14.3 Summary

I think with every reveal and performance of an Open work out we all learn a little bit about ourselves and our fellow competitors. I’m going to write a final blog post about what the Open workouts do for our mental state, but I’m going to wait until the final workout is complete.
With the reveal of 14.3, what I found out very quickly was that different strategies work for different people. There was no catch all magic trick to help you dominate this work out. Unlike 14.2, 14.3 was heavily dependent upon your pulling strength and mental capability to push through pain. Make no doubt that for every single athlete who completed this workout there was a level of pain that had to be embraced. Those that embraced it well and were able to continue stringing multiple deadlift reps together in the later rounds ended with a good score.
One truth about this past workout did remain 100% faithful though. Streaming multiple reps together was the only way to reach a high score. The earlier you went to singles, the faster you were taxed and inevitably prevented from getting a high number.
Breaking the ground that many times with heavy reps would inevitably become your nemesis and your Achilles’ heel in this work out. Speaking of the achilles, I hate to admit it and hate this reality, but step ups where the way to go. For 99.9% of the athletes I coach, step ups were faster, less aerobically taxing, and because of this truth allowed for the athlete to complete the deadlifts at a quicker pace and string more reps together. The .1% athlete that would benefit from doing box jumps are either (A) in Rich Froning’s/Sam Briggs’ level of aerobic capacity or (B) have the athleticism and coordination of Jason Hoggan upon which a step up is just too much for your body and mind to handle inside of in a minute workout. (He literally fell down on the box 3 times trying to do a box jump. Step ups would’ve been a disaster.)
With this workout all said and done, we look forward to what will likely be a longer workout this week. Honestly, I’m just excited to not have to watch eight minutes of deadlifts and box jumps again… Until Regionals.