I’ll recap our team’s performance tomorrow, but I wanted to share my thoughts on a different aspect of the ’15 AO, which I believe shares the sentiments of everyone I spoke to…

USAW did an effing AMAZING job. Like a mind-blowingly amazing job. Think about this:

-The 2015 American Open was the largest Weightlifting meet in history. No, not US history, the history of the whole damn world.

-It was the first FOUR platform meet in history (see above for “history” definition).

-I personally coached roughly 20 lifters, in roughly 13 sessions (I could add it up, but go with roughly). NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM WAS LATE. In fact, I only heard of one or two late sessions all weekend.

-No coaches tried to kill judges. This is the most surprising aspect of the entire weekend, IMO. Especially after the 2014 “Red Light Special” AO in D.C.

My first AO was in Palm Springs in 2012. There were 240 lifters and minds were blown that it was a two platform meet. We ran the Outlaw Open in conjunction with it, and it seemed like USAW allowing our competitors to lift in special  Friday sessions was a logistical nightmare for them. Good lord have they come a long way.

Yes, of course a majority of the 900 lifters this year came from CrossFit. And yes, in 2012 the CrossFitters had marginal technique, and didn’t know an auto increase from a hole in the ground. Now… You can’t really tell the difference. I mean Mattie Rogers used to do the open. Charis Chan almost went to the Games. Wes Kitts probably has a faster Fran than you. How in the world did we get so good?

Obviously I could say talent pool, level of coaching, emphasis for success in the “sport of fitness” – yada, yada, yada. But how about this… In Reno this year I felt something different. It didn’t feel like USAW had to deal with us being there, it felt like they wanted us to be there. They opened up the qualifying standards to include those good athletes, who had maybe been practicing the craft of weightlifting for a trip to regionals or Carson. They didn’t gripe about how many people wanted to be a part of their sport, they welcomed them in. More athletes competed at the AO than Regionals this year. Think about that for a second.

My favorite part? The noise. The crowd yelling for a lifter to make a third attempt or they’d bomb out. The coaches screaming their heads off for their lifter to stand. The general chatter and camaraderie was electric. So thanks USAW. From an exercise coach who fell in love with your sport almost ten years ago, and who has been lucky enough to now have two exercisers take home your gold medals – thanks.

Please, please, don’t change anything.

WOD 151211:

BBG

Every 2:00 for 10:00 (5 total sets)-

3 T&G Power Clean & Push Jerks – begin around 75% of max PC&PJ and work to a 3RM for the day

Strength

1a) 5X3 Power Jerks + 2 Jerk Grip OHS – work to max for the complex, rest 2:00

1b) 5X5 Good Mornings – work to a heavy load but concentrate on keeping straight back and pushing hips back, rest 2:00

Conditioning

5 rounds of:

7 Strict Deficit HSPU 4/3″
14 OHS 95/65#
35 Double-Unders

Rest 1:1