CrossFit Open 20.3 Predictions & Commentary
The ole thousand rep workout in the CrossFit Open haha. These athletes really are something fun to watch when they can maintain that sort of output, even on double unders, ie have you ever done 720 double unders - with additional work - in 20 minutes? Those who put up 30 rounds in CrossFit Open Workout 20.2 just did.
So far, in 2 weeks we have seen these themes in the Open workouts:
For Time
AMRAP in 20 min
And, we’ve also seen these movements factor in thus far:
20.1
Ground to Overhead (barbell) - very light weight, medium rep sets, low → mid total volume
Burpee over the bar - fastish pace, mid → high volume
20.2
Dumbbell (DB) thrusters - medium weight, low rep sets, medium total volume
Toes to Bar (T2B) - low rep sets, high total volume
Double unders - low → mid rep sets, very high total volume
If you haven’t taken a look at our 20.2 video and pdf guide, it’s HERE
The scores this week all seemed to be hoping for that elusive comma - 1,000 reps.
Some of the big time CrossFit Open 20.2 scores we saw were:
George Sterner - this is selfish, he’s a OPEX RC Athlete haha - putting up just over 1,000 reps
Adam Klink - I competed with him at the 2014 Regional (I got slaughtered) and he was just a really nice guy! - putting up 962 reps
Kristin Holte and Jamie Greene went 1045 and 1043 respectively
Carol-Ann Reason-Thibault may not have needed to redo her workout after doing it during the announcements, but we saw her improve by 50 or so reps from 928 to 985 or with some equipment placing and home turf advantage.
What Did We Notice In CrossFit Open 20.2?
Leaderboarding is as evident as ever. We began writing this article around 11am PST Monday, and we’d estimate only about 10% of the athletes “who matter” had uploaded scores. What’s really funny is that many of those athletes are posting their workout videos to YouTube to gain viewers and subscribers but not posting to The CrossFit Games Open Leaderboard lol. It’s a bizzzzznesssss.
For the YouTube live feeds, it’s brutal to not have music because of copyright law haha. A 20 minute quasi-boring workout like this isn’t often done by these athletes without some version of music. Sure, the best athletes in the world are fine without it, but it’s less fun to watch!
Shoutout to Jacob Heppner (20.1) for confusing everybody by posting a YouTube video insinuating he went 7:25 on 20.1. Big viewership increase for him there lol. #thumbnailsmatter
Gosh, the Australians are kind and fun people. The announcers and the athletes - Matt McLeod and Khan Porter - just seemed like they were going out of their way to be nice. Tough not to smile about that
What Will CrossFit Open 20.3 Workout Be?
OPEX RC Coaches are getting more pretty aligned on this one in that most everybody thinks handstand pushups will hit this week.
The Dave Castro’s Instagram is entertainingly seeing Dave talk about each of the workouts after performing them. I’ve enjoyed that because I enjoy getting glimpses into people’s heads. He ended his post this week by saying 20.3 “is going to suck.” Interesting haha
Here are the OPEX RC Coaches' picks for this week!
Henry Torano thinks we’ll intro the 21-15-9….concept this week with:
10 min AMRAP
21-18-15-12-9-6-3
Row Cals
Strict Handstand Push Ups - HSPU
Sam Smith believes we’ll see 15.4 again but with strict handstand push ups:
8 min AMRAP
3 Strict Handstand Push Up - sHSPU
3 Cleans 125#/185# - can be Power or Squat Cleans)
6 sHSPU
3 Cleans 125/185
9 sHSPU
3 Cleans 125/185
12 sHSPU
6 Cleans 125/185
15 sHSPU
6 Cleans 125/185
Etc....
HSPUs increase by 3 every round
Cleans increase by 3 every 3 rounds
Will Trujillo also believes we’ll see the 21-15-9 theme hit this week with:
For Time with a 10 min Time Cap
21-15-9
Power Clean 95#/135#
Kipping Handstand Push Up - HSPU
Right into
21-15-9
Squat Clean #155/225#
100 ft Handstand walk between each of the rounds of squat cleans
Mizar Fuentes-Ortega sees a redo of 18.4 with:
For Time with a 9 min Time Cap
Diane - 21-15-9
Deadlift 155#/225#
Handstand Push Ups - HSPU
Then into
21-15-9
Deadlift 205#/315#
50 ft Handstand Walk between deadlift sets
Brian Foley decided to take us way back old school to Fight Gone Bad! :
3 rounds of 5 exercises for 60 seconds each 1 min break after the first 2 3-minute rounds
Wall Ball - WB - 20# to 10’
Sumo Deadlift High Pull - SHDP - 75#
Box Jumps - BJ - 20”
Push Press - PP - 75#
Row for calories
Carl Hardwick , Megan Mondelli , Allison White , and Whitney Reese abstained this week!
You can hear Coach Sam talk about these predictions on our YouTube Channel!
What do I predict 20.3 is...
I was torn this week. I often expect to see either handstand pushups or muscle ups hit week 3, but I don’t expect both movements to hit the same week. Also, no heavy barbells yet to weed out the aerobic or bodyweight ninja-only athletes.
With the athletes being Kristin Holte and fellow Norwegian Nicolay Billaudel - while it likely has 0 consequence - it would be fun to watch them go head to head on something with the same movements at the complexity. With that in mind, I’ll say that 20.3 will be a bit of an homage - with a twist - to 19.3:
For Time with a 20 min Time Cap with Additional time windows added
In 8 Min:
15 squat clean - SC - #95/135#
8 Muscle Up - MU
13 SC - 115#/185#
8 MU
If you finish sub 8 min, you open up an additional 4 min window for
11 SC - 155#/225#
8 MU
If you finish sub 12 min, you open up an additional 4 min window for
9 SC 185#/275#
8 MU
If you finish sub 16 min, you open up an additional 4 min window for
7 SC 215#/315#
8 MU
I think this would be a great workout to watch these athletes take on, and it would be a clear separator to break open the 2020 CrossFit Open!
Be sure to check out our weekly debauchery of guesses and commentary as well as our Thursday night videos/prep guides. Enjoy it folks. Cheers!
Jim