Changing Plates, Cutting Time: Jen Osborn

March 20, 2014

Josh Bunch

The first time Jen Osborn did Open Workout 14.3, she posted 175 reps and secured first place in the Central East Region. Unsatisfied, and knowing her competition well, she vowed to do it again. “I…

"It was all strategy," Osborn said.

Photos courtesy of Erin Hinkle.
 

The first time Jen Osborn did Open Workout 14.3, she posted 175 reps and secured first place in the Central East Region.

Unsatisfied, and knowing her competition well, she vowed to do it again.

“I messed up,” she said. “Those transitions are important … people will get into that last deadlift.”

Mistakenly, the three-time regional competitor took the third Open workout for granted. She began by scattering 10-lb. bumpers around her bar like lilypads in a pond. Since there was no prescription given on how to stage a bar beyond its load, she tried adding plates instead of subtracting them.

"I had 10 seconds and couldn't get the final weight on the bar because there were too many 10s,” she said.

When the 30-year-old didn’t make it to the last set at 225 lb., she knew she had to do it again.

“The rubber would get stuck on the floor and that adds up,” she said. “You just don’t have time to mess with it.”

Over the next two days, she settled in and watched athletes at her affiliate, CrossFit Cornerstone in Cincinnati, Ohio. She took notes and prepared her rematch.

Her second time, she went for a combination of rubber and steel. She said the traditional 10-lb. plates—the ones as big as steel 45s—caught on the gym floor as she loaded them. Instead, she chose as few rubber bumpers as possible, opting for streamlined steel and a boundary that kept the outer plates off the floor.

“I tested it before to make sure the weights wouldn’t fall off,” she said.

With 12 seconds on the clock, Osborn gripped her barbell and pulled four reps at 225 lb., for a 14.3 score of 179 reps. Good enough for fifth in the Central East, and 21st after three weeks of competition.

Had she chosen to remain at her original score, Osborn would have tied CrossFit Games athletes Jennifer Smith, Heather Welsh and Lindy Barber, and newcomers Lindsey Kelly and Kelly McIntosh with 175 reps. She would have finished somewhere between sixth and tenth place based on her tiebreak time. 

Although she got four more reps on her second attempt at 14.3, she wasn’t any fitter.

“It was all strategy,” she said. “I wish I jumped more, but I don’t think I could have done much better.”

A veteran of competition, Osborn said hanging back and watching other athletes tackle the clever couplet helped her form the new game plan. In 2011, the Open’s inaugural year with fewer than 30,000 competitors worldwide, she could have gone all in, never testing or planning workouts, and still remained on top when the chalk settled. Today, with more than 200,000 athletes from all over the globe throwing down, four reps is a big deal. Big plates or small plates could mean regionals.

Of the three times Osborn has made the regional trip, her best showing was in 2011 where she finished fourth. In 2012, she finished ninth, just six places shy of the Games.

Before leaving the Ohio Expo Center, she enlisted the help of CrossFit Ann Arbor/Hyperfit USA owner and Level 1 Seminar Staff member Doug Chapman. Since then, he’s done all her programming. Occasionally the pair will meet to evaluate her progress in person. In a time when athletes trade coaches like boxers trade punches, she says the reason for her loyalty is simple.

“I’m getting stronger and faster.”

When Osborn started training under Chapman, she could front squat 200 lb., split jerk 205 and overhead squat 175. Since, she’s added 25 lb. to her front squat, 30 lb. to her split jerk and 40 lb. to her overhead squat.

“Jen is a pleasure to work with,” Chapman said. “Her attitude is good and upbeat and she is always excited and gives her all.”

Beyond the bar, the former hurdler can row 2k in 7:05, and just completed her first half-marathon in under two hours. She’s not afraid of working her weaknesses either, mainly handstand push-ups.

“In 2012 (regionals), I DNF’d Diane with that 10-minute cap,” she said. “Today, it's sub six.”

She attributes her handstand push-up improvement to weekly bouts of push-ups and dips. She also presses frequently and says she can now push-press 190 lb.

She admits, however, that beyond great programming, experience is priceless.

“People are starting to freak out because there is only two workouts left,” she said, but she isn’t worried.

“At first I thought, ‘My god, do I suck this year?’” she said about posting a 14.1 score of 350 reps. But after the skill level increased in 14.2, and the weight climbed in 14.3, she relaxed a little. “Never mind, I’m not that bad,” she said with a laugh.

With two Open workouts left, she’s confident she’ll make her fourth regional appearance. Once there, she knows what she wants to achieve: her best.

“I want to be 100 percent healthy going into regionals,” she said. “I want to finish every (workout) with a PR. No matter what happens, I want to be happy with my performance.”