Forget 17.3 for a second, the most important thing that happened during the last few days was the birth of Ron’s son, and newest member of the CrossFit UV family, Matthias.
Everyone at CrossFit UV is delighted for Ron and the lovely Dee.
After two weeks of (bl**dy) dumbbells, 17.3 brought back the barbell for, arguably, one of the best Open WODs ever!
From our point of view there were many things that made this WOD great;
1) The scaling. In 17.2 there was bar muscle ups with pull ups as the scale, and in 17.3 there was chest-to-bar pull-ups with jumping pull ups as the scale. This was not only a lovely flow in progressions (each down two steps) but it mean that whatever level you are at you had a chance to excel over the two WODs.
2) The scaled version was also very well though out and evidence that the CrossFit Games are doing really well in providing a scaling option that is both a natural stepping stone to the RX’d WOD but also a very challenging WOD on it’s own.
3) Snatches. When people are new to weightlifting they will always find power snatches easier because the technique is easier to master. But to get the most benefit out of the exercise ( through speed, mobility, strength and power) the snatch (or full snatch/squat snatch) is far, far superior. By insisting on athletes using a full snatch in this WOD the CrossFit Games were helping athletes develop and change their mindset thus understand the importance of taking the time to master the movement.
4) A very deceiving WOD on paper. When athletes looked at this WOD they immediately focused on the snatch and tried to figure out how they’ll do based on how much they could lift. However the devil was in the detail because chest-to-bar pull ups work your back, shoulders, arms and abs with all of these muscles also being worked when you snatch (as well as other muscles). The result of this was that grip and muscle fatigue on each exercise was slowing the other one down. Evil genius at work.
This point ties in nicely with the one that we made last week about looking at a workout in it’s totality and seeing how each exercise affected the next.
5) This was a heavy WOD, BUT, athletes had to earn the right to lift heavy. This is classic CrossFit in that not only did you have to prove that you had the strength to lift each progressive bar but you had to do so fatigued and several times.
Take a bow CrossFit Games!
On to 17.4 the the rumours of a repeat of a gruelling 16.4 won’t go away (although I for one am hoping for a repeat of the beautiful 15.4).
CrossFit usually repeats a WOD every year (e.g. 16.5 was 15.5) but not necessarily one from the previous year so whilst we would expect a repeat in one of the next two WODs we don’t know which one. What we do know is that several exercises that we’d expect to see in The Open haven’t been involved to date, namely; rowing, handstand push-ups (which we’ll be working on again this Thursday), deadlifts, thrusters, wall balls, double under and a pure shoulder-to-overhead movement.
We’ll know for certain tomorrow evening at 8pm…
Here’s another great write up from Beyond the Whiteboard on how the preliminary scores panned out across the world.
Please remember that The Open workouts should be completed during the 7:30pm class on Thursdays, during one of the Friday or Saturday classes or at 12pm on Sunday (all of which are marked as Open WODs on the calendar).
These sessions are open to everyone therefore, in the interest of giving everyone the same opportunities to complete the workout, we ask people to stick to these slots if possible (to ensure that everyone has the same chance to complete the workout as many times as they want).
If you are unable to make any of these please speak to Fergus directly.
With a change of focus (a heavy WOD this time) came plenty of moves on the leaderboard and let to 3 teams earning 33 points each this week.
Some of the biggest movers were;
– Warren (the WOD Godz) moved from 11th to 1st
– Hadrian (Amino Disrespect) moved from 12th to 7th
– Jackie ( PR City) moved from 16th to 6th
– Jamie (The WODding Crashers) moved from 14th to 8th
– Taylor (The WOD Godz) moved from 17th to 9th
– Mark (captain of PR City) moved from 19th to 14th
– Mike P (The WODding Crashers) moved from 18th to 12th
– Emmy (the WODding Crashers) moved from 21st to 14th
On the captains side, Hilda who rumour has it was judged by Nick Carter from the Backstreet boys, continued her comeback finishing the WOD in 3rd on the ladies side making it 2-1 to her. Be warned though, the word around the water cooler is that Rachel and her WODding Crashers team have been plotting ways to stop her in her tracks!
On the mens side, Mark needed a redo (and a pair of stolen weightlifting shoes) to bring Greg’s hopes of a clean sweep to an end. Greg has responded by buying new weightlifting shoes in the hopes of using them to finish the contest in 17.4. 2-1 to Greg.
In the ‘family feud’ between sisters Surya and Rekha it’s was all tied at one a piece after 17.2 and as 17.3 finished in a tie we go into 17.4 with everything still to play for.
Rekha is banking on her youthful stamina to see off the ‘more experienced’ Surya.
We asked you last week about how you would react if something didn’t go your way and your response was a resounding ‘we’ll work harder’.
Special mention needs to go to Lori (PR City) who, despite only recently getting her first pull-up, spend the weekend working herself to the bone trying to master chest-to-bars. They may not have come this time but given her commitment it’s only a matter of time.
Mark (captain of PR City) also deserves a pat on the back for doing everything he could to conquer his mobility constraints and painstakingly grinding out 25 reps in 17.3.
There must be something in the water over at camp PR City.
17.3 again saw people challenged to achieve new firsts.
Jolina (The WOD Godz) snatch a new PR of 65lbs 4 times during 17.3. Chris (PR City) snatched 135lbs just after the WOD and Natalie snatched 75lbs (a new PR from a few days prior) 9 times during 17.3.
Will you be the next person to get a first during The Open?
Speaking of 17.4, we asked you last week, what did 16.4 and 15.4 have in common? Handstand push-ups (HSPU).
We’re don’t know if HSPU’s are coming up but we know that we’ll be working on them again during Thursdays (tomorrow) classes.
Double unders have also been ominous in their absence.
We’d be shocked if neither of these came up so we’ll keep practicing them until they do!
the Spirit of the WOD for 17.3 was very deservedly won by Jackie (PR City).
All weekend she was her usual sweat heart self (seriously that girl doesn’t have a bad bone in her body?) But on reflection over the weekend she’s constantly been there with her hand out for a clipboard to judge or change plates, or dancing whilst drinking her water bottle full of gin or acting as a positive influence.
Also from a movement perspective she’s been working very hard on stopping herself from jumping forward when snatching and this is paying off majorly because during 17.3 her snatching was breathtaking.
I can genuinely say is that it was some of the best lifting I have seen in CrossFit UV.
Hard work + commitment = results.
Well done Jackie,
In 17.3 the gyms top score went to Warren (The WOD Godz) who, alongside, Heidy (The WOD Godz) earned their team a massive ten points each.
That’s two weeks in a row that The WOD Godz have earned top spot in both the mens and the ladies.
Whilst The WOD Godz, again, had the two top places, PR City and Amino Disrespect also earned 33 points each this week making it a very close week.
The WOD Godz and Amino Disrespect both had 6 top ten finishes whilst PR City had 5 and the WODding Crashers had 3.
The WODding Crashers continue to have consistency with captain Rachel and Tracy but will count themselves unlucky that Ron was unavailable for 17.3 as it co-incided with one of the best days of his life. It’s up to the rest of the men to step up in his absence! #DoItForMatthias
PR City are continuing to close the gap on the teams above them which leads us to wonder if they’ll finally record a win during 17.4?
The standings after week three are:
1st – 117 points – Amino Disrespect
2nd – 94 points – The WOD Godz
3rd – 78 points – PR City
4th – 56 points – The WODding Crashers
17.1 was endurance
17.2 was gymnastic
17.3 was a heavy olympic lift
17.4 will be…?
We can only speculate as to how far ahead of everyone Hadrian and Taylor will be if tomorrow’s announcement of 17.4 brings rowing and something heavy but, as always, we wait with baited breath…
Fergus and the team at CrossFit UV
#CrossFitUV #UVStrong
