The Open starts in exactly one month, and Open prep is in full swing! For the next few weeks, expect to see more emphasis on skills and workouts in the 10-15 minute time domain and less dedicated strength work.

Monday 1.29
Name game: What’s a song you once liked that’s been so overplayed you can no longer stand to listen to it?

Warm up: 2 minute bike/row then coach-led barbell

Strength: 10 minute EMOM
1 power snatch + 1 hang squat snatch
*If you’re sore from squatting yesterday in strength class, do power snatch + hang power snatch
**2 sets in minutes 1-3

WOD: 12 minute AMRAP
20 alternating dumbbell snatches 50/35
5 wall walks

How to scale: This is a relatively short workout, but it’s a long time to be doing just two skills. Modify so you can keep moving on both for the full 12 minutes.

Dumbbell snatches: Use a lighter weight. You should be able to finish the reps in 1-2 sets for most of the workout.

Wall walks: Go only part way up the wall.

Objective: The strength work today focuses on hang snatches. The extra set in each of the first 3 intervals is there to let you get in some extra practice at light loading before you start to get heavy in the second half of the EMOM. The workout is a couplet of two movements that have come up regularly in past CrossFit Opens. Pick a pace that lets you keep moving the whole time and focus on hitting the standard for each movement: working arm locked out on the DB snatches and non-working arm not resting on your leg; starting and ending each wall walk in the bottom of a push-up and getting your hands as close to the wall as possible. Aim for 4+ rounds.

Score: max snatch complex and rounds & reps

Tuesday 1.30
Name game: What — other than money or food — would be the best thing to win a lifetime supply of?

Warm up: for 4 minutes complete rounds of 20 jumping jacks, 10 pass-throughs, 10 med ball front squats, 5 hang knee raises

Skill: review rope climbs
*Experienced climber alternative: build to a heavy strict press for the day

WOD: Karen Goes Climbing
For time *20 minute cap
50-40-30-20-10
wall balls 20/14
5-4-3-2-1
rope climbs

How to scale: Modify so that you’re able to finish within the cap. On average, that’s a pace around 12 wall balls per minute and 1 rope climb every :30.

Wall balls: Use a lighter ball and/or aim for a lower target. You should be able to do sets of at least 10 reps at a time.

Rope climbs: Do partial climbs or a reduced rep scheme (e.g. 3-2-2-1-1 or 4-3-2-1-1), or sub 25-20-15-10-5 hanging knee raises.

Objective: Today starts with an element of choose your own adventure: for those newer to rope climbing or still nailing down the technique, the first half of class is your time to get some extra practice and instruction. If you’re a rope climbing pro, you have the option to instead get a bit of extra strength work during this time with low volume of a light lift that won’t overly fatigue your shoulders for the WOD. The workout is a variation on the benchmark “Karen” (150 wall balls for time), in which those reps are divided into a descending ladder mixed with rope climbs. The resulting stimulus will be similar to 19.5 last Monday, with the thruster-like movement on the wall balls and the pulling element in the rope climbs.

Score: time to complete & max strict press (if applicable)

Wednesday 1.31
Name game: If you were invisible for a day, what would you do first?

Warm up: 2 rounds, 1 minute per station, row, jump rope, inchworms 

Skill: 10 minute EMOM
Odds: 10-15 seated leg raise over KB
Evens: :10/side front & back scales

WOD: 8 rounds, 1:30 each:
18/14 calorie row
Max double unders
*Rest 1:30 between rounds. During “rest” intervals, accumulate max time in a wall sit. (Do a total of 7 wall sits; after each of the first 7 row intervals.)

How to scale: Reduce the calories to be completed in 1 minute or less. Do double under attempts, count single unders 2:1, or sub calories on the Echo bike.

Objective: The skill work today focuses on balance and hip flexor strength; the WOD is about rowing hard enough that you’re allowing plenty of time for double unders but not so hard that you need to rest before picking up your rope. Beware: The static holds during the so-called rest intervals will make it difficult for your legs to recover between rounds.

Score: total DUs

Thursday 2.1

Name game: If you had to swap your legs with the legs of any other animal, which animal would you choose?

Warm up: bear crawl soccer

WOD: In 28 minutes
AMREPs in 8 minutes:
box jumps 24/20
*10 toes to bar EMOM (starting at 0:00)
Rest 2 minutes
AMREPs in 8 minutes:
weighted sit-ups 25/15
*10 pull-ups EMOM
Rest 2 minutes
AMREPs in 8 minutes:
Russian KBS 24/16
*10 push-ups EMOM

How to scale: Modify the skills and/or reduce the reps on the buy-ins so you have at least :20 to accumulate reps every round.

Box jumps: Jump to a lower box. Sub step-ups if an injury prevents you from jumping.

Toes to bar: Reduce the reps or reduce the range of motion to knees to elbow, knees to chest, or knee raises. If hanging is an issue, sub candlesticks.

Weighted sit-ups: Use a lighter weight or do unweighted sit-ups.

Pull-ups: Sub ring rows or jumping pull-ups. No bands.

KB swings: Use a lighter kettlebell.

Push-ups: Elevate your hands on a box or bench.

Objective: The goal today is accumulating reps of movements broadly based on hinging and opening at the hip, but each comes with an on-the-minute gymnastics buy-in that will add some degree of interference immediately or in a future interval. Remember that taking minutes off from accumulating reps can be a viable strategy, but skipping the buy-in is scaling.

Score: total reps (box jumps + sit-ups + kettlebell swings)

Friday 2.2
Name game: Happy Groundhog Day! Are you hoping for six more weeks of winter or an early spring?

Warm up: 3 minute bike/row then coach-led barbell

WOD: Open 20.1
10 rounds for time *15 minute cap
8 ground-to-overhead 95/65 (55+ 65/45)
10 bar-facing burpees

Scaled: 65/45, step-over permitted on burpees.

At 15:00:
10 minutes to establish a 1 RM cluster

Objective: We’re revisiting another past Open WOD and adding in a test of strength as it has traditionally appeared in the Open: under fatigue, immediately following a conditioning piece. This workout also offers you a choice: the ground-to-overhead designation means you can perform either snatches or clean and jerks, or a mix of both. Experiment with cycling each in the warm up to see what the best plan for you will be. Once the cap for the workout hits, you’ll have 10 minutes to find your max cluster – a squat clean directly into a thruster. Start with a weight you’re confident you can hit then base your jumps on how strong that feels. You should have time to make at least 4-5 good attempts with 1-2 minutes of rest between.

Score: time (or reps at cap) + max cluster

Saturday 2.3
Name game: What was the worst fashion choice you ever made?

Warm up: coach-led funzies

WOD: With a partner:
15 minute AMRAP:
10/7 calorie bike
10 overhead squats 75/55
Rest 3 minutes
15 minute AMRAP:
10/7 calorie bike
10 front squats 115/75
*alternate full rounds

How to scale: Reduce the bike calories to take :45 or less and reduce the weights so you can do the squats unbroken.

Objective: This is a partner workout in two parts, each consisting of quick sprints on the bike and small sets of relatively light squats. Unlike last week’s partner workout, where there was essentially no built-in rest, you should be getting roughly 1:1 rest today, so each time you work through one of these couplets should be a sprint.

Score: 2 sets of rounds & reps

Sunday 2.4
** Gym closed for construction **