Tips for Open Workout 20.3

FAITH RXD Denver Chapter Coach, Mike Ray, has some great tips for Open Workout 20.3.

 

1 John 5:14

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to HIS will, he hears us.

Have confidence in your abilities. You have God, so do not fret if you cannot achieve your goal. God’s plan is greater than your ability to handstand walk 5′ or deadlift 315. Smile with gratitude that God gave you the ability to even do this workout. Let other see your Joy and through that see HIM. 

 

Movements

Deadlifts

Regardless of where you are with this, it’s important to know your limitations. If you blow out early you are going to start using your back which is a big NO! Really focus on stabilizing your back and drive with the hamstrings. Think I am pushing off the floor not picking up weight. This will keep your full foot on the ground and keep you solid.

If you use a reverse grip, it is important to switch this up. That is a lot of work for one bicep to take, so make sure your reverse grip does change each time you take a break from the DL. Control is key! Make sure you are flowing through this movement with a good solid lumbar, and the plates are hitting at the same time. Any lateral movement is going to waste your core and you need that bad. If you don’t need a belt for 225, don’t use one. It will only make it harder to breath, but keep it close in case you get blasted.

 

Handstand Pushups

Thankful we can kip right? If you can’t already, get used to getting up on the wall with your arms locked out. The rep starts from the top and that is killer for some people. Don’t waste a rep. If your elbows are locked out when you go to invert, you can stabilize and you don’t waste a press to get into position.

Keep your core throughout the movement. When you relax the core and start to angle your body on the wall, that’s when you are going to start finishing with your feet too low.

Also, as I discovered last time with this movement, pointing your heel up and toes towards the knee will give you that extra 1/2″ that usually is needed. Take your time on these and make sure there’s no wasted reps. Mark on the floor where your hands are comfortable to keep your body on the wall this will help greatly so that you don’t miss any reps.

 

Handstand Walk

If you get to this point, remember to breath. If you are not good at handstand walks, this will be a “Try to get as far as you can” Mark, which is the big separator here. So don’t look too far ahead, keep your core tight and stabilized, keep the elbows locked out, and do everything you can to get to the line so that you don’t have to restart.

 

Strategy:

“9 min time cap…psh lets finish in 7.”

If you’re this person, you already know what you’re going to do. Diane is going to be smooth, and for the most part unbroken. I recommend breaking up the 21, even for just a second, to help reset yourself or change the grip so you don’t blast the biceps or your core.

Make sure you slow down a little on the Handstand Pushups and wait to hear that you got that rep. Any missed reps will cost you here in the time game. When you get to the heavier weight, decide if a belt is needed. Remember how core intensive handstand walking is… I recommend breaking these up slightly, but use your best judgement. 8-7-6 can be good if your rest is minimal, and it will keep you in a more sustainable pace.

With the walks, don’t get fancy overhead by turning around, stop and reset. Even the best athletes fell apart in 2018- something to keep in mind for this.

 

“Let’s see how far I can walk…if I can even walk.”

There’s two parts to this category, but the advice is similar.

First- You are not good at Diane, either from HSPU or deadlifts, so you may not get there in time to show off your gymnastics.

Or Second, you are not good at handstand walks, so you’re just going to get what you can. If this is the case start breaking up early, with quicker rest. Easy for the DL as you can do that and reset quickly. HSPU not so much as it takes a lot of effort to get up.

Plan your reps out accordingly and know your go to number. Say, “No matter how tired I am I can hit 5 HSPU.” So at the beginning, hit 7 then settle in to hitting sets of 5/4 the rest of the way, and stay with that. Heavy Deadlifts are a chore and we all know it.

At this point you are tired, but you can still maintain reps. Break these up to doable sets. I don’t like to say singles, because I do think that it wastes a lot of energy, but if you are hitting sets of 3 or less, singles will probably be easier to do. If you can hit sets of 4 or more, you can chip away much quicker. On the handstand walk just get as far as you can, if you aren’t good at them. Focus on hitting the checkpoints, because if you go too far, you run the risk of failing.