Open 15.4 Tips

Oh boy! As if the muscle ups thrown in at the beginning of 15.3 weren't enough, now we've got a workout revolving around another popular goat - handstand pushups. CrossFit Games director Dave Castro is clearly trying to establish a line between the RX'd and scaled divisions, which is actually okay with me as many CrossFit boxes have evolved towards leveled programming anyway. Everyone had been releasing tips but most of them say the same thing, so here are a few not-so-obvious tips for surviving this 8 minute onslaught:

1. Get off of your shoulders. Actually impossible in this workout, but think about it; for 8 minutes you are either directly loading the shoulders via handstand pushups or you're loading them through tension and rotation through cleans. Those puppies are going to take a beating if you don't move the stress elsewhere. I personally recommend the legs and hips. Explode on the kip and ride the boost to the end of your handstand pushup. 185#/125# is a manageable weight for the experienced Crossfitter, one that doesn't require a ton of effort if you're hitting singles (more on that later). Get your hips into that clean and you won't destroy yourself.

2. Mobilize your hips.   In order to get the most out of it, the wind up on that kip should look like an inverted squat. If you're tight to begin with, you're cheating yourself out of better efficiency.

3. No bouncy bumper plates. Scott Panchik mentioned this at the showdown on Thursday night, and I think it's an excellent point. After every dropped clean, he almost had to chase the barbell down to stabilize it enough for the next rep. Save the headache, the time and effort and just use the dead weight plates.

4. NO CHALK. Yes, this is in caps for a reason. Dave Castro finally gave us a break as far as ripping our hands to shreds goes, so take advantage of it. Precious seconds in this workout will be wasted with trips to the chalk bucket. They're 185#/125# cleans, you don't need it. Stop rationalizing it in your head. You don't.

5. Singles on every clean. It doesn't matter how much barbell cycling you did on the Outlaw Way program, you need all the rest you can get. If you go touch-n-go on the cleans, you will pay for it with handstand pushups.

Welp, that's all I've got for 15.4 for ya. Best of luck this weekend!

P.S. What's missing so far in the 2015 CrossFit Open? Thrusters and burpees. Beware 15.5, I'm just saying.

~Coach J