Monday 9.11
Name game: What hill are you always willing to die on?

Warm up: 2 minutes of jump rope, then rounds for 4 minutes of 5 squats to hip hinge, 5 jumping air squats, 5-5-5-5 monster walks, 5/side active lizard stretch

Strength: pause back squat 5×3 (3 seconds at bottom)

WOD: AMREPs in 10 minutes
10, 20, 30 etc.
double unders
5, 10, 15 etc.
parallette shoot-throughs

How to scale: The real workout today is the squats, so this is not a bad time to force yourself to work through the DUs and make this more a skill piece than a metcon. If you are looking for that high-intensity stimulus, cap the time you spend working on the rope so that you keep moving through the WOD.

Double unders: Single-single-double, DU attempts, or reduce reps to 5-10-15 etc. Sub 2-4-6 etc. bike in case of injury.

Shoot throughs: Elevate your hands higher using boxes or benches.

Objective: These are the smallest sets we’ll be doing in this cycle of pause squats, so go for a heavier weight across all 5 sets than you used for the 5×5 and 5×4 on 8/14 and 8/31. The workout is a twist on the benchmark Annie. See if you can get through the set of 50/25.

Score: squat weights & total reps

Tuesday 9.12
Name game: What TV show were you most upset to see canceled?

Warm up: 3 rounds of 200m run, 10 good mornings, 10 kip swings

WOD: “Pyramid Double Helen”
For time *30 minute cap
1200m run
63 American kettlebell swings 24/16
36 pull-ups
800m run
42 American kettlebell swings 24/16
24 pull-ups
400m run
21 American kettlebell swings 24/16
12 pull-ups

How to scale: Adjust so you’re able to beat the cap — make sure you’re finishing the round of 1200/63/36 before the 15:00 mark.

Run: Consider reducing the distances to 1000m, 600m, 200m if your running pace is slower than 10 minutes/mile.

Kettlebell swings: Use a lighter kettlebell or reduce the range of motion by doing Russian swings to shoulder height.

Pull-ups: This is 72 total pull-ups, so avoid kipping today unless your strict pull-ups are solid. Use a band or do ring rows instead.

Extra credit (optional): For total calories in 5 minutes on the Echo bike:
:10 sprint, :50 rest
:20 sprint, :40 rest
:30 sprint, :30 rest
:40 sprint, :20 rest
:50 sprint, :10 rest

Objective: This workout appeared at the CrossFit Games in 2010 as a double-volume variation on the benchmark workout “Helen.” Whereas Helen is more or less a sprint, this one requires some strategy, particularly with regard to grip management. Push hard on the runs, then approach the swings and pull-ups with a plan for breaking them up into sets small enough to help you avoid grip failure.

Score: time to complete

Wednesday 9.13
Name game: What city would you never visit, based on its reputation alone?

Warm up: bear crawl soccer

WOD: 2 sets, each for time *22 minute cap
21-15-9
wall balls 20/14
box jump overs 24/20
med ball cleans 20/14
*Rest 2 minutes between sets
**10 minute cap for set 1

How to scale: Modify the skills or reps so you’re able to finish both sets in under 10 minutes. If strength is the issue, use a lighter medicine ball. If endurance is the issue, reduce the rep scheme 18-12-6.

Wall balls: Use a lighter ball and/or aim for a lower target.

Box jump overs: Jump over a lower box if it’s fear that’s the limiting factor. If it’s an injury or muscular/cardiovascular endurance — jumping gets your heart rate too high or tires out your legs and causes you to take long breaks — switch to step-overs.

Medicine ball cleans: Use a lighter ball. Med ball cleans are always squat cleans, but if the squat range of motion poses an issue you can sub med ball lunges.

Accessory: 3 rounds
10/10 single leg lateral box step ups
10/10 Bulgarian split squat

Objective: As far as time domains for Crossfit workouts go, this triplet falls into the 6-10 minute sweet spot just longer than all-out sprint. But there’s a catch: you need to do it twice, with only a short break between. Try to move through these skills as unbroken as possible while still keeping your breathing and muscle fatigue under control.

Score: time for each set

Thursday 9.14
Name game: What is ridiculously overpriced, yet you still buy it?

Warm up: for 4 minutes complete rounds of 10 scap pull-ups, 10 kip swings, 5 inchworms

Strength/skill: 5x max rep strict pull-ups
*rest 2 minutes between sets

How to scale: Use a band such that you can get at least 5 reps in your first set. If you can’t yet do a banded pull-up, alternate 3 max sets of ring rows and 2 max effort active hangs.

WOD: 1:00 on, :30 off for 10 rounds
10 toes to bar
max rep burpees

How to scale: Modify the toes to bar so that you have at least 30 seconds to do burpees each minute.

Toes to bar: If you want to practice the full T2B range of motion, reduce the reps to 5-8 each minute. Otherwise, scale to knees to elbow, knees to chest, or knee raises.

Burpees: Do straight-arm burpees if an injury or mobility limitation prevents going all the way to the ground. Otherwise, today is a good day to push yourself to do the full range of motion even if it means getting fewer reps than you would with straight arms.

Objective: A few weeks ago we did max effort toes to bar; today we’re doing max effort strict pull-ups. Don’t try to game this — take the first set to failure even if it means your reps drop dramatically from there. It’s a good way to test your pulling strength and get some good practice. Your tired lats will then be put to the test in the WOD, which has an additional 100 toes to bar. Be efficient with your kip to help work through them quickly and get to the burpees.

Score: total strict pull-ups & total burpees

Friday 9.15
Name game: What’s your favorite ‘80s movie?

Warm up: coach-led barbell

Strength: 15 minute EMOM
snatch pull + power snatch

WOD: 3 rounds for time *12 minute cap
25 overhead squats 45/35
25 push-ups

How to scale: This is a quick one. Use modifications you can do for big sets.

Overhead squats: Use a practice bar or PVC. If mobility issues keep you from getting into a good, safe overhead position, sub front squats. You should be able to do these unbroken.

Push-ups: Elevate your hands on a box or on the wall — the higher your hands, the easier the movement becomes.

Objective: Today’s snatch EMOM is longer than usual to give you an opportunity to really dial in your technique at moderate loads before pushing for near maximal loads in the last few minutes. While the workout has a generous time cap, it’s meant to be a sprint limited only by your push-up endurance. The overhead squats should be light enough to do unbroken, then you get to decide if you want to use the longer time cap to get good push-up practice or if you want to keep the sprint stimulus by picking a push-up scale you can do for sets of at least 10-15 reps at a time.

Score: max snatch complex & time to complete

Saturday 9.16
Name game: What’s the biggest culture shock you’ve ever experienced?

Warm up: coach-led funzies

WOD: With a partner, 30 minute AMRAP
300m row
1 round of DT 155/105
3 rope climbs
*alternate movements with your partner (round of DT is 1 movement)
**DT= 12 deadlifts, 9 hang power cleans, 6 push jerks

How to scale: Adjust so that each “movement” takes less than about 90 seconds.

Row: Reduce the distance to 250m, or go as far as you can within 90 seconds.

DT: Reduce the weight based on your weakest movement; likely the push jerk. You should be able to make it through this with minimal breaks; ideally only after the 11th deadlift and after the 8th hang clean.

Rope climbs: Do only 1-2 climbs, 3 partial climbs, or 6 ground-to-stand.  

Objective: This workout equates to about 60-90 seconds of work, 60-90 seconds of rest, for each partner. Since you’re getting roughly 1:1 rest, make sure you’re working hard when it’s your turn: push the row, try to work through DT with minimal breaks, and pace the rope climbs to get one every 20-30 seconds.

Score: rounds & reps (row = 30 reps; round = 60 reps)

Sunday 9.17
Strength: 20 minute EMOM front squat 5 reps @ 70%