Week Five in Review: SoCal

At the end of Week 5, a new name and an old name appear at the top of the Leaderboard.

Five weeks of the 2012 Open concluded with a historic blast from the past. The same Fran ladder that was seen in the 6th and final week of Open competition in 2011 reared her head once again. The couplet, a combination of thrusters and chest-to-bar pull-ups, brought the 2012 Open to final close and finally determined which Southern California’s athletes will be moving on to the 2012 Regionals.

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Southern California’s top five finishing men all completed their round of 18, continued on to complete all 21 thrusters and then move on to their pull ups. Danny Henry of CrossFit Culver City made his second 1st place finish of the Open. Workout 12.5 allowed Henry to capitalize upon his StrongFit training and Olympic lifting sprinting sessions to create a strategy that would place him not only 1st in Southern California, but also 1st in the world. In preparation for the workout he “specifically did heavy back squats on Saturday before performing the workout on Sunday, three sets of 185 kg x two, to open up my nervous system,” he says.

Henry’s strategy was simply to “absolutely crush it. The 100-pound thruster was never a thought for me. All sets through 21 were unbroken.”

Henry was more concerned with the chest-to-bar pullups. “Up to set 15 they were unbroken, then I broke into three sets of five. At set, 18 it was six sets of three. The last 16 were all grit. Three or sometimes two at a time as my forearms felt like they would explode,” he says. 

Ryan Fischer of downtown Los Angeles’ CrossFit Mean Streets took the 2nd place position on 12.5 finishing just one rep shy of Henry. 12.5 is Fischer’s third top-10 performance in the Open and is currently overall seated 5th in Southern California and 34th worldwide. 

The region’s overall 2nd place ranked man, Jarett “Ninja” Perelmutter, owner and head coach of Brick CrossFit in West Hollywood, who completed the Open and 12.5 with his fourth top-three finish. No stranger to the top of the Leaderboard, Perelmutter, completing 157 reps in 12.5, went into the workout with a proper mental game plan.

“The strategy I followed was simple and similar to how I used to game my fights in all my years as a professional fighter: to study videos from last year including mine to see where I can improve on rest, rep speed, efficiency, etc.,” he says. “Secondly, create a time structure for how fast to get through each stage of the workout. Lastly, stay disciplined, stick to the plan and succeed at all personal costs.”

Rounding out the top five are Kenneth Leverich of Orange Coast CrossFit, taking 4th and David Lipson of CrossFit Invictus, taking the 5th place spot. Throughout the Open, Leverich has had a top-10 finish. Leverich heads to Regionals ranked 1st overall in Southern California and 3rd worldwide. David Lipson, just four pull-ups behind Leverich takes 5th place and ends the Open ranked in 9th place.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S 12.5 TOP FINISHERS