Open WOD 13.4

13.4 was announced Wednesday night, price and we’ll perform it as a gym all day Friday and 10am Saturday.  After the long, page technically challenging 13.1, viagra the fast and furious 13.2, and the lactic loading of 13.3, 13.4 almost seems fun.  And it is.  There’s a ton of movement and transitions, so here are some tips to maximize your score.
Clean and Jerks
135/95 is a weight we use all the time.  Initially, I thought this would be a T2B WOD, but it’s a C&J WOD.  The weight is not terribly heavy, so you can move the barbell fast.  The best scores will go to athletes that can go fast on the C&J and hold onto the bar.
Because you can move it fast, you may want to get lazy and let your back go on your setup/first pull.  Don’t let this happen!  In warmup, you will want to focus on the C&J – good set up from the ground, efficient rack position and a great jerk.  Focus on knees out and engaging your hamstrings.
USE THE HOOK GRIP!  I can’t emphasize this enough.  This will SAVE YOUR GRIP for the T2B.
If you can, jerk the bar from your catch in the power position of the clean every time.  This will save a second or 2 on every rep.  It can fatigue you, especially if the weight is heavy to you.  Do this if you can handle it.
Finally, for the best scores, you will need to do some reps unbroken (UB).  I tested this with all singles and got a good score, but quickly saw an elite athlete use UB reps early and get a better score.  Have a plan, but doing sets 3 and 6 by starting UB, and maybe starting 9 (3 UB, then 6 singles) will save seconds early that you will use later.  After watching it, good lifters with a decent engine will be able to maintain a fast, steady pace doing singles.  That means everyone is CrossFit will be doing singles.  To get the best score, I recommend opening each set with 3 UB reps then IMMEDIATELY working quick singles.
Toes to Bar (TTB)
The TTB will be a little more dependent on the individual.  For fast athletes that are able to do 10 UB, you will storm through the sets of 3, 6 and 9 and likely not have to break until deep in the set of 12 (that’s where AJ and I broke – me at 8, AJ at 10).  Obviously, the more UB you can do, the better.  Truthfully, the TTB felt like a break from wrestling the barbell.
If you have a TTB style, stick with it.  If you are a knee up and kick (the style we recommend) then go with it.  If you “taco” go with it (even though it’s grip and shoulder taxing).  TTB are a lot like Chest to Bar pullups – if you’ve been working them, you will know your best sets and where things fall apart.  Stay back from that lactic over load, but be aware that you may be fresher than you think for the early sets of TTB.
I have a set up recommendation, but I will save that for the gym.  Basically, it’s using your final TTB to fall/step into your barbell, but we’ll need to review this at the gym.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdxua85HD8o?rel=0&w=560&h=315]
Workout of the Day
Open WOD 13.4
AMRAP 7
3 Clean and Jerks 135/95
3 Toes to Bar
6 Clean and Jerks
6 Toes to Bar
9 Clean and Jerks
9 Toes to Bar
12 Clean and Jerks
12 Toes to Bar
Keep going up…