG 2013 Workout 13.1 Strategy and Tips:

We were going to shoot a strategy video, but I’ve decided it’ll be easier to write out some points so you guys don’t have to watch a video of my stupid face over-and-over again to get all the information. I watched the three videos that HQ posted last night (Bailey vs. Panchik, and Foucher), and noticed that none of them scored as high on the Snatch as they did on 12.2, even though they all finished the Burpees sub-six minutes, giving them well over the ten minutes allotted for 12.2 to perform Snatches. At camp we decided to control the Burpee pace and ended up settling on roughly four-seconds-per-Burpee. We actually used a metronome to time the first forty Burpees at exactly four seconds (you should hear it in the demo video). Daniel, Elisabeth, and Matt all improved on their total Snatches from 12.2, and none of them came off the four second Burpee pace (they were actually a little slower than that pace overall). We STRONGLY endorse a pacing structure similar to what we used today.

The video below shows Matt and Dan’s workout in its entirety. I’ll be using it to reference many of the technical suggestions.

>As I previously mentioned, we are suggesting a Burpee pace of somewhere between 3-5 seconds per rep. If relatively well maintained, a 4 second pace will allow for the completion of all Burpees in the 6:30-6:45 range. This pace is much slower than the 20 Burpee pace that many of you maintained for Monday’s 3 minute ME test, so it should be relatively easy to hold. This pacing is ESPECIALLY important on the opening set of 40. It is also suggested that you use a metronome set to 60 BPM to practice this pace. With a 4/4 time signature a Burpee needs to be finished every four beats (click here: for easy to use online metronome). It will be much harder to use the metronome for the ensuing Burpee sets, and the likelihood is that fatigue will naturally slow the athlete to somewhere around a 4-5 second pace naturally.

>Breaking all sets of Snatches is suggested—including the first set. Depending on fatigue, and how heavy each ensuing set is for each athlete, breaking at controlled points is suggested, but single reps are not. This means that, at the very least, doubles of each weight should be performed (every time the bar is dropped from overhead, roughly 5-8 seconds is wasted on average). Obviously if grip is an issue, then this strategy may have to be altered, but multi-rep sets will give an advantage through the moderate weight bars. Daniel and Elisabeth both had great success with medium-rep touch & go sets on the 135/75# bars (Daniel sets of 5, Elisabeth sets of 10), and lower-rep touch & go sets on the 165/100# bars (Daniel sets of 2-3, Elisabeth sets of 3-5). And yes, if you get to the 210/120# bars, you can do single reps.

>A Power Snatch is suggested for all reps. This includes the extremely light first set. No matter how easy the weight is, a Power Snatch should be used to insure there is no excess fatigue of the shoulders. A slower, controlled, more technical first set, will give the athlete the opportunity to prime the movement pathway, without incurring unnecessary damage. The likelihood is that modulation from a Power Snatch to a full Snatch will be very difficult in the later portions of the workout. This means that, again, excellent technique is a must through the early bars. In the video above you will notice that Daniel allows his hips to remain high throughout the heavier lifts (using a typically back fatiguing style that many athletes default to on high-rep, low-load workouts). Even thought he still records an excellent score, I believe his lack of leg recruitment may have hindered his overall performance.

>For bar loading purposes everyone will be different because of the myriad of plate combinations at each gym. We do, however, recommend staging the plates as you can see Daniel has done in the video. Also, please make sure to watch his change-over of the plates from 75# to 135#. This is a technique that we actually spent some time practicing with the camp, and after watching the Foucher video (where she takes almost two total minutes for the change-overs), we believe this helped save no less than a full minute of wasted time. Watch especially how Daniel straddles the bar, facing out, and slides the plate off in one motion after removing the collar. DO NOT take these change-overs lightly. Akinwale took exactly 60 seconds for all changes, that’s exactly 53 seconds faster than Foucher. Everything is everything.


WOD 130308:

Movement prep for 13.1

1) Every 30 seconds for 2 minutes (10 total reps):

1 Power Snatch + 1 Full Snatch (squat) @ 75/45# (touch and go reps)

2) Every minute on the minute for 2 minutes (6 total reps):

1 Power Snatch + 1 Full Snatch (squat) @ 135/75# (touch and go reps)

3) Every 10 seconds for 1 minute (14 total reps):

2 Burpees (13.1 standard) as fast as possible

2013 CFG Open WOD 13.1

Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 17 minutes of:

40 Burpees
75/45 pound Snatch, 30 reps
30 Burpees
135/75 pound Snatch, 30 reps
20 Burpees
165/100 pound Snatch, 30 reps
10 burpees
210/120 pound Snatch, as many reps as possible

74 thoughts on “130308

  1. 171 for me.

    I don’t think my posterior chain can handle a second go at this one.

  2. What maximum time frame do you recommend allowing between the movement prep and the WOD, stupid question I know but we’re running this is heats tonight and I want to know if I should do it a the start of the class or just before i go on?

    • +1 I’m doing it at local box and would rather do the movement prep at home before I go because I haven’t been to this place before…

  3. 150

    FINALLY got through Isabel for the first time ever, finished at 15:01, burpees at 16:40. Not elite but doesn’t ruin the next four weeks for me.

  4. 106

    Might be the weakest score on TOW, but it was a PR for me on snatch. Only been following a few weeks. Thanks Rudy!

  5. 156. Not to happy about this. Tore the shit out of my finger on the 9th rep on the 75# bar and couldn’t hold the bar without the skin shifting. going at it again on Sunday

  6. 108, 5:40.
    135# Snatches were not happening. I press-locked all 8 reps. Couldn’t pull myself under.

  7. 178 ! I got only 20 snatches at 165 last year. I got 28 just now, stoked. My goal was to get all 30, but ill take this score and keep my eye on the prize – top 10 regional.

  8. 126- That was humbling, I thought for sure I would make it to 150. Exactly why I didn’t make a donation to CrossFit for the Open either. On the upside, I couldn’t snatch 135 once during last years Open when I started following the Way, still have a long way to go for next year.

  9. 150 reps, finishing the set of 135 at 15:12.

    I really thought I would be able to get a few snatches in at 165, but I simply couldn’t go through 135 fast enough. Had a good pace through the burpees, but after 70 my posterior chain started to fatigue. I think I doubled my Isabel time. Plus I was dealing with a rip on one of my fingers. Oh well. It’s in the books.

  10. 148 reps. Finished the 135# snatches at 15:440. I did this yesterday before the tips were posted and went too fast on the burpees and dropped the bar every time on the 135 pounders. Gonna do it again tomorrow.

    On the bright side, I did last year’s snatch ladder in January and only got like 8 reps at 135. I’ve only been following for about a month, but it’s obviously made a difference

    • Did it again and got 150. By the time I finished the 20 burpees I only had 40 seconds left so I never got to attempt 165

  11. 158

    Not terribly disappointed seeing as how when I started outlaw, 3 months ago, I could only snatch 85#. Ready to step it up on the next one!

  12. 150. Mos Def, a redo on Sunday. My 1st 40 Burpees were too fast and my round of 135, was very inconsistent: Kicked off the first few with singles, mixed it in with some 3’s and 4’s…drop back down to singles…and, did 5 reps over the last two sets.

    • Correction: Dropped back down to singles. And, did 5 reps within each of the last two sets.

  13. 155 on Thursday, that 20 set of burpees put me down hard plus my transitions sucked, hitting it again Saturday, gunning for 162+

  14. 171. Maybe paced a little too much but I’ll take it. Brutal.

  15. 147 and those 3 reps to 150 will haunt me. Thanks for the months leading up to this. I’m much better prepared.

  16. 150
    burpees were fine. snatches were definitely tough. i had 165 loaded up with about 30 seconds to go but my legs didnt have anything left

  17. on bar loading optimization:

    Why bother taking plates off at all? Most of you doing this in a box will have access to plenty 15 lb plates. Rather than remove a 15 lb and and 45 lb in the first change, just add two more 15 lb plates to each side.

    The entire loading scheme for men could be done without ever taking a plate off. Unless the rules prohibit have 3×15 lb plates on one side instead of 1×45 lb plates.

    • Oh, and thanks so much for the help getting here. Wouldn’t have been able to do it without the programming and tips.

      Those 20 burpess after the 75 lb snatches were the worst.

  18. 150, not happy at all. I have been slacking on the cond over 10 min and it REALLY showed today. Really paced myself planning on finishing the 135’s by 13 min but was sucking wind and never really pushed myself & finished at 14:49. Did the last 20 burpees in 1:20 and had nothing left for an attempt at 165 by the time I changed weights. Didn’t even get a smokers hack so I never really turned on the gas. Should redo tomorrow

  19. 13.1
    162 reps
    Wanted much more, but didnt have the motor for it.
    I will NOT be doing this one again.
    Rudy, thanks for the warmup and movement prep stuff. That helped a lot.

  20. 128 reps
    2nd burpee series almost made the shit out of me!! Awkward, very bad feeling, and I was so tired from yesterday rugby match 🙁 🙂

  21. 1st go on Friday, 150 reps, failed 75kg twice, went back and made the lift it at 18:30, not good enough.
    2nd go today, 150 reps, failed 75kg thrice (lifting like a fucking donkey), went back and lifted (properly) at 19:00. Lesson learned, don’t lift like a donkey

    • …definitely the closest I’ve been to shedding a tear after a workout! a beer, buffalo wing, pulled pork and fries and mississippi mud pie made me feel a bit better!

  22. I hurt my foot ( dropped weigh on my left foot ) on last Saturday morning during clean(175#). So I could only sit ups for a while. Finally fit my snow boots in my foot after a week, so I tried WOW 13.1.

    178

    I’m not happy about this score, but I’m glad to do work out.

  23. Had a shot last Thursday (Australian time approx 4hrs after release). Hit my plan perfectly for 162 tie break of 11.58 (Nano’s, sorry Rudy I know what my feet do in high rep burpee/barbell workouts in oly’s – they CRAMP UP!)

    Hit again 2.30 hrs before cut-off with a plan to make time up on middle snatches and plate change overs (had video from first attempt to analyse). Bought me 1.11 extra which at a rep every 15 seconds on 75kg bought me 5 more reps for 167, very fucking happy!

    162 then 167.

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