Squatty Party

Workout date: 3/10/17

On Thursday night, I was at Benihana.  If you sign up for their e-mails, they will send you a $30 gift certificate for your birthday.  Not bad, right?  The certificate is good for about a month, but you can only use it Monday through Thursday.  This would be the last night I could use mine because Jenn was headed to Asia the following morning, so I talked her into going out for hibachi.  We were done with dinner right around 8pm, so as we waited on the check, I pulled out my phone and tried to hear what 17.3 would be.  There were squat snatches.  There were chest-to-bar pull-ups.  And then Dave Castro was trying to match them up on a chalkboard.  It was like the math event during the academic decathlon in Billy Madison, only Castro didn't eventually give up and write "Eric drinks his own pee" once it was clear that he had no idea what he was doing.  Luckily, Crossfit HQ always airs a video explaining the format of the workout.  That's how I learned that 17.3 worked as follows:

Open Workout 17.3

In 8 minutes complete:
3 rounds of
6 chest-to-bar pull-ups
6 squat snatches (95/65)
Then 3 rounds of
7 chest-to-bar pull-ups
5 squat snatches (135/95)

If all work has been completed in under 8 minutes, you earn 4 extra minutes to complete:
3 rounds of
8 chest-to-bar pull-ups
4 squat snatches (185/135)

If all work has been completed in under 12 minutes, you earn 4 extra minutes to complete:
3 rounds of
9 chest-to-bar pull-ups
3 squat snatches (225/155)

If all work has been completed in under 16 minutes, you earn 4 extra minutes to complete:
3 rounds of
10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
2 squat snatches (245/175)

If all work has been completed in under 20 minutes, you earn 4 extra minutes to complete:
3 rounds of
11 chest-to-bar pull-ups
1 squat snatch (265/185)

*Should you not complete all work under a given time cap, your workout comes to an end.
**These snatches had to be legit squat snatches.  You could not do a power snatch followed by an overhead squat.

That second footnote would turn out to be a very important one.  A lot of athletes will avoid using a squat when they clean or snatch a barbell because they are strong enough to lift it without one.  Why go through the extra effort of the squat version when you know you're able to do the power version?  I guess the answer is because something like 17.3 might get programmed.  I knew some of the bigger guys in the gym might not be thrilled with having to squat snatch.  As for me, I didn't mind having to squat.  I've been trying to squat clean and squat snatch even at lighter weights when cleans or snatches are called for in workouts.  What worried me were the chest-to-bar pull-ups.  The lady who does the "tips for this week's workout" video claimed that this wasn't a pull-up workout, but a snatch workout.  That might have been true for most people, but it certainly wasn't true for me.  This picture should help you understand my concerns:

My chest-to-bar pull-up technique might not be textbook

Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised that an overhead movement would be combined with chest-to-bar pull-ups as that seems to be Dave Castro's m.o. in Open workouts.  Need proof?

• 14.2 was overhead squats and chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 15.2 was a repeat of 14.2
• 16.1 was overhead walking lunges and chest-to-bar pull-ups (along with burpees over the barbell)

For the squat snatch, you caught the barbell overhead while descending into a squat before doing an overhead squat to complete the movement.  The rules stated that you had to be descending into the squat (below parallel) as you performed the snatch.  If you performed the snatch and then descended after catching the barbell, you were supposed to be no-repped.  (Note: Were these standards enforced?  Depends on your judge.  During the Ro vs. Boz competition at the live announcement, they allowed a San Antonio firefighter to workout alongside of the Crossfit HQ personalities.  When he got to the 135 pound barbell, he clearly did the forbidden power snatch/overhead squat combo, yet all his reps were counted.  Moral of the story: there were going to be a lot of "bro reps" in this workout.)

I wasn't going to be able to make it to the gym until about 5pm, but I did keep an eye on the scores that were posted before Friday Night Lights began.  I was shocked.  Only one person had posted a score higher than 55 and that was Mike Sim with a score of 80.  80 was my goal for this workout, even though I knew it was a stretch.  A score of 80 meant that you completed the initial 6 rounds under the 8 minute time cap (72 reps) and then proceeded to get through the 8 chest-to-bar pull-ups in round seven.  My snatch PR was 175, so there was close to no chance that I was pulling off 185 nine minutes deep into a workout.  I'd take a few cracks at it and if by some miracle I got it, then I'd have my "Open moment".  I wasn't getting my hopes up though.

The fact that almost no one was getting close to 72 reps made me wonder how goofy I had gotten in coming up with a goal of 80 for this workout.  I thought I could finish the first three rounds in under 3:00, giving me 5:00 for the second three rounds.  If I kept moving at a decent pace, all of that seemed reasonable.  I had to be missing something.  I felt a bit better when I got to the gym and saw the results of some of the afternoon heats.  Aimee, Andrew, and Anne Marie had all surpassed 90 reps in the workout.  Yes, they are all considerably better athletes than I am, but if they had only ended up with 80 reps, then I would have known that beating the initial 8 minute time cap was a pipe dream.

Aimee may be small in stature, but that doesn't stop her from generating tons of power

Andrew getting way above the high bar during his chest-to-bar pull-ups

Anne Marie holds the top spot in the gym for the snatch

A few more heats were run before mine and more scores were produced that gave me hope in this workout.  Mooney got a 69, Giulz got a 67, Regi and Justin R got matching scores of 59, and Jill A got a 57.  80 probably wasn't in the cards for me, but a score of 60 (5 full rounds) would put me among the top scores in the gym.  That didn't seem impossible.

Samson asked me if I would judge for him when he took on 17.3 and I agreed to help out.  One of the things I respect most about Samson (aside from his amazing photography skills) is that he is a stickler for the rules.  He made it clear that he expected me to no-rep him if he didn't meet the standards of the workout.  He wasn't interested in any bro-reps.  If he didn't hit depth on his squat snatches, he didn't want it to count.  Not a problem.  You know where I didn't have to worry about no-repping Samson?  At the pull-up bar.  Being a bodyweight ninja, he was going to glide through the chest-to-bar pull-ups.

Samson making quick work of the chest-to-bar pull-ups.

His judge expressing his views on the Open.

When I say that Samson is a bodyweight ninja, I'm talking about the fact that he crushes movements (push-ups, pull-ups, rope climbs, etc.) where his own body is the weight that needs to be moved.  In this workout, he was going to have to squat snatch a barbell that was awfully close to his body weight.  After encountering little trouble with the 95 pound barbell while completing the first 3 rounds, Samson had his work cut out for him on the 135 pound barbell.  He had a lot of very close attempts where the barbell was just out in front of him as he tried to catch it in the squat.  He also did something that many others failed to do when they got to the second barbell: he got 1 successful rep.  78 was a very popular score last week and 43 would appear on many people's scorecards this week, but that 1 squat snatch at 135 pounds brought Samson's score to 44, almost assuredly leaping him ahead of thousands of people on the worldwide leaderboard.

This week's MVP would take part in the next heat.  You might think that choosing Keithie as the MVP might sound strange given that he excels at chest-to-bar pull-ups and squat snatches.  He didn't have some fear that he needed to overcome in this workout.  However, the way he regrouped at the end of this WOD was really impressive.  Keithie was flying through the early stages of this workout, completing his final round at 135 pounds nearly 2 minutes before the time cap.  That meant he'd have 6 minutes to work through 3 rounds of 8 chest-to-bar pull-ups and 4 squat snatches at 185 pounds.  Since I still had the pipe dream in my head of completing 1 rep at this weight if I had the workout of my life, I felt there was a good chance that Keithie would clear this level, earning himself 4 extra minutes of work and a shot at the 225 pound barbell.  Then I saw him struggle with 185 and that put to rest any notion I might have had of snatching it once.

Keithie did make it through the first round of 4 squat snatches at 185, but he really encountered some tough sledding when he came back to that barbell a second time.  He was able to stand up 185 once in that round before he had a series of misses.  Samson was still recovering from his workout, so Edwin was snapping photos in front of Keithie's barbell as he failed on one attempt after another.  That's when Keithie blew a gasket.  Out came a bunch of F-bombs as he let Edwin know that he wanted him out of his sight line for the remainder of his workout.  As you'll see below, that didn't mean Edwin stopped snapping pictures.  He just needed to move off to the side.

There was less than a minute left and Keithie still needed 3 more snatches to wrap up round #8.  I might be good at moving a barbell when I'm angry, but Keithie takes it to a whole new level.  He got his second snatch of the round with about 30 seconds left.  He caught his breath and set up for another crack at 185.  He stood up his second in a row with about 10 seconds remaining.  Everyone started screaming for him to sneak the last snatch of the round in before the buzzer.  Keithie got right into it, caught the barbell in a squat, and stood it up just as the buzzer sounded.  Clutch!  Having the resolve to get three quick squat snatches right as time was elapsing after so many missed lifts makes Keithie the week 3 MVP.

There ya go...that's the stuff...I like the intensity...Eye of the Tiger

While Keithie's struggles at 185 may have lowered my expectations a tad, seeing him finish the way he did was certainly inspirational.  I got ready to go in the next heat.  I had tested out the 95 pound barbell and found that I could string two squat snatches together if I needed to.  I also tested out the 135 pound barbell.  I was able to get under it, but I was slow standing it up.  That made me a bit worried since I was fresh when I was testing it out.  I would be much more tired when I got to that barbell in this workout.

John McHugh volunteered to be my judge, something I was grateful for as John always pushes me.  The heat began and I rattled off 6 quick single reps of chest-to-bar pull-ups.  I was trying not to use the ridiculous kip you saw in the photo at the beginning of this post, the one that sends me horizontal.  That kip is good for bringing my body up to the bar, but it also requires a lot of energy.  If I wanted to finish 6 rounds in 8 minutes, I'd have to be fast, but also efficient.  My first two squat snatches felt good enough that I threw a third into my set before dropping my barbell.  I completed another set of three in a row and had my first round completed.

I came back to the pull-up bar and maintained a solid pace as I did my singles.  I felt like I was doing my chest-to-bar pull-ups about as efficiently as I've ever done them.  My chest was only slightly grazing the bar as I came down from my kip, instead of ramming into the bar as would typically be my style.  If I had the ability to butterfly my pull-ups, I imagine that I'd be using a similar technique.

Not fantastic form, but better than what it has been in the past

I got back to the barbell thinking that I might be able to handle two sets of three again.  I got through the first set of three, but my breathing had really accelerated at this point and I thought I might be pushing things too much with a second set of three.  I did three quick singles to complete round two and came back to the pull-up bar.  I hadn't looked at a clock yet, but it felt like I was moving as fast as I could.  If I could finish up these initial three rounds in about 2:30, maybe I had a better shot than I thought of getting through the rounds at 135.

If I didn't finish the rounds at 135, my tiebreak time would be whatever was showing on the clock when I finished the rounds at 95 pounds, so I couldn't let up in round three.  Six more quick singles on the pull-up bar before I switched things up and went to sets of two on the snatches.  I got three sets like that and my tiebreak time was established.  I went straight to my pull-up bar without looking at the clock.  John told me that I had gone faster in those first three rounds than anyone he'd seen all day.  And then he told me my time...3:10.

There were only two ways I could have gone faster in those beginning three rounds:

1. String my chest-to-bar pull-ups (sorry, don't have that ability)
2. String all 6 squat snatches in each round (might have that ability, but played it safe by breaking up my rounds)

It felt like I had been sprinting, yet I was 10 seconds beyond my goal for the rounds at 95 pounds.  I'm sure I was shaking my head as I began my first round of 7 chest-to-bar pull-ups.  It's possible that I was a bit deflated after hearing my time, but this was where I needed my first breather.  I did 2 singles, then 3 singles, and then 2 singles, catching two small breathers along the way.  I got to the barbell with no intentions of trying to string reps.  These would all have to be singles as well.  I knew that every missed rep would be a killer in terms of beating the 8 minute time cap, so I was methodical in my setup.  I went for the 1st rep and stood up with it.  The next 4 reps went the same way.  5-for-5 on my first round at 135 pounds.  There was still hope.

Practicing my squat during cleans and snatches paid off for me in 17.3

At the pull-up bar, I split my chest-to-bar pull-ups into a set of 3 singles and a set of 4 singles.  Until I missed on a rep, I was sticking to my belief that I could beat the 8 minute time cap.  I moved over to my barbell and got my 6th straight squat snatch at 135.  I set up for lucky #7 and pulled really hard to get it overhead.  Turns out I pulled too hard.  The barbell was overhead, but it was behind me.  I briefly tried to save it before letting it drop to the floor.  I smiled over at Matt B, who had been rooting me on.  It was a good run, but I knew with that miss that I wasn't beating the time cap.  A glance at the clock confirmed my suspicion.  I had less than 2 minutes to go.

The good news was that with the pressure of beating the time cap now gone, I didn't stress about missing on my lifts.  I was quicker in my setup and I got through the next 4 lifts faster than I did during my first round at 135 pounds.  The downside was that I was kinda spent when I came back to the pull-up bar to begin round six.  There was about 35 seconds left in my workout and I tried to jump right back into each chest-to-bar after I came down from completing the previous rep.  I managed 5 chest-to-bar pull-ups before time was called.  Final score: 65.

When it was all over, I experienced a feeling that I've never had in four years of doing the Open: satisfaction.  That workout went about as well as I could have imagined.  My form on the chest-to-bar pull-ups was good.  I only missed one squat snatch.  I limited the number of breaks I took, even though I desperately wanted to take more.  I didn't beat the 8 minute time cap, but I wasn't sure that was even possible based on this performance.  I would need to string all of the 95 pound squat snatches and not miss on any of the 135 pound attempts to give myself the slightest chance of making it.  How well did 17.3 go for me?  Prior to 17.3, I had never finished in the top 20 in the gym for an Open workout.  I wound up 15th overall in this one.

I recovered while the next heat took place before agreeing to judge Mark Stipa for the second week in a row.  In terms of weight, Mark falls about midway between me and Samson, but he definitely falls more on the bodyweight ninja side of the spectrum when it comes to the movements that he specializes in.  As was the case with Samson, he had no problems with the chest-to-bar pull-ups and the 95 pound squat snatches.  Sticking the 135 pound squat snatches was where things got difficult.  He was able to get 3 successful reps in at this weight for a score of 46.

For the last heat of the night, I was judging for Esra.  Esra didn't have chest-to-bar pull-ups yet, so she was going to be taking on the scaled version of 17.3.  That meant jumping pull-ups and snatches with a squat.  (Note: "snatches with a squat" means you could do a power snatch and then do an overhead squat, something that was not permitted in the RX version of the workout.)  I was really impressed with Esra's pace during the workout.  I knew from personal experience how quickly you had to move to even have a chance at getting under the 8 minute time cap and Esra nearly made it.  I could tell she was a bit uneasy performing the overhead squats, but she hit depth on every single rep that she did.  She was only 4 reps short of finishing her sixth round, ending up with a score of 68.

Esra showing off some hang time in the final heat

That was all for 17.3.  I spent some time after the last heat loading scores on to my laptop so that I didn't have to steal people's scoresheets all weekend long.  Then we headed out to the Taphouse to celebrate being 60% done with this year's Open.

Monday preview: Surely someone who is satisfied with their score would never re-do an Open workout, right?  Right???  My competitive side gets the best of me and I have to re-learn a lesson.