When the first open workout was announced this year I, like many of you, released a collective groan. Light barbells, long time domain, and a relatively low amount of skill level are the bane of my fitness existence. However, after completing the workout, observing our stable of athletes attack it, and spending some time on the leaderboard I have found a new respect for this workout for one simple reason.
If you were smart and honest about your own personal fitness, you succeeded. If you threw caution to the wind and attacked this 20 minute workout with no control or direction, you lost.
Here is my reasoning. There are about 10 people in the world who did not have to plan for this workout. And if your last name isn’t Bridges, Heppner, Briggs or Bridgers you are not one of them. We aren’t just talking about the top 1%. I would venture to say we are considering the top 2-5% of that 1% who have the absolute shear aerobic capacity to push the gas pedal for 20 minutes. And good for them! It’s amazing to hear about sustainable 1:25 rounds.
For most athletes though, including MOST CrossFit Games athletes, if their first 3-4 rounds were at this pace there was a massive lactic acid cliff lurking around minutes 11 through 13. Some of you reading this may have experienced the moment when your biceps would no longer finish the Chest portion of the Chest to bar pullups or you spent 20-30 seconds looking at the barbell after your burpees before you stepped 25 feet (7-9 steps for most!!). It was real, it was painful, and once you’ve crossed the line into the lactic energy domain there is no going back… without rest that is.
This very fact is what makes me appreciate this workout. For the extremely vast majority of the participants this workout was about keeping your energy production in the aerobic realm. The realm where you effectively use the oxygen inhaling to help create energy/ATP without creating inflammatory lactic acid byproducts. The athletes who performed very well in this workout who are NOT some of the 2-5% of the 1% are the ones who know this and have enough experience to accept their aerobic limitations. These athletes also have enough confidence in their preparation to know their controlled performance will put them in striking distance of those elusive regional invitations.
While I still do not absolutely love this workout I do appreciate the test of individualized control. This workout further proves the days of diving headlong into a brickwall are over. Even a workout with very low skill and light barbells proved beneficial for the honest and savvy.
-Joe