Most of you are going to take on Open workout 15.1 in today’s classes or at Friday Night Lights tonight. Make sure you tune into the video above to know the details and standards of the workout before crushing it today!
15.1 is essentially a 9 minute AMRAP of relatively lighter weight immediately followed by a 6 minute period of testing your max clean & jerk. You should note that you are most likely not going to build up to your absolute max on the clean & jerk since you will be under the constraints of fatigue and grip strength limitations. Now that you know what’s up, let’s dive into the workout a bit!
A few tips to help you out on 15.1 from Coach Ryan:
1. Warm-up: Think about what muscles/joints are being effected. We need to warm up the hips and get some mobility in the shoulders and upper thoracic spine. We also need to warm-up the front rack a bit. Most importantly is the muscles involved with hip extension (posterior chain) and hip flexion (anterior chain) as these are taxed in the 9 minute segment. KB swings, banded good mornings, sit-ups are just a few examples of movements to get those muscles firing. Quickly build to about 85% of your 1RM clean & jerk and practice efficient turnover of a few deadlifts and snatches.
2. Splitting and Pacing: The first part goes as follows… 15 toes to bar, 10 deadlifts (115/75), and 5 snatches. Or open, close, close in terms of how the body is moving. 15 T2B is a lot! I would break it up from the get go to save your hips from fatiguing too quick. We all know that once T2B is gone it’s gone. So you’re looking at like a 6, 5, 4 rep scheme every round to get 15. You should minimize the rest and build it into an overall pace. Keep moving! Just like I always preach in class. Just find the right rate at which you can.
3. Save the Grip: Each one of these three movements is dependent on grip. You know the max clean & jerk is up next and you need all the grip strength you can to control heavy weight while tired. Try not to squeeze the bar more than you have too. Be cognoscente of it even under fatigue. Try to keep a hook grip on the deadlifts and snatches. Breaking the snatches into quick singles will help save the grip, too. They have to be quick singles though!
4. The Clean & Jerk: You only have 6 minutes to complete this. Start closer to 65-70% of your 1RM or tough single. You really only have enough time for 3-4 good lifts before time or energy gives out so you need to make every attempt count. Don’t waste time on lifts you could hit all day long.
5. The Big Picture: Know that one workout follows the next. You don’t want to be completely spent from the first part before starting into the second part but you also don’t want to sandbag the AMRAP. Know your body!