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Author: Tanner Bland

09 March
0

18.3 Blog

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And so it arrives, the WOD that just seems out of reach for so many. But we can’t look at this workout as something that is gonna stop us, we have to look at it as an opportunity to break through those barriers that have held us back. This WOD is one that gives us a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, I can finally get that movement that’s been on my list of things I want to achieve in my lifetime. Here’s your chance ladies and gentlemen, that chance to have a little open magic pixie dust ?‍♀️ sprinkled on you just before you attempt the most challenging movement you’ll ever encounter, and when you think your happy thoughts, a beautiful combination of kips and pulls will fly you up over those rings or your chin over that bar. Whether your doing this Rx and trying to get your first muscle-up (or Double-Under), or scaled and trying to get that first pull-up, this is your opportunity to shine. No matter what happens though be proud of what you accomplish, if you don’t get it, guess what you have a year to work on it, if you do get it, HELL YA! Nice work ?. The most important thing is that we try and we have fun, don’t take it too seriously this is a lifetime physical activity just because we don’t get it this year doesn’t mean we won’t ever get it, trust me, there is much much more growth in this gym, I know because I’ve seen the growth that has already occurred and it’s absolutely amazing, and I see no sign of it slowing down. So anyway I did it tonight and I’m not gonna go into it too much because I know most of us just don’t quite have that muscle-up and for those that do the rest of the workout is pretty simple, just keep moving. But for those of us that don’t have that muscle-up your goal is to complete those double-unders and Overhead Squats as fast as possible because there are tiebreaker scores after each set of double-unders. So there is no sense in trying to save yourself for anything else in this workout, try to get those done as fast as possible. For the Overhead Squats if you feel comfortable getting those done unbroken, do it! If you don’t think you can, try your best to get more than halfway or if your breaking it into 3 sets, more than a 1/3 of the way. What I mean is try not to break it up into same numbers like 4 sets of 5 or 2 sets of 10. Mentally if you can get more reps in your first sets the next sets won’t be as daunting to complete, so for example if I was breaking it up into 2 sets I would try to get to 12 or 13 on my first set because then I know my next set is gonna be easier to accomplish than that set I just did. If I went to 10, I’m gonna think oh man that was hard I don’t know if I can do that again, and that little bit of doubt in your mind is what’s gonna cause you to drop that bar at 17 or 18 instead of just knocking them out. Once you get to your Muscle-ups or pull-ups, take everything we’ve taught you or you’ve been told to think about, and throw it in the f’in trash! Just go for it! You’ve done the drills you know how it works, if you overthink it your gonna get in your own head, just do it, get a good kip, and fire as hard as you can. If you’ve never got one before, I can assure you, that first one is not gonna be pretty, but who cares, get those shoulders on top of those rings and you’ll have so much adrenaline that the ring dip will be an afterthought, you’ll already be locked out at the top before you even think about a dip. So good luck to those of you trying to get that first one. I hope to see it happen! For those that do have the muscle-up, break them into attainable sets, if that’s 1 at a time, so be it, just get through them, but don’t jump up there until your ready, every rep is gonna go a long way on your score for these. If you can get through the rings everything else is pretty simple, don’t get too frustrated on the double-unders, if you trip up, regroup and go again, I had more of a problem on the dubs after my oh squats and DB Snatch than I did after the MU’s, I think because my shoulders were pretty burned up after the oh squats and Snatch. IMPORTANT FOR JUDGES: I had the opportunity to judge last night as well, couple things to keep in mind. When counting double-unders, I know it’s not an easy task but it is your job to count them accurately, the best way I can say to count them is every time they jump, you count. Now using this method your counting their rep before they complete it basically, so if they trip up, they would be tripping up on the number you just counted, so you just have to go back 1. Say I’m counting 31, 32, 33, 34 and as I’m saying 34 in my head they trip up, I would just go back to 33 and start from there. Pretty simple. Also get into the habit of just telling them where they are at every time they trip up, so in my example as my athlete is resetting I’d let them know they are on 33 so everyone is on the same page. As for the oh squats they can squat Snatch the first one, just make sure they are at full depth (hip crease below the knee) and THEY STAND ALL THE WAY UP. Standing all the way up is a big one, make sure their hips are coming forward to make that straight line. For the muscle-ups make sure their arms are locked all the way out at the bottom at some point. I know some athletes in our gym like to have those bent arms to start but they have to get them extended then I don’t care if they bend before they pull but before each rep they must get them straight, and obviously lock out at the top as well. Also DB Snatch standards, make sure you know those, opposite hand cannot come in contact with the body, both ends of DB get to the ground, and also a new standard is that they can not make that transition between hands above eye level so make sure all that is good. Ok that’s all I got. Good Luck to all! See ya there.

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08 March
0

Friday 3/9/18 WOD

Tanner Bland   |   Uncategorized   |   No comment

The strength is just a bonus if you want something extra. Remember no day classes today. Just 5:15 am and Friday night lights starting around 7ish. I’ll be in there around 6 but my teens come in at 630, they have been hit or miss so if you want to come in a little early I don’t mind at all. Gotta be outa there by 9 though because I have work early Saturday morning and I gotta get to bed ?. See you tomorrow!

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02 March
0

Open 18.2 Blog

Tanner Bland   |   Uncategorized   |   No comment

So we get to see our first look at the new standard Burpees, a new movement, and some heavy lifting! This one gets me all revved up just thinking about the new PRs that some of you will have a shot at. As I went into this one my mood was blah, it was a long day and later than I usually work out, about 9 o’clock, and my normal pre workout baking soda concoction had surely wore off by that point, and having not eaten anything since 230 earlier in the day my energy wasn’t at its peak for sure. But I knew I need to get it done so I got after it. So looking at this workout it looks pretty simple, grunt work to start, and finish with a big lift. So my initial strategy was to move as quickly as I could through the Burpees and squats to get the most rest I could before the Cleans, then I watched the big boys go, and it seemed they had the same idea, burn it up to start then get some rest. But when I watched them, it seemed like they had to take more rest than they may have wanted to, which tells me that this might have burned their legs up a little more than anticipated. So going into my workout I decided to try a keep a nice steady pace through the initial part and hopefully my legs would have enough recovery time. I was thinking I could get it done within 6-7 minutes (which ended up not being the case ha), and have a minute or 2 to rest before my first clean. Anyway I got through the Squats and Burpees at about 8:18 going at a pretty moderate pace, and yes my legs were still burning. I gave myself about a minute rest before my first attempt and then have about 3 shots at the clean, about 1 per minute. I ended up with a new PR at 285 but that first clean felt like 1000 pounds haha. So let’s break down how I think you should move through this. This one is tricky, go too fast and you might be too burned up to get that clean up to you max, go too slow and you won’t have enough time to get that clean up to where you want it, so you might have to make a decision that’s best for you. Do you think you’ll be able to score better on the time portion or the weight portion? Personally I think you should just keep moving through these movements inside your zone and try to get 3-4 shots at your Cleans. The movements themselves aren’t all that difficult, pretty simple really. My advice, once you pick up the dumbbells, don’t put them down, grind it out even if you have to do 3 take a breath with them still on your shoulders, do 3 more and so on. Too much time wasted putting them down and picking them back up. Which brings me to my next point, find a comfortable way to hold the DB’s. They are awkward I know, but do your best to find a position that minimizes the awkwardness for YOU, this may be different for every person. Once you find a good position practice getting them into that position, nothing kills more time than fiddle fudgin around with those dumbbells when you should be knocking out squats. For judges and athletes you must make sure you stand all the way up with those dbs on your shoulders before squatting, none of that picking the dumbbells up in a Squat and trying to count that as your first, clean them up to standing position, then squat. And obviously get to full depth, and stand all the way up on every squat, judges if it’s close give them a warning and if they do it again you gotta no rep them, if it’s not even close no rep them right away, standards are there for a reason, it’s not fair to everyone that are doing the movements as prescribed to let someone not do the movement how it’s suppose to be done. As for the Burpees, JUST KEEP MOVING, try not to lay there, or stare at the bar, get down and get back up. Now we’ve been working on the new standards, as long as both feet move back together and move forward together, you’re good, you can start a little sideways or land not completely square but they both must move together, we just don’t want to see the exaggerated steps forward. And obviously if your doing it Rx jump off 2 feet please. Don’t make it hard on the judges just do a two foot jump. Tip for those is to try and turn as your jumping over the bar, it’ll put you in a better position to drop into that next burpee. And then there was the clean. This is where the magic of the open happens! You can load up the bar to your opening weight before you start the workout so my suggestion is to load it up around 90-95% of your known 1 rep max clean (the heaviest clean you’ve ever hit), something that’s not too easy but not something you’ve never done before or only done once. Hopefully you’ll have 3-4 shots at it, so once you hit that 90-95% I would go to my known 1 rep and try to hit that. If I got that it’s PR time baby! My advice: Go for that shit! You gotta hit that clean as hard as you ever have, drop faster than you’ve ever dropped, and get those elbows in front of that bar. Like I tell you when we’re doing heavy cleans if you can get those elbows in front of that bar you’ve got the clean, then it’s just a front squat from there. As soon as you open up from that clean the only thing you should be thinking is throw those elbows as fast as you can. Another tip is to keep those eyes and your head up, if your chin drops it almost a guarantee that your elbows are gonna follow suit, keep that chin up. Other than that all I gotta say is GO FOR IT! I hope to hear all about the new PRs people put up. Good luck and have fun! See you guys Friday night.

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