17.2  Here. We. Go.

STIMULUS:

Grip! The name of this game is smartly managing breaks and transitions. You may need to break things up earlier than you think!  

LUNGES:

Putting the dumbbells down is not ideal because it equals another clean to get them up, but you may need to! If you do, try to make it to the turnaround, put them down, take a quick shake out and pick them right back up again! 

Full grip on the handles does not mean death grip. Use a modified front rack with the elbows up so you can get the handles “resting” in your palms and the rear heads of the dumbbells sitting on your shoulders (vs. holding them out in front of you!).   

TOES-TO-BARS:

These are not big sets, but they will not feel super easy after the first round. If you break them up, take quick breaks and hop back up on the bar. Tried and tested, quick doubles or singles will be faster than larger sets with longer rests.

You will want to get through the toes-to-bar rounds as quickly as possible to have the time you need in the rounds with bar muscle-ups.

CLEANS:

These get annoyingly hard!

Use a true power clean vs. a muscle clean. A small amount of not pulling so high rep after rep can help with grip.

By the third and fourth sets of these, I had to break them up into two sets. Remember, do not drop after 8 (last rep) and then have to re-clean the dumbbells to get going on the lunges!

BAR MUSCLE-UPS:

For most of us, these are big sets of bar muscle-ups. You will be feeling your grip and breathing hard when you get to these, so if you are normally confident in sets of 3 or 4 or 5, subtract at least 1 or 2 reps from that to avoid going to failure. I failed 2 or 3 muscle-up reps. Had I broken them into smaller sets from the outset, I likely would have gotten through them all.

Do not get discouraged if you do not have a bar muscle-up. The Open has a special magic that helps us achieve things we could not before. So, get through the toes-to-bar rounds as quickly as possible and then use all your remaining time to try to get one bar muscle-up.

BREAKS AND TRANSITIONS:

For many of us, large chunks of this workout will need to be broken up into smaller sets, so you must pay attention to your rests. You want enough of a break to successfully tackle the next set, but do not let the time get away from you. Try using a little ritual­–i.e., three big breaths, a short walk, clapping your hands a few times, etc., to set a deliberate rest period and stick to it.

Use transitions wisely to shake your hands out, breathe, etc. But again, try not to let transitions get too long. Always get on to the next movement a little sooner than you want to.

MOST IMPORTANT:

Have fun, enjoy the community around you and give everything you’ve got!

Good luck!