CrossFit Open WOD 16.4 Strategy

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CrossFit Open WOD 16.4 is made for a big bodied, powerful person… for the first three-quarters of the workout. The problem is, if you are great at HSPU, but are of a smaller stature, you might not have much time to show off your HSPU game. I’m gonna help you find your way to the wall, whether you are big and strong, or small and gymnasty.

Open WOD 16.4 – AMRAP 13 minutes

55 Deadlifts (225/155)
55 Wall-Balls (20/14)
55 Cal Row
55 HSPU (to standard)

Initial Preparation Concerns

The warm-up should consist of “general warm-up” to get a light sweat going. Ideally, this should be done on the rower, since we will be rowing in the workout.

As you progress through the rowing warm-up, begin to take note of your stroke rate, damper setting, “cals per hour” (noted mid screen when sets on “calories”) and pay attention to your Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE). It’s important to get your heart rate elevated by completing some intense “intervals” for 10-20 sec on the rower. This will prepare the body for the work ahead.

When determining how fast to row your 55 cals, it is VITAL that you understand that the row is the third straight movement that hammers your posterior chain, and therefore, the fatigue will be exponentially greater than what you feel while warming up.

Next, you will need to ensure your hamstrings, hips, low back, glutes and shoulders are all mobilized. The usual approach of lacrosse ball, foam roller, band pull-aparts, inch-worms should work quite well. Having hamstrings that are flexible will help you keep proper position during the deadlifts, which could have a big impact on how you feel the rest of the workout.

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

3 Rounds - EMOM x 9 min (alternate movements each):
8 Deadlifts (135/95)
8 Wall-Balls
4 HSPU (to standard)

Complete TWO rounds, resting 2 minutes between each

5 DL (225/155) + 5 WB + 5 cal Row + 3 HSPU

Pacing

This is my favorite topic every week. I love how aggressively people attack workouts the first time, and then they reflect on it, and realize they should have paced more.

Understand that pacing doesn’t mean taking long rests between sets. Pacing means strategically breaking movements with planned short rest so that you don’t have to spend a ton of time recovering later in the workout. In this workout, my pacing advice is pretty much relevant to everyone except the top regionals and games athletes. If you are extremely fit, just rest for less when you break sets – but the same principles of sustainability apply.

It should also be understood that if you are a bigger and more powerful person, each rep of each of the first three exercises will be less taxing on your body, and you may be able to push a little harder in certain places. For all athletes, you need to keep in mind that this workout is equivalent to a 2-mile run. We all know we wouldn’t sprint the first 400m, so be smart and understand that the deadlifts are just the buy-in to a much longer workout.

The Movements

Deadlifts

These should be done in sets of 5 for most people. I know this sounds crazy to a lot of you. If your max Deadlift is around mid 300’s for guys or mid 200’s for ladies, you should DEFINITELY do 5’s the whole way. If your deadlift is above that, you may find it useful to knock out a relatively large set to start, and then settle into 5’s. This is because of the reflex effect, and being able to get reps out of the way will give you a bit of a boost. This is the smart, intelligent way to make sure that you stay fresh enough to do some damage on the rest of the workout.

Now, if you are fighting for a regionals spot, and a good deadlifter, you may find yourself doing 3-4 sets total, like 20/15/10/10 – but be cautious of unnecessary fatigue.

This workout is all about midline being stable. You need this stability in your core for efficiency in Wall-Balls. The Rowing movement is essentially the same thing as a deadlift, and your midline must be strong and stable for balance in the HSPU. Wrecking yourself on the deads is a bad idea.

Wall Balls

The Wall Balls should be done in 3-5 sets, depending on the person. After the deadlifts, the glutes and low back will be screaming. Giving yourself a couple SHORT breaks is a solid plan.

Remember to drive through your heels, and pop the hips to accelerate the ball. Let your shoulders relax as much as possible, and keep any arrant movement to a minimum. When resting, rest with the ball between the wall and your hip. This will decrease rest time.

Rowing

This is all about finding your pace. If you are great at HSPU, you can row a little bit faster, while a person that is less proficient at the HSPU might need to recover a little bit more toward the end of the row. No matter who you are, chill out and recover for the last 10 pulls, and focus on finding breathing consistency as you head into the HSPU

HSPU

The biggest concern is the standard that we must meet. That tape on the wall thing is a brutal standard. You basically have to keep your hands narrow, or be excessively close to the wall to make consistent good reps. Even Boz was getting no-repped like crazy on the post-game show. The key is to remember to point your toes DOWN at the top of the rep. This will in effect raise the heels to the acceptable line level.

If you rest on your head, you will shorten yourself temporarily, and this will make it even harder to get up high enough and pass the line. When you rest, kick off the wall briefly, unless you are just trying to make the last couple reps.

Shoes off! Really? Yeah – socks slide up the wall much easier than shoes do. Just make sure to measure your HSPU line with shoes off if you intend to follow this strategy.

I would spend a lot of time practicing and mastering this standard before the workout. It is going to be a waste to try and figure it out in the last three minutes of the workout. Have somebody watch you and tell you whether you are successfully making reps, or not.

Only advice on the rep scheme is to avoid failure. Stop and shake it out prior to this point and you will be able to get back on the wall sooner.

The Plan

So, now I am going to show you how you can break the reps as I suggested and leave yourself plenty of room for slight deviation from “the plan” and still make some HSPU reps (keep in mind this is aimed at getting people to HSPU with a number of minutes left – If your goals are bigger than that, you will have to approach this more aggressively):

Deadlifts – 5 reps every 15 seconds – Complete by 2:40
Wall-Balls – Start at 3:00 – 11 reps every 35 seconds – Complete by 5:45
Row – Start by 6:00 – Row at 1000-1100 cals per hour – Complete by 9:00
HSPU – 4 minutes to do work

Even if you must alter this plan in certain places to account for your own needs, it is very possible to make it to the HSPU – you just have to be smart and pace properly!

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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 16.4 – AMRAP 13 minutes

55 Deadlifts (225/155)
55 Wall-Balls (20/14)
55 Cal Row
55 HSPU (to standard)

Initial Preparation Concerns

Pacing