FAITH RXD Denver Chapter Coach, Mike Ray, has some great tips for Open Workout 20.2.
20 minutes is a long time. This bears repeating: 20 minutes is a long time.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight
Remember who you represent. And through your trials of this workout trust in the Lord. He will make your path straight overall even if the path is not the one you thought it would be.
This workout is a prime example of breaking an athlete down to really see what they are made of from a movement and consistency standpoint. Pacing and control will be your most important aspects of this workout.
Set Up
You should keep a tight space so you can minimize your movement, but make sure that your space is not too crammed for the double under. Clear your area so that you are not missing reps due to hitting a your dumbbell or your bar.
Mindset – you need to think 2 things during this workout:
1. Every rep counts – There is no room for no reps here especially on the TTB and the Thrusters. So not completing the rep or receiving failed attempts is going to make you do more work and really frustrate you because it will lose you a mass amount of time.
2. Stay in control and in YOUR pace – When your TTB go too quickly you are gone in this workout, your core will be jacked and if you lose control it will only spiral downward from here. Think of this like a Cindy, only much more complicated.
Movements
Thrusters – You should grip these so that your pinky side of your hand is touching the ‘bell’ part leaving a gap on the grip from your thumb and index finger. That way you can utilize your shoulders in this. If you get 20 rounds its 80 thrusters so use your more stable body parts so as not to affect your grip as much. That being said EXPLODE out of the squat portion so the dumbbells fly up off the shoulders .
Toes To Bar – What can you do with toes to bar? If you are not someone who is comfortable with these or you lose them quickly, start breaking these up from the get go. (4-2; 3-3) If you are comfortable with TTB and 6 reps is no issue, this is an easy case to go unbroken. But remember 20 min is a long time, if you lose these they are gone! Also will affect your ability to perform Double unders
Double Unders – This one is going to be the harder of them all. Your grip is going to be sacrificed in the previous 2 movements and your core will as well. 2 things that are secondary to this movement, but key. Now the reps scheme is lower, so ideally this should be unbroken. Which means you have to be ready for rep 1 before you start in each round. Take a deep breath, control the rope don’t let it control you, and keep a reasonable pace. This will also spike your heart rate and we all love doing thrusters when we can’t breathe right?
Strategy:
30 rounds sounds about right!
If you are an elite then you should flow with this. Set a goal lap time and stick to that you might want to write out each lap time you will have so that you can reference it when things get blurry in the 12th minute. Your main goal is to keep the heart rate in control and don’t sacrifice movement standards or form. If you get no repped here calm down and focus back in. strap in for a 20 min grind and GO!
I can finish a 20 min amrap…in 15 minutes.
Mainly because after 15 minutes I’m starting to fade quick. Well this one is the marathon workout we knew to expect. Long and slow. Set a reasonable pace say :50-1:00 per round. The goal is to maintain this. If you are like me and you tend to come out hot, do it for one round. Go ham on round 1 and when you set the rope down, take 2 very deep breaths and settle in to your pace. Your big goal here is to keep moving and unbroken during the movements and pace your transitions. Do not linger in transitions but understand this is where you need to catch your breath quickly and if nothing else calm yourself to stay on pace. So if you finish round 1 in :30, don’t wait till 1:00, just know that you bought yourself :30 for when you need it at the 15 min mark.
Ugh, this workout looks awful.
If you are not strong in one of these movements, it is going to make things rough. Focus on what you are bad at and doing it better, the other stuff will seem like a breeze! Dry run to get your pace and do the same as above. 1:30 pace will still get you a good score.
