Monday, January 7th

A.

STRENGTH:

Every 2 Minutes for 5 Sets Back Squat 2 Reps with 8 Second Pause in the Bottom

Set 1 - 50% Set 2 - 53% Set 3 - 56% Set 4 - 59% Set 5 - 62% This is indeed a longer pause in the bottom of each squat repetition. All repetitions are taken from the rack.

B.

METCON OPTION #1

“Fran”

21-15-9: Thrusters Pull-Ups *Rx Barbell - (95/65)

The quintessential workout of CrossFit.

"Fran" is a highly potent workout. With that said, if we are beneath the 2:30 mark, the stimulus of such a workout varies dramatically from the stimulus of a 4:30 "Fran". They look and feel dramatically different.

If we have under a 2:30 "Fran" time, let's complete the second option today - "Frantastic" (option #2 for today), which aims to put us more into that near 4:00 range.

If we have over a 2:30 "Fran", we recommend completing this as Rx today. And inside that, we have a very specific look and feel we are after:

Everyone needs to get the 21 thrusters unbroken.

If the weight is heavy enough so that we need to break up the first set of 21 thrusters, we likely will be missing our desired stimulus. In "Fran", we are looking for an aggressive charge from the onset. This is truly what we are after. And if our strategy for our specific approach involves a planned break on these opening 21 thrusters, our strong recommendation would be to actually reduce the load until it's at a point where your strategy changes - and you would go after 21 unbroken.

Pull-Ups will naturally vary quite a bit between athletes, where it is worth writing that these can absolutely be modified as well. Suggestions such as 15-12-9, or 12-9-6 both fit very well, which can allow us to push our intensity… the true aim of "Fran".

METCON OPTION #2

“Frantastic”

21 Thrusters + 9 Ring Muscle-Ups 15 Thrusters + 15 CTB Pull-Ups 9 Thrusters + 21 Pull-Ups

*Rx Barbell - (115/80)

If we have under a 2:30 "Fran" time, "Frantastic" aims to push us towards the ~4:00 mark… where "Fran" yields an incredible stimulus.

Weight wise here, we are looking for a thruster loading that we are very, very confident we could complete 21+ repetitions with.

On the "pull-ups", we have three movements. As the repetition scheme climbs (from 9, to 15, to 21), the difficulty of the movement decreases. This is so that we can continue to push the intensity as we move deeper into the workout.

Although completing this entire piece unbroken is very impressive, we also want to play through the options in our minds to plan breaks. To purposefully put a break on a set before we need one, which can very well allow us to cycle far faster and more efficiently (in comparison to hanging on to squeeze out highly taxing reps).

A planned break(s) also allows us to cut down on transitions between stations. As you can imagine, there are points where one could lose 10+ seconds in a transition. Visualize an athlete chalking up after an unbroken set of Ring MU, slowly returning back to the barbell for the 15's… while losing 15 seconds in the process until the bar actually is brought to the front rack.

Same piece applies for the 15 CTB pull-ups… although impressive to go unbroken here, if we need to rest 10+ seconds before jumping up to complete it, and then another 10+ seconds after to recover before picking up the thruster barbell for the final round, we likely want to consider a single break in the center of those 15 reps.

Mitch Wagner doing "Fran" in 1:54!!