Naturally, in classic Dave Castro form, my heart got really excited for about half a second when I heard the word "clean." 16.2, while touted as a strength workout, for most will be about managing the toes to bar and remaining efficient and strong during the cleans. Luckily the announcement show gave us a pretty good look at the workout. What most of us need to remember however is that what we saw a minute 18 will be reality for most of us at minute 12. I think if there is one major principle that will make the difference in this workout, it's your ability to be honest with yourself on your own fitness. If you attack this workout like you're going to make it to the final-round when you know that your capability is going to stop you at minute 12 then this workouts going to be a disaster. The reason Dan did so well is because he managed his toes to bar right up until the very end. If you noticed it wasn't until his final set of toes to bar that we started to see some real fatigue and degradation. He managed them perfectly. However, his management of those toes to bar included his first two unbroken sets. As a reminder, most of us are not Dan Bailey.
Joe and I put two videos together for you to help a little with this workout. On top of those two videos below, here are three specific pacing tips you should consider.
1- Be honest with your toe to bar capability. If one set of 25 will fry your grip, spike your heart rate, and overly fatigue your core and hips then obviously they need to be broken up. My suggestion is to think about what number would cause fatigue for you and then cut it in thirds or fourths. For instance, I can probably do 20 toes to bar in a row but that would wreak havoc on anything I did following that. Therefore, an athlete in my shoes should probably break the toes to bar up in manageable sets of 5 to 7 reps. That's going to allow me both to manage my heart rate as well as save my grip a bit. Be honest with your toes to bar capability and pick manageable sets accordingly.
2- Do not step backwards from the clean bar. That does not mean that you cannot rest or take necessary time between reps but stepping back from the clean bar generally increases that needed time. Stay on top of the bar. Take the rest you need but in many ways staying on top of the bar will help increase your urgency and also prevent you from resting too long. There's no literal purpose to taking that one step backwards except to give you more time than you need.
3- Assess your fitness and pick a goal to chase down. With that goal in mind manage the early minutes so as to allow you to pick up the pace and the speed when the clock is fighting you. Dave's workouts where you have to earn your place in the next round is all about saving just enough energy to squeak out a couple reps right before the buzzer. If you are an athlete looking to squeak by the 225 pound bar then this workout should be paced as a 12 minute workout. Anything past that round should be considered bonus for you. This is why honesty is crucial. If I'm honest with my understanding of my own fitness then I am able to pace according to the amount of time that I think I'll be on the floor and then just get the extra reps as bonus past that time. What you don't want to do is be unrealistic with where your fitnesses is. If I know I am prepared for 12 rounds but as the competition heats up I get excited and shoot for more then my pacing might actually land me short of what I'm actaully able to complete. Honesty with your fitness will allow you to pace the workout exactly right leaving nothing on the table and only gaining bonus reps past your goal. I will use myself as an example. My goal is to make it past the second round. In order to do that I have to pace the work out as if it were an 8 minute workout. If I paced this work out as if it were a 12 minute workout I likely will not have completed enough reps by the 8 minute point to allow me to make it to that third round. I need to be able to pace the workout in such a way that I'm able to increase my intensity and my pace with 90 seconds to a 60 sec left before my goal round. For me, that means at minute 7 I need to pick up the pace and empty my metabolic tank so to speak. The hardest part of my workout should be the final minute before my goal round. Anything past that is a bonus.
Another sneaky one from Mr. Castro and another genius way to test your pain threshold training. Good luck, make sure and check out the videos below, and don't let your mind get the best of you on this one.