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CrossFit Open WOD 16.2 Strategy

Strong people everywhere are rejoicing that finally they get to lift some heavy weight, but little do they know that this isn’t a strength workout until well into the third round of cleans. There will be many strong people that fail to meet their strength potential, because the metabolic effect is so large. Make no mistake, you must be fit and technically sound in your movement, to even make it to the cleans in the third round.

Open WOD 16.2 is a deceiving workout. Athletes must complete 25 Toes to Bar, 50 Double-unders, and then a given number of squat cleans, all within a 4 min period. If you succeed, you will have 4 more minutes added to your time, then start a new round of 25 TTB, 50 Double-Unders and a given number of cleans; except now the cleans will be heavier. This continues almost indefinitely. Each round has a buy-in of 25 Toes to bar and 50 Double-unders, with the cleans increasing in weight, and decreasing in reps.

Open WOD 16.2

4 min work periods
25 Toes to bar
50 Double-unders
Squat Cleans
Males (135 x 15, 185 x 13, 225 x 11, 275 x 9, 315 x 7)
Females (85 x 15, 115 x 13, 145 x 11, 175 x 9, 205 x 7)

Nutrition and Initial Preparation Concerns

Your nutrition must be dialed in for this type of workout. The Central Nervous System (CNS) demand is very high. Carbohydrates must be flowing through your body. This is not an ideal workout to perform fasted, because the intensity is too high. It is a very anaerobic workout and will be fueled by immediately available carbohydrates. It would be best to perform this workout in early afternoon or evening with a meal already under your belt. You should also consume a pre-workout drink 30-60 minutes before. This drink should consist of ½ your bodyweight in carb grams and ¼ of your bodyweight in protein grams, with minimal fat (fat will slow down the absorption of the carbohydrates into the blood stream).

The warm-up should always include a good “general warm-up” to get a light sweat going. This should be a few min of light rowing and some dynamic mobility drills. Given the explosive nature of these movements, it would help to include some broad jumps, high jumps, and all varieties of skipping. Also work in some knee-jumps, and jumping squats. None of this should be super intense, but consistent movement.

In the more specific warm-up, you will want to make sure your shoulder girdle is loose for the Toes to Bar. Do some scap pull-ups, some weighted disclocates, arm circles with small weights, and finally getting into some actual kipping. It may help as well to do some light overhead squats, especially with a narrower grip, as this will aid in creating extra mobility in the shoulder girdle, while also starting to warm-up the squat position for the cleans.

For the Double-unders, you want to make sure that the Achilles and calves are loose. Perform some easy toe walks, some heel walks, and some light bounding on the toes. Stretch the Achilles on a stairway. If needed, some gentle lacrosse ball could help, too.

For the cleans, we must make sure the wrists are loose and in position to catch heavy weight, which may not always be caught in perfect position under fatigue. Start with some planks, then some reverse-hand planks. Get some handstand work in. Finally, load up a heavy barbell in a squat rack, and use the weight as a means of opening up the wrist (don’t actually lift the weight, just push against it in the front-rack position, while driving your elbows up). Finally, do some cleans! Not too many, but enough to create a good connection with the movement. No need to go too heavy, because the ascending nature of the workout will take care of that for you.

Finally, getting into the specific prep, the following two movement sequences will provide sufficient technical warm-up for the workout itself:

A. EMOM x 6 min (alternate minutes):
12 seconds of DU (rest 48 sec)
4 TTB + 2 Power Cleans (95/65) + 2 Hang squat cleans (95/65)

B. Complete each round quickly, and rest till breathing returns back to normal before next round

1. 4 TTB + 15 DU + 4 Cleans (135/85)
2. 4 TTB + 15 DU + 3 Cleans (185/115)
3. 4 TTB + 15 DU + 2 Cleans (225/145)

Pacing and General Strategy

This is the most difficult workout format to try and advise pacing and rep scheme. So much of this depends on what round you are targeting to complete (or enter). Because of this, I will be very general with my advice.

If you intend on getting really far into this workout, you need to build up saved time. However, you cannot do this at the expense of your ability to remain composed. Nothing is more destructive to an athlete than trying to lift a heavy barbell while they can’t breathe and the head is bobbling all around like Kara Webb on Murph. Stay within your means. Know thyself as an athlete, and make sure your comfort zone remains as you get deeper into the workout and get heavier barbells at the end of each round. I will discuss more specifics for each movement below.

The Movements

Toes to Bar

Should NOT be done unbroken. Despite what you saw Dan Bailey do, this is a recipe for disaster – and I bet when Dan Bailey redoes it, he will not do them unbroken. Guess what makes really heavy cleans extremely difficult? Fatigued core muscles. Guess how you can slow down the fatigue of your core? Smaller sets on TTB!!

I am not telling you to dilly daddle on your TTB – Just to be smart with your set structure, and stay within your means as an athlete. My top athletes will be completing the TTB in 2 sets (reps 15-10 or 14-11), while others will need three sets (reps 10-8-7). Even if you did 5 sets of 5, you could be done with your TTB in 60 seconds. Those seconds don’t matter that much, and if you intend on moving far through this workout, your core will thank you in the later rounds.

Now with that said, if your goal is just to get to the second bar, and you know you will get stuck there, then sure, crush the TTB and leave yourself as much time as possible for the cleans. Those with bigger aspirations need to balance the need to build-up time with the cost of fatiguing the core.

Double-Unders

Just do ‘em, and get em outta the way. They’re a nuisance. They’re gonna spike your heart rate. If you aren’t great at them, they’re also going to fatigue your grip, which is a really bad thing when it’s combined with two other grip-intensive movements. If you aren’t very proficient, you may need to break the dubs into two sets – but this comes at a cost. It could also be argued that it makes sense to strategically break the dubs 30/20 from the beginning. If you opt for this approach, just hold yourself accountable to 10 seconds or less of rest. Keep breathing, try to stay composed, relax your face, and get through ‘em.

The Squat Clean

Ahhh…. The “fun” part of this workout – The whole reason why you push so hard to get through the TTB and Dubs. So how do you approach it? SINGLES! Pretty much all singles.

Even Dan Bailey did singles at the first bar, and that was the right move. He knew he was in for a long workout, and so he did the smart thing and controlled his breathing.

With that said, there could be a case made for doing some touch-and-go reps. If you break up your TTB into small sets, you might consider linking some doubles together. Or, if it’s approaching the end of your 4-min period, you gotta do what you do. But in most cases, the cleans should be singles. This keeps the grip fresh, and also saves the fatigue associated with having to lower the bar down under control. Just drop from the top, take one breath, and pick it back up quickly.

Summary

This workout is going to hurt. Make sure you are as efficient as possible with all movements, and waste as little energy as possible. Try to keep moving as consistently as possible, and remember to breathe DURING movements, as well as while you are resting. Stay composed, and relax as much as possible. Have fun, and don’t be scared to try this one twice!

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Bryan Boorstein

Bryan started training with weights at 14 years old. He was playing varsity basketball as a Freshman, and needed a way to keep pace with the older boys.

What started as a tool to enhance another sport eventually turned into the full focus of his career. At James Madison University, where he attended with San Diego Athletics co-owner...

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Open WOD 16.2

4 min work periods
25 Toes to bar
50 Double-unders
Squat Cleans
Males (135 x 15, 185 x 13, 225 x 11, 275 x 9, 315 x 7)
Females (85 x 15, 115 x 13, 145 x 11, 175 x 9, 205 x 7)

Nutrition and Initial Preparation Concerns

Pacing and General Strategy